Opulent Indulgence....Maharajah Style
black mamba
Registered Users Posts: 8,325 Major grins
I don't know where to start with this car. It is perhaps the most arresting car I have ever seen....and I've seen a mother-load of stunning automobiles over the years. In a field full of the finest cars ever made, this one simply commands your attention like no other. The size alone is compelling. It rides along on a chassis of 153 inches in length and weighs in at about 5200 lbs. The manufacturer of this car was known for building big cars, but this is extraordinary in its size and presence.
The basics first. This car is a 1935 Duesenberg Speedster Roadster. The Duesenberg brothers, Fred and August, started making cars...mostly race cars for a limited market, in 1913. It wasn't until about 1920 or 1921 that they began to make cars for the passenger market. The brothers, formally unschooled, but naturally brilliant engineering types, shared one burning passion....they wanted to produce the finest cars made. Many automobile experts feel that they certainly attained their goal, in spades.
It didn't take too long before the name Duesenberg became synonymous with excellence in design, construction, and mechanics and it remained that way until their production came to an end in 1937. All Duesenbergs were custom, handmade cars. The list of owners of these cars included royalty, movie stars, captains of industry....anyone who wanted the very best and could afford to pay what the average physician of the times could make in a 10 year period. Some Duesenbergs, like this one, cost way more than even that lofty number.
This car was ordered and built for the Maharajah Holkar of Indore, India. The Duesenberg company was not given a budget for this car....they were simply instructed to produce for the Maharajah the very finest car in the world. They set about their task with a commitment to build this car using only the finest materials available....from any source and anywhere.
The engine in this machine was adapted from the supercharged version of the company's Model J car. It is a 420 C.I. straight-8, 4 valve per cylinder, dual overhead cam monster of an engine which produced, for that time, an astounding 320 HP. It can propel the car to over 104 MPH in second gear and drive it flat out to over 140 MPH. All of the associated drive train and suspension was designed to handle this beast on the road.
When this car's chassis was ready, it was shipped over to England where the firm of J. Gurney Nutting & Co., one of the world's most noted car body salons, fitted the magnificent body to this car chassis. When their exhaustive work was finished, the car was shipped back to the U.S where the final preparation was completed and the car was delivered to the Maharajah in our country.
The list of special features this car has is too long to go into here. You could spend a lot of time....as I did....just marveling at what engineering and production excellence can result from a committed bunch of people who have no budget restrictions placed upon them. One little clue for you as to the thought and detail that went into this car: Note on top of the front fenders that there is a running-light fixture with both a red lens and a blue lens. When the Maharajah was driving the car, the lights burned red; when his wife, the Maharanee was driving, the lights burned blue.
This car disappeared and considered lost for quite some time. It was discovered again in 1959. It was eventually acquired by General William Lyon and now resides in the very private William Lyon Classic Automobile Collection. The car is valued in excess of $5,000,000.00
The basics first. This car is a 1935 Duesenberg Speedster Roadster. The Duesenberg brothers, Fred and August, started making cars...mostly race cars for a limited market, in 1913. It wasn't until about 1920 or 1921 that they began to make cars for the passenger market. The brothers, formally unschooled, but naturally brilliant engineering types, shared one burning passion....they wanted to produce the finest cars made. Many automobile experts feel that they certainly attained their goal, in spades.
It didn't take too long before the name Duesenberg became synonymous with excellence in design, construction, and mechanics and it remained that way until their production came to an end in 1937. All Duesenbergs were custom, handmade cars. The list of owners of these cars included royalty, movie stars, captains of industry....anyone who wanted the very best and could afford to pay what the average physician of the times could make in a 10 year period. Some Duesenbergs, like this one, cost way more than even that lofty number.
This car was ordered and built for the Maharajah Holkar of Indore, India. The Duesenberg company was not given a budget for this car....they were simply instructed to produce for the Maharajah the very finest car in the world. They set about their task with a commitment to build this car using only the finest materials available....from any source and anywhere.
The engine in this machine was adapted from the supercharged version of the company's Model J car. It is a 420 C.I. straight-8, 4 valve per cylinder, dual overhead cam monster of an engine which produced, for that time, an astounding 320 HP. It can propel the car to over 104 MPH in second gear and drive it flat out to over 140 MPH. All of the associated drive train and suspension was designed to handle this beast on the road.
When this car's chassis was ready, it was shipped over to England where the firm of J. Gurney Nutting & Co., one of the world's most noted car body salons, fitted the magnificent body to this car chassis. When their exhaustive work was finished, the car was shipped back to the U.S where the final preparation was completed and the car was delivered to the Maharajah in our country.
The list of special features this car has is too long to go into here. You could spend a lot of time....as I did....just marveling at what engineering and production excellence can result from a committed bunch of people who have no budget restrictions placed upon them. One little clue for you as to the thought and detail that went into this car: Note on top of the front fenders that there is a running-light fixture with both a red lens and a blue lens. When the Maharajah was driving the car, the lights burned red; when his wife, the Maharanee was driving, the lights burned blue.
This car disappeared and considered lost for quite some time. It was discovered again in 1959. It was eventually acquired by General William Lyon and now resides in the very private William Lyon Classic Automobile Collection. The car is valued in excess of $5,000,000.00
I always wanted to lie naked on a bearskin rug in front of a fireplace. Cracker Barrel didn't take kindly to it.
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Comments
How does a car like that "get lost" for some time? "Oh darn, I've misplaced my $5M sports car."
Link to my Smugmug site
Jack
(My real name is John but Jack'll do)
I'm with you there, Joel.....how does a car like this get " misplaced " ? Surprisingly, there are a fair number of the world's most famous cars where this has been the case. Sometimes....and I'm not implying that such is the case here...I believe there are shenanigans involved.
Tom
Hey Jack,
That's a darn good question....why am I not surprised that it would come from you?
Take a close look at the passenger side of the car in the second shot, keeping in mind that this car is driven from the right. Right in front of the rear fender you will see a small chrome strip which is a part of a step that folds up into the body work when not employed to get into the rumble seat. In most cars having rumble seats, the seat and trunk had to share space. With this car, there is a separate trunk with its own dedicated space. The folding top to this car is also cleverly concealed.
Take care my friend,
Tom
Hey Joel,
I've been digging around, trying to get a better handle on why this remarkable car was " lost " for quite a long period. There is no definitive answer that I could turn up. There is speculation that concerns over the Japanese intrusion into the India part of the world in WWII led to possessions like this to be secreted away to protect them. It sounds plausible that such was the case here.
Tom
Thanks for the kind words, Gary.
Speaking of Clark Gable's car......
This automobile is indeed something special!
To me, the front/grill says; "I'm here, I'm bold, and I'm not ashamed of it"
The profile; "Beautiful flowing lines and curves"
The rear: "Smooth, unencumbered, aerodynamic"
I don't have a clue if that was the original color scheme, but I can't imagine a better one could have been applied to accentuate all the above.
Bottom line, I'm inclined to agree with your initial statements
Question: I'm really intrigued that even though it's a straight 8 cylinder, 4 main pipes come out of the passenger side engine cowl. Why did they not split them and route 4 to the drivers side?
Randy,
If you could see inside the engine cowling, the answer would be clear to you. As a straight 8 engine, all the exhaust ports are, of course, on the same side of the engine....in this case the right hand side. That monster engine is so large that there is simply no room in the engine bay to accommodate splitting the pipes and routing four over to the other side. Additionally, there may have been....and I'm not at all certain about this....a concern about all cylinders having equal length manifold runners if they were to split them. That would, of course, have a negative effect on overall engine performance. The main reason, though, I feel certain is that there just wasn't room to exit the exhaust other than the way they did.
Tom
PS I screwed up....the first part of my response to you....about the colors....is included in the section above.
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
Thanks very much for your kind words, Jiro.
I know you are familiar with the old saying of " be careful what you wish for ". When I build up a head of steam, I can really overwhelm you with car shots....to the point, I'm sure, of wearing out my welcome. So I'll go ahead and apologize now for the flood of stuff that will be coming your way.
Tom
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
Here's a Duesey that was in Auburn last year for the "drag races"
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Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.
I can't image stepping up on that step to get into the back. Shoes would scratch the heck out of it.
Beautiful car .. enjoyed the story about it too
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
I'm not sure if it was a sticker or not, but it was for the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club Reunion in Auburn 2010. They had "Duesenberg Races" last year and had a record turn out of Duesenbergs.
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