When Errett Lobban Cord acquired the bankrupt Deusenberg Motors Company in 1926, he immediately rehired self-taught engineer Fred Duesenberg to design the ultimate luxury car. The Model J made front page news when it debuted at the New York Car Show in December of 1928. Like all Duesys, the J has a big straight 8 twin cam with four valves per cylinder, displacing 420 cubic inches and producing an impressive 265 hp, topping out around 120 mph. Only the chassis and engine were displayed in New York, since the interior and body of the car were to be custom made by independent coach builders to the new owner’s specifications. This particular J was fitted by the legendary Murphy Coach Builders of Pasadena, who built out 125 Duesenberg bodies, about a quarter of Duesenberg’s later inventory.

At the time, the Duesenberg J was simply the finest car in the world, and its price tag was astronomical. The chassis and engine alone cost $9500, and a completed base model came in at $13,500 - top of the line ran more like $25,000. To put it in perspective, the average American doctor made $3000 per year in those days, and an entry level Ford Model T coast about $450, and only did around 50 mph. As such, the Duesenberg J was the supercar of foreign kings, movie stars, business tycoons and gangsters. After the New York showing, Duesenberg ordered enough components to build 500 Js, hoping to produce that many per year. The first customer took delivery of the car in May of 1929, just five weeks before Black Tuesday. The advent of the Great Depression meant competition for the dwindling luxury car market was fierce, and many would-be buyers shied away from excessive, glitzy purchases. All of the approximately 480 Js were built in 1929, and many languished in show rooms over the next decade, named for the year of their sale, rather than year of manufacture.

None of this bothered this Duesenberg’s original owner, socialite Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean, the feisty daughter of an Irish immigrant miner, who made his fortune in the California gold rush. An eccentric party girl with a heart of gold, Evalyn was the last private owner of the Hope Diamond, which she wore swimming and gardening, hid in her toaster, and loaned out to any takers, including her Great Dane. She and her Duesenberg became even more famous when Evalyn became mixed up in the Lindbergh kidnapping trial of 1934. After seeing a vision of the baby’s kidnapper in a dream, and fueled by her fears for her own children, Evalyn hocked the Hope Diamond in order to offer $100,000 in ransom money. She was famously photographed swooning into the arms of her chauffeur while getting into her Duesenberg after testifying at the Lindbergh trial.

Evalyn’s Duesenberg, one of seven formal chauffeur-driven sedans ever built, was designed to her extravagant specifications by Gordon Buehrig, head of design at Duesenberg, and passed to Murphy for completion. By the time Jay pulled it out of the backwoods of Minnesota, a complete restoration in the hands of America’s foremost Duesenberg authority, Randy Ema, was in order. The plush interior was redone in its original woolen fabric and mahogany, and all mechanics were rebuilt. Even the matching luggage stored in the car’s trunk was reproduced. According to Ema, the most difficult challenge in this restoration was repairing the wooden base of the car, which required pulling the body entirely apart. Now it’s one of the most fabulous Duesenbergs in Jay’s collection.