Duesenberg at last!

[alsancle]

The Duesenberg II in the picture was for sale down in Florida not too long ago. I really like it and I hate replicas.

http://www.auburnspeedsters.com/classifieds_victorycars_49.htm

[mercer09]

David,

you sound giddy in your writing-well done.

I am sure there are at least 5 Duesenbergs still over in Europe that have not been accounted for............... the eternal hope is the enjoyment of the chase.

When I was 12 years old, there was a man a couple of miles away that had built a shack around his Duesey and himself. He had about a dozen Packards of 33-34 vintage high up on blocks, on the outside of his hermit quarters. I believe he thought the earth would once again flood and wtd to be ready. The shack was built back in the late 50's I believe.

My science teacher told me that if you were to drive by right about 4pm as the sun was setting, you could actually see inside of the old shack through one of the windows and see the car.

I never did see it............... It was a Murphy bodied roadster with a hideaway top I believe.

Anyway, a wealthy collector wtd the car in the worst way and somehow obtained the man's phone #. He would call him every 3 months or so and one day, offered to build him a house in exchange for the Duesey. The deal was done. That was around 1977 or so.

The car was restored and is a beauty. So they do exist, just depends on what era you are living in.

[60FlatTop]

Looks like the Darrin Dip. Maybe done in the 1950s?

I have seen some period write up on a couple of Darrin Cords. It is logical that he would have done a few at the time. The Stork hood ornament makes me think it is an earlier job.

That Cord was rescued and was at the Syracuse Nationals in recent years.

J. P. at Victory Cars and I have shared those 2005 pictures. He seems like a pretty decent person. I'd buy a car from him.

Back to the Duesenburgs, I have some pictures of a 1932 Hudson Greater Eight that I need to scan. That grille shell is almost a dead knock off. I could easily be mistaken when peeking into a dark barn.

On the old collection, a friend of mine told me about flying a small private plane there to look at a rare Cadillac. He said they had to land on the two lane highway. Neat stuff.

Bernie

Edited April 4, 2015 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[Dave Henderson]

I am hesitant to critisize someone else's work, but a Darrin that Cord is not. It obviously was made from a sedan, with a top from a '37 Chevy maybe? As for Darrin, I don't think any Cords were done by him, though at least one other got the door treatment .

[alsancle]

Definetly not Darrin but I thought kinda cool.

[auburnseeker]

Interesting. There is a Samco type cord right next to the real thing. Usually the guy who owns a real one, wants nothing to do with a replica. Especially one that missed the mark by quite a bit.

A guy bought that Auburn replica a couple of years ago. (atleast I think it's the same one, because he showed me a picture of that Duesenberg as well) I was persuing it for a short time from the new owner but decided it was needing way too much. The undercarriage was pretty rusty from what I could see of the pictures he showed me. He was fishing for a price as well. I don't think he would have sold it for less than 17,500.

I also just don't like the vibe of a replica. It just doesn't have that aura of an original car.

Can anyone actually explain what gives us that feeling?

[keiser31]

My only non-museum experience with a Duesenberg....Colonel Porter's in a shed in southern California....don't know where it resides now.

Edited April 4, 2015 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Paul Dobbin]

I also just don't like the vibe of a replica. It just doesn't have that aura of an original car.

Can anyone actually explain what gives us that feeling?

I think it's because the quality of the replica, NEVER matches that of the original. Different times, different materials, makes them different cars.

I was fortunate enough to own an original 1957 Porsche Speedster as a young Airman in the 1960's. It served me well and was a ball to drive in Germany then in the USA. After 4 years I sold it for twice what I paid for it and thought I was the salesman of the century. 20 years later I got an American manufactured replica on a hopped up VW platform. Looked good, drove fairly well, was fiberglass instead of steel, the quality was non-existent and so were buyers when I was ready to sell.

Today my old (Real) Speedster in a #3 condition is worth 5 X more than a fake in #1 condition. I know why. Kind of like all the fiberglass 1932-1934 Fords, just Dune Buggies by comparison.

[alsancle]

I think your old speedster may be worth 10x a fake in #1 condition. I like the Glen Pray 8/10 Cords but those are not really replicas but continuation cars. I also like the Duesenberg II Dual Cowl previously posted. I don't like anything on a VW chassis including a VW.

[john2dameron]

A man sold everything and, gave up his home, and lost his wife to own a Dusenberg. It was rumored he died alone and homeless. Still after losing all he requested to be buried in the car. A charitable piper recalls the story:

As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the Kentucky back country.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn’t stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played Amazing Grace, the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

Bernie

Flattop, I also read that story in a book written by a retired preacher who was telling how he got lost getting to the cemetery to preach a funeral and the digger's remark was he'd never before heard anyone pray like that for a septic tank. Sorry, but I had to tell you.

[mercer09]

as an aside...........................

went on ebay a few years back, found 2 old Duesenberg titles listed for sale and won the auction!

the closest I will ever come to owning a Duesey and way cool. One of the addresses was downtown NY and today is the Colgate Palmolive Building........................................

what an estate that must have been!

[trimacar]

The title story is cool! That'd be a fun thing to leave laying around when your old car friends drop by!

[60FlatTop]

Flattop, I also read that story in a book written by a retired preacher who was telling how he got lost getting to the cemetery to preach a funeral and the digger's remark was he'd never before heard anyone pray like that for a septic tank. Sorry, but I had to tell you.

I knew it had been repeated. I changed it a little to update it from Socrates teasing Plato.

Bernie

[trimacar]

It's very difficult to come up with a truly "new" joke.

A number of years ago, during the Christmas season, I came up with the chef who searched the world for the perfect sauce, and found it in Alaska, thus proving there's no place like Nome for the hollandaise....

I was so very proud of myself.

Of course, a later Goggle search showed it had already been told....

[60FlatTop]

And then.......

Bernie

[mercer09]

Bernie,

that chrome says it all.............................

[60FlatTop]

You know how hub caps get grease in the center from guys putting the wheel bearing nut and cotter pin there? If you serve fried chicken in them it cleans that grease right up. And Col. Sanders got my hands clean at the junkyard quite a few times.

BERNIE

[auburnseeker]

You know how hub caps get grease in the center from guys putting the wheel bearing nut and cotter pin there? If you serve fried chicken in them it cleans that grease right up. And Col. Sanders got my hands clean at the junkyard quite a few times.

BERNIE

I just figured out the colonel's secret recipe. Must be you fry the chicken in WD40. That's the only think I know of that cleans grease off your hands that well!!!

[trimacar]

Next you guys will be telling us about deep dish pizza in deep dish hubcaps....sheesh!

PreWarCar had a great April Fools joke on April 1st, as they seem to do every year.......

[Marty Roth]

Thanks Bernie -- as a "semi-retired Musician", that is one of my favorites and our friend Matt is a Bagpiper !!

[60FlatTop]

The Col. takes a back seat the the true guvermint supplies. In the Navy we used to clean the firesides of our bunker C fired boilers with scrapers and wire brushes. I have a picture of me standing in a firebox and the only parts that are white are my eyes and fingernails. (the stuff didn't stick to nails.)

At the end of our 12 hour shifts we would head for the coffee mess between the superheater section and the reciprocating feed pump and mix up some sugar and light machine oil for hand cleaner. That really did a job. Try it when you have to clean up after a crusty job.

The sugar and oil has a second benefit that appeals to some people, like my wife. It separates the tasks of hand cleaning and eating, which I don't deny is a good thing. Maybe it needs to be a learned response in some. I remember eating some cold cut sandwiches with black fingerprints all over the white bread and they were pretty tasty at the time. If you are really greasy, you can hold one corner and let the sandwich resr against the back of you hand or forearm where it is not so dirty; then throw the corner away.

For starting out as a April Fools joke, this topic is still going on the 6th. That ain't bad. Didn't someone say "I will honor April Fool's Day in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." Beats the dickens out of me where I remember that from.

Bernie

[trimacar]

The bread story reminds me of my dad's business partner. He was germaphobe when no one knew what that meant. At a fish fry once, he didn't like the look the plates, so he laid slices of white bread on the plate, put the fish on it, then when done threw the bread away.

He'd also put a napkin over his open Coke bottle, so no fly would land on the rim, and put his lit cigarettes on the work counter with the burning part on the counter, so the "lip" end wouldn't touch anything...leaving burn marks on the counter.

And we think old car people are funny!

[60FlatTop]

My Dad told me a story to warm me about being a germaphobe:

There was once was a man who had a donkey named Fred. Fred was cross-eyed. So the man went to his friend named Bob. He asked for help. Bob said to get a 6ft hose. So the man did as Bob commanded. Bob stuck the hose up the donkey's butt. He told the man to blow into the hose. So the man did it. After a few hours of blowing he was getting tired, so he asked Bob to take over. Bob walked over and pulled the hose out and turned it around. Then put his mouth on it and started to blow. The man asked Bob why he did this. Bob said it was because he did not want to put his mouth were the other guy's mouth had been.

And my Mom loved watching the Green acres TV shop because Mr. Haney, Pat Buttram reminded her so much of her Dad. (No pun intended) I never had a chance.

Bernie

Edited April 6, 2015 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)