This $3.745 Million 1934 Duesenberg Model J Was The Most Expensive American-Made Car Sold At Monterey Car Week
As they say, it’s a Duesy.
A 1934 Duesenberg Model J Disappearing-Top Convertible Coupe was sold for the highest price of any American-Made car at the Monterey Car Week auctions this year.
The black car is one of 140 Model Js that were constructed with bodywork designed by the Walter M. Murphy Company.
It was originally delivered as a four-door Dual-Cowl Phaeton, but was involved in an accident and rebuilt by Duesenberg at its Indiana factory in 1934 with the convertible body style.
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The design features a storage compartment between the front row and second row rumble sweat that entirely covers the roof when it is down.
The car is still powered by its original 420-cubic-inch straight-eight engine, which was rated at 265 hp and sends the power to its rear live axle through a three-speed manual transmission.
It was fully restored in 1985 and still has its original chassis and firewall according to Gooding & Company, the auction house that offered it at Monterey where it was sold for $3,745,000.
That price put it above the $3.3 million that was paid for a 1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona at the Mecum Auctions event, which set a record for the model.
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However, the most expensive car from an American brand that was sold in Monterey was a 1969 Ford GT40 Lightweight, which was assembled in Slough, U.K, according to its history.
Duesenberg currently holds the title of most expensive American car ever sold at auction, which belongs to a 1935 SSJ that was sold by Gooding & Company at Monterey in 2018 for $22 million.
That was the 15th highest price ever paid for a car at auction behind a list of mostly Ferraris that also has one Aston Martin and two Mercedes-Benzs on it, including the all-time champion.
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The most valuable car ever sold is the 1955 Million Mercedes-Benz 300SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe that was purchased at a private auction held at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart in 2022 for an astonishing $143 million.
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