1930 Duesenberg Model J Imperial Cabriolet

This Duesenberg Model J was bodied by the Parisian coachbuilders Hibbard & Darrin as an Imperial Cabriolet. It was built using their patented all-aluminum Silentlyte construction method. The car was on display at the 1930 Paris Auto Salon when it was viewed by William Randolph Hearst, the legendary newspaper baron and one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world at the time. He bought it for Marion Davies and sent it to Los Angeles. When it arrived in California, Hearst and Davies went for a chauffeured test drive.

While on a drive, perhaps at a spirited pace, the car went around a corner and the body flexed and a rear door sprang open. Over Hearst was nearly dumped out of the car, it was sent to coachbuilder J. Gerald Kirchhoff's shop, where the doors were rebuilt and their latches strengthened. At the same time, the body was modified slightly to suit its new owner's tastes, with the top and center door posts fixed into place, a removable 'flap' installed in the rear quarters (to improve passenger vision), and an enormous trunk added for travel.

Hearst and Davies used the car often, taking it with them all over the world, on journeys to Europe and Africa, in the holds of ocean liners, and in railroad boxcars.

The car's first known owner following Hearst and Davies was a sailor who drive it back and forth across the country, before selling it in 1949 to W.D. Lehman of San Diego. A year later, it was sold to Robert E. Diller of San Francisco, who in 1954 passed it for $500 to Ray Wolff (the Auburn Cord Duesenberg (ACD) Club's longtime Duesenberg historian).

The car was later owned by Joe Kaufman who treated the car to a full restoration. It was driven extensively, occasionally being put into use towing a Duesenberg-powered race car.

Kaufmann sold J-254 in the early 1980s to fellow Wisconsin enthusiast, Gene Grengs of Eau Claire. Mr. Grengs enjoyed the car for several years before selling it to the Duesenberg collector, Jerry J. Moore. It remained with Mr. Moore until 1995 when it was purchased by Bob Dean of Louisiana. It later joined a collection in the Midwest, from which it was acquired in 2003 by Mr. Scott, several years after it had been cosmetically refinished in its present, black and pewter livery, with a complimentary interior.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2018