1937 Duesenberg Model J Limousine Landaulet

Duesenberg Model Js were owned by the rich and famous, never by the shy and retiring! This extravagant 1937 'throne car' limousine was created by Bohman & Schwartz for 1930s evangelist M.J. 'Father' Divine. Very well known in its day, this 7,000-pound monster was built on a stretched 178-inch wheelbase and featured a motorized throne that could elevate Father Divine so he could be better seen by his followers. When fully loaded, the car regularly broke its rear wheels because even the over-engineered Duesenberg chassis couldn't take the extra weight of the imposing body.

Walter M. Murphy, based in Pasadena, California, built more bodies for the Model J than any other coachbuilder. Yet, in the early 1930s, was forced into liquidation. The equipment and some of its most skilled craftsmen coalesced into a new company under Chris Bohman and Maurice Schwartz, forming Bohman & Schwarts. One of their first commissions was a modern Town Cabriolet body on a 1935 Model chassis for Ethel Mars, the candy heiress. Designer J. Herbert Newport designed a raked, vee-shaped radiator shell and streamlined side-mount spare covers which would become the car's signature design feature.

A few years later, Bohman & Schwartz was tasked with creating another Newport design with the same sweeping enclosed side-mount covers. The order came from 'John the Baptist' and specified many unique items like star quarter windows, a crescent moon-shaped rear window, a star-studded white headliner, a hydraulically operated folding landaulet, and an elevating rear seat. The work was done for Rev. M.J. Divine, 'Father Divine.' He was a charismatic preacher who founded the Universal Peace Mission Movement during the 1910s. He built a successful movement on messages of honesty, freedom from vices, sexual abstinence, and equal treatment for all.

In 1936 'John the Baptist', probably John Hunt, a wealthy convert to the Universal Peace Mission and leader of the Los Angeles area Missions, ordered this extravagant Duesenberg Model J as an offering for Father Divine. The Duesenberg was created to accommodate Father and Mother Divine and his attendants. What was built was the longest, widest, and most commodious Duesenberg. it has a wheelbase that extended to 178.5 inches, a full 8.5 inches longer than the Bugatti Type 41 Royale. J. Herbert Newport was tasked with creating the body design for Bohman & Schwartz. It was given a long and wide tonneau that included 'throne' chairs for Father and Mother Divine under a folding landaulet tonneau. The original design called for Father Divine's chair to raise hydraulically but that feature was replaced with a supplemental cushion that raised Father Divine's seat several inches so he could be clearly seen and address his followers at gathering through a built-in public address system. The vehicle had a total capacity of ten occupants with the rear-facing seats behind the divider and the front seats both accommodating four-abreast seating. The body was seven feet wide. There were folding step plates hidden within the doors. An intercom communicated the passenger's instructions to the driver.

The vehicle was completed in 1937 and it was presented to Father Divine by Mary Bird Tree, one of his disciples (John Hunt, by this point in history, had been imprisoned for violation of the Mann Act). He immediately gave it back to her and it was registered in her name.

In 1948, the Duesenberg was laid up with 100,743 miles on the odometer and its folding landaulet was replaced with a removable padded rear roof section in a carriage house at the Father Divine's headquarters in Gladwyne, PA. After Father Divine passed away in 1965, it remained in the care of Mother Divine, in storage. Years later, it was acquired by Bob Bahre. In February of 1981, he sold it to Robert Adams who sold it to Rick Carroll in September 1983. Ownership later passed to the Imperial Palace Collection two months later. In 1999 it was acquired by the Dean V. Kruse Foundations, in the badly deteriorated condition in which it had been rescued from Father Divine's carriage house. John M. O'Quinn purchased it in 2006 and immediately began a comprehensive restoration. It was finished in 2009 in deep green with green broadcloth rear compartment and brown leather in the front. It was put on display at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

The car remains the longest, widest, and heaviest Duesenberg built.

In 2011, the car was offered for sale at the Quail Lodge auction presented by Bonhams. As bidding came to a close, the car had been sold for the sum of $400,000 inclusive of the buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2011