Voiture Duesenberg Model J Convertible Berline 1934 a vendre

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Sold | $1,022,500 USD

Offered from two decades in current ownership
Rare body style, with streamlined styling and raked windshield
Formerly owned by Charles M. Knipe, Lorin Tryon, and Jack Finden
Not shown for many years and largely forgotten to the Duesenberg community
A CCCA Full Classic

Please note that this lot is titled using a combination of the chassis number and engine number.

The Walter M. Murphy Company of Pasadena, California, was one of the great names in Classic Era coachbuilding and the most prolific shop on the grand Model J Duesenberg, producing more bodies on J chassis than any other firm. Among their offerings were a roster of four-door convertible sedans and berlines—originally a rather conservative design, later replaced by a new model of “close coupled” proportions, with a subtle outward curve to its flanks, a prominent beltline molding extending back from a rakishly angled windshield, and a more graceful rounded shape to the rear quarters of the top. This styling was introduced fairly late in the life of Murphy, which shuttered during 1932, and so was quite rare in production. Only about five convertible berlines built to the design remain in existence today.

According to the late Duesenberg historian, Ray Wolff, chassis number 2434 was originally fitted with engine J-416 and sold as a chassis only, with its Murphy convertible berline body mounted soon afterward. Wolff noted that the car was employed as a “demonstrator” at the Duesenberg factory branch in Chicago before delivery on 13 August 1933 to its original owner, William Boal Wood of Piqua, Ohio. Mr. Wood was the 26-year-old heir to his family’s namesake shovel and tool company, long one of Miami County’s most prominent employers, known as a major supplier of forged metal hand tools to railroads and construction companies across the country.

Following several short-term ownerships in New York City, the Model J was brought west by William Dymond of New Orleans, later passing to one Harry Mounce. It was acquired from Mounce by steel manufacturer and early enthusiast Charles Markle Knipe, who removed the original engine and installed the present unit, combining bell-housing J-416 with the balance of engine J-405 from his Murphy Convertible Coupe. While in Mr. Knipe’s ownership the car was photographed by Jim Hoe, in pictures later published in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club Newsletter, showing it in very solid, intact condition, with its late-production “JN”-style skirted fenders.

Mr. Knipe sold the car in 1958 to G.B. Schurmeier of Alameda, Texas, from whom it was purchased in August 1961 by well-known ACD parts purveyor Glenn Pray of Oklahoma. It passed from Mr. Pray to J.F. Epley of Midland, Texas, then to James E. Anthony, also of Texas, with whom it remained from 1968 until 1976.

Afterward it passed through the hands of George Walthers, film producer James Packer, and finally longtime Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Co-Chairman Lorin Tryon, all men actively involved in the Duesenberg market in this era—as was Leo Gephart, involved in several of these transactions, who proudly recalled that this was the very first Model J he had ever seen, as a very young man, when Mr. Wood owned it. In this period, it was restored to its present color scheme of two-tone blue and was afterward seen in advertisements for Dayton Wire Wheels, a Walther family product. Collector Jack Finden of Topeka, Kansas, purchased the car in this form in the late 1970s, and later exchanged it through Tom Barrett to longtime Duesenberg aficionado Charles Goodman of California.

The car was acquired by the present owner in 2005 from Dr. Greg Mieckowski of Pennsylvania and has quietly remained in his small, select collection for over 20 years, during which time it has been seldom shown but always appreciated. Mechanically recommissioned in preparation for sale, it would be an ideal basis for further sorting for road enjoyment on any number of ACD Club events and Classic Car Club of America CARavans, or for a fresh restoration to a modern concours standard. Either is a worthy fate for a Duesenberg so gracious of line and handsome in proportion, with a fascinating history.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/auctions/hf26/.