Vehicle Description
To be OFFERED AT AUCTION at Auctions America's Auburn Fall event,
August 31-3, 2017.
Chassis No.
2157
Estimate:
$950,000 - $1,200,000 US
At the New York Salon of 1929, two men came together. One was Fred
Duesenberg, and the other was Alfred North, a prominent
Philadelphia jurist seeking a new automobile. As Judge North later
recounted, he was sufficiently impressed by the new Model J
Duesenberg that he placed an order for a new chassis, directly from
the man who had designed it.
Most Duesenberg owners had very particular ideas about how they
wanted their automobile to look, few more so than Judge North.
Having purchased his chassis, he commissioned its roadster body
from the Fleetwood Metal Body Company, located in the Pennsylvania
town of the same name. No photographs of the car with this body are
known to have survived, as within just a few years a second body
had been installed for the Judge, the current Fleetwood convertible
coupe, which is believed to have been removed from a 1931 Cadillac
V-8 chassis.
The Duesenberg continued to evolve almost continously through the
1940s, with new styling features added at Judge North's behest,
including a more rakish angled windshield. All the while, it was
being driven and enjoyed; by 1940 it had accumulated nearly 200,000
miles. It is believed that no other Model J was driven more miles
by its first owner.
In the fashion of the type, it was easier to simply buy another
Duesenberg engine and install it than to rebuild the one that it
was in the car, and Judge North went through three engines - the
last, J-417, is still installed today, with its correct
late-production exhaust manifolding still intact. Despite so many
miles, the Model J was not worn out; it was fastidiously
maintained, as evidenced by Judge North's correspondence with
Duesenberg historian, J.L. Elbert, in the late 1940s.
The Judge wrote of his car that, following a comprehensive
mechanical rebuild, it was still in daily use, and "has strength,
ruggedness, durability - far beyond anything that can be purchased
today - and is exceptionally sure-footed...My present car has now
all the worth-while modern features, will out-perform any modern
car, and possesses many virtues which are unavailable today." His
comments - that, after twenty years, his Duesenberg was still the
best automobile in the world - were echoed by other respondents to
Elbert's survey.
Following his passing in the late 1950s, Judge North's wife sold
the single-owner Duesenberg to Victor Hendricks of Tenafly, New
Jersey. It next passed in 1961 to Max Kessel of Bergenfield, New
Jersey, in whose ownership it remained for a decade before being
sold to the early automobile collector, Lew Lazarus. Lazarus, in
turn, sold the car to L.J. Ruppert of California, who installed
traditional Duesenberg headlights, radiator shell, and bumpers,
replacing Cadillac components fitted in the Judge's later
years.
The Model J was later purchased by Delbrook Lichtenberg, becoming
the only Duesenberg in the state of Montana, a status which it
retained for eight years. It was then purchased by Dr. Barbara
Atwood of Rockford, Illinois, on January 30, 1985.
Dr. Atwood was a fascinating individual, who had been a fashion
model in her youth, with appearances in Vogue, before achieving her
doctorate and great personal success as a psychologist. Having
loved cars her entire life, she invested her wealth in a fabulous
collection of great American Full Classic automobiles, many of
which were fully restored in her stewardship to the highest
standards by future CCCA chief judge Steve Babinsky of Automotive
Restorations in Lebanon, New Jersey. She was fastidious and
demanding, endeavoring to make each car the best that it could be,
and the results - trophies from virtually every major American
concours - spoke for themselves.
Mr. Babinsky restored the Duesenberg to this standard, finishing
the body in a rich two-tone green and black with a complentary
velvet green leather interior. Afterwards, car was taken to the
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, winning a class award, and then
to the AACA national meets, achieving a National First Prize. As
was the very private Dr. Atwood's habit, the car was then placed in
her museum in Rockford, where it was fastidiously maintained in the
best of surroundings, but seldom shown again before her passing in
2008. It was then sold to the current owner, who exhibited it at
the Meadowbrook Concours d'Elegance in 2009.
Today, some thirty years after completion of the restoration, it
remains immaculate, a testament both to the lasting quality of Mr.
Babinsky's work and to the care given it since. Dr. Atwood made the
decision to reverse some of the Judge North modifications,
including refitting traditional Duesenberg fenders and hood. The
car retains its Fleetwood convertible coupe body, mounted for the
original owner in 1933. Its frame and firewall are both original
and bear the correct chassis number, 2157, while the dashboard
carries the correct, original drum-style gauges used on early Model
Js.
Having been seldom shown over the last three decades, the Model J
is now ready for a further spate of concours d'elegance
appearances. Alternatively, its mechanical condition would make it
a handsome and unique candidate for various Auburn Cord Duesenberg
Club and Classic Car Club of America events, including the CCCA's
famous CARavans.
Judge North's Model J is today in its ultimate form - a Duesenberg
convertible coupe of distinction, rarity, and quality.