1930 Duesenberg Model J LeGrande Torpedo Phaeton

This Duesenberg wears Limousine coachwork by Willoughby of Utica, New York featuring rear quarter windows. It is believed that early in the car's life, the car was fitted with its blind-quarter roofline and slanted windshield. At one point it also had skirted fenders of the type made available by Duesenberg in 1935. The car's earliest known owner was David A. Smart of Chicago, co-founder of Esquire and Coronet magazines, who is believed to have owned the Model J in 1935. The following year, it was in inventory at the New York factory branch, as a Chicago car previously in Philadelphia. Bret Morrison acquired it in 1937 and later sold it to D. Cameron Peck, from whom it passed to J.A. Reitzel of Evanston, Illinois. The next owner was R.C. Battat of Newark, Ohio followed by Charles R. Dowling. Dowling sold J-368 in October 1963 to Bertram Cobb and would become its longest-term owner. C.W. 'Bill' Bocock of Kerrville, Texas purchased the Duesenberg in 1981.

Mr. Bocock spent a decade on the restoration of J-368, converting it back to the open-fender design. When the work was completed, it was shown at the ACD Club National Reunion in 1991, where it received the Mayor's Trophy and tied for First Place Primary. It eventually achieved Senior Emeritus status in the ACD Club competition and was Certified as a Category One Original Car. In CCCA judging, it earned no fewer than four perfect 100-point scores in winning its Primary, Senior, and Senior Premier honors.

A museum acquired the Model J in 2002 from Mr. Bocock's estate. After several years on exhibit there, it was sold to the late Richard Burdick for his own museum in San Marcos, Texas. The current caretaker acquired the Duesenberg from the Burdick collection in the spring of 2018.

The Duesenberg is finished in metallic pewter with dark blue fenders with a leather roof covering. The rear compartment is finished in button-tufted blue cloth with a crystal reading light and push-button radio controls built into the center armrest.

In 2021, the car won Best of Show at the Boston Cup.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2022