Duesenberg SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan - 1933 - 'Twenty Grand'

Rollston Duesenberg SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan 'Twenty Grand'

 

Rollston's most famous car was the 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan "Twenty Grand".

Designed by Gordon Buehrig, the Twenty Grand was built as a show car for the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, and the finished car's price tag was $20,000, an astronomical amount at the time.

 

Duesenberg

 

E. L. Cord, the owner of Auburn Automobile, and other transportation firms, bought the Duesenberg Motor Corporation on October 26, 1926 for the brothers' engineering skills, talent and the brand name in order to produce luxury cars. Cord told Fred Duesenberg to design an automobile that would be the best in the world, the biggest, fastest, and most expensive car ever made. The car was intended to compete with the biggest, most powerful, and most luxurious European cars of the era, including Hispano-Suiza, Isotta-Fraschini, Mercedes-Benz, and Rolls-Royce.

 

The newly revived Duesenberg company set about to produce the Model J, which debuted December 1 at the New York Car Show of 1928. In Europe, it was launched at the "Salon de l'automobile de Paris" of 1929. The first and — at the time of the New York presentation — only example made of the series, the J-101, was a LeBaron sweep panel dual cowl phaeton, finished in silver and black. By the time the Great Depression hit in October 1929, the Duesenberg Company had only built some 200 cars. An additional 100 orders were filled in 1930. Thus, the Model J fell short of the original goal to sell 500 cars a year.

 

Specifications:

 

Overview

ManufacturerDuesenberg

Production1928-1937

Combustion chamber

ConfigurationStraight-eight engine

Displacement420 cu in (6,900 cc)

Cylinder bore3.74 in (95 mm)

Piston stroke4.76 in (121 mm)

Cylinder block alloycast iron

Cylinder head alloycast iron

ValvetrainDOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

Compression ratio5.7:1

Combustion

SuperchargerDuesenberg centrifugal (optional from 1932)

Fuel systemSingle updraft Schleber carburetor

Fuel typegasoline

Cooling systemwater-cooled

Output

Power output

265 hp (198 kW) at 4250 rpm (normal)

320 hp (240 kW) at 4200 rpm (supercharged)

Chronology

PredecessorDuesenberg Model A

 

Engine

 

The straight eight model J motor was based on the company's successful racing engines of the 1920s and though designed by Duesenberg they were manufactured by Lycoming, another company owned by Cord. In normally aspirated form, it produced 265 horsepower (198 kW) from dual overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. It was capable of a top speed of 119 mph (192 km/h), and 94 mph (151 km/h) in 2nd gear. Other cars featured a bigger engine but none of them surpassed its power. It was also both the fastest and most expensive American automobile on the market.

 

Design and development

 

As it was custom among the luxury car brands, only the chassis and engine were displayed, as the interior and body of the car would be custom-made by an experienced coachbuilder to the owner's specifications. The chassis on most model J's were the same, as was the styling of such elements as fenders, headlamps, radiator, hood and instrument panel.

 

Bodywork for these Duesenbergs came from both the US and Europe, and the finished cars were some of the largest, grandest, most beautiful, and most elegant cars ever created.[citation needed] About half the model Js built by Duesenberg had coachworks devised by the company's chief body designer, Gordon Buehrig, the rest were designed and made by independent coachbuilders from the US such as Derham, Holbrook, Judkins, Le Baron, Murphy, Rollston (later renamed Rollson), Walker, Weymann, and Willoughby, to name a few; and from Europe: Fernandez et Darrin, Franay, Gurney Nutting, Saoutchik, etc. However, other coachworks were made by Duesenberg branches in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Florida and Denver, as well as by smaller dealers. For the in-house bodies Duesenberg used the name of La Grande.

 

The chassis cost $8,500 ($9,500 after 1932); the completed base model cost between $13,000 and $19,000 (two of the American-bodied J's reached $25,000), at a time when the average U.S. physician earned less than $3,000 a year. Figures are not available as to the prices charged by deluxe coachbuilders in Europe, but it is reasonable to assume that the final selling price of the products mounted on the costly imported chassis were considerably higher than their all-American-built counterparts.

 

The J was available in two versions of chassis with a different wheelbase; a long one (153.54 in (3.90 m))[12] and a short one (about 141.73 in (3.60 m)). There were also other special sizes; like the only two SSJs with a wheelbase shortened to 125 in (3.18 m) and a couple of cars with the wheelbase extended to 4 m (160 in) and over.

 

The dash included lights that reminded the driver the oil needed changing and the battery should be inspected.

 

A series of minor modifications were carried out during the production life, but most of the design remained the same up until the factory closed in 1937. First to go was the four-speed gearbox, which proved unable to handle the engine's power. It was replaced by an unsynchronised three-speed gearbox, which was fitted to all subsequent Duesenbergs. Unlike almost all American manufacturers, Duesenberg did not switch to a fully synchronised gearbox in the mid-1930s, which made the Model J difficult to drive and outdated. By 1937 the chassis and gearbox were ancient compared to the competition.

 

Regarding this model, it is necessary to emphasize that most of them (engine and chassis) were made in 1929 and 1930, but due to the Depression, high price, etc., were sold throughout the next years. To date a certain J it is taken the year a car was bodied, even though the chassis were made in 1929, 1930, etc.

 

Supercharged version (SJ)

 

The supercharged version, often referred to as "SJ", was reputed to do 104 miles per hour (167 km/h) in second and have a top speed of 135–140 mph (217–225 km/h) in third gear. Zero-to-60 mph (97 km/h) times of around eight seconds and 0–100 mph (0–161 km/h) in 17 seconds were reported for the SJ in spite of the unsynchronized transmissions, at a time when even the best cars of the era were not likely to reach 100 mph (160 km/h). Duesenbergs generally weighed around two and a half tons; up to three tons was not unusual, considering the wide array of custom coachwork available. The wheelbase was 142.5 in (362 cm).

 

This rare supercharged Model J version, with 320 hp (239 kW) was also created by Fred Duesenberg. and introduced in May 1932, only 36 units were built. The SJ's supercharger was located beside the engine; to make room for it, the exhaust pipes were creased so they could be bent easily and extended through the side panel of the hood. These supercharged cars can be recognized by these shiny creased tubes, which Cord registered as a trademark and used in his other supercharged cars from Cord and Auburn. However, despite being a characteristic of the supercharged Model Js, these external exhaust pipes were offered as an option on normally aspirated Model Js, and were also offered for retrofitting to earlier Model Js. It was said, "The only car that could pass a Duesenberg was another Duesenberg—and that was with the first owner's consent."

 

Fred Duesenberg died of pneumonia on July 26, 1932, resulting from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in which he was driving a Murphy SJ convertible. His brother, Augie, took over Fred's duties as chief engineer and Harold T. Ames became president of Duesenberg, Inc.

 

Citations taken from Wikipedia.

 

This Lego miniland-scale Rollston bodied Duesenberg SJ Arlington Torpedo Sedan from 1933 has been created for Flickr LUGNuts 83rd build challenge, - 'Only in America', - featuring vehicles created in the USA

Done