1930 Dreyer sprint big car.Originally powered by Rochester Duesenberg walking beam engine! See photos.$89,000

[George Albright]

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/duesenberg/unspecified/2217072.html   George Albright,Ocala,Fla.  cell weekdays 352 843 1624  email  gnalbright@gmail.com

Edited January 11, 2019 by George Albright (see edit history)

[Guest]

Very cool. If you're so inclined, tell us the story of how you came to own it.

[George Albright]

Don Moore had it until the 1950s. He gave it to his brother Frank "Babe" Moore who also drove it in the 1950s. John Jackson Sr. of Winchester Va. bought it from Frank around 1970. Then john passed and his son John Jackson Jr. of Mechanicsburg Pa. sold it to me in 2008. And here its sets! Thanks for asking! The original Rochester Duesenberg walking beam engine that blew up in WWII got separated from the car in the late 1960s. Some person told Frank he was a representative of the Indy Motor Speedway,and asked Frank to donate the RD engine to the Speedway Museum. Frank did and the gentleman and the motor disappeared ! Still never recovered! This story was shared with me by John Jackson Jr. Frank told John Jackson Sr. this story when he sold John Sr. the car in around 1970. I am STILL trying to find it!

[George Albright]

Here is the LONG version of the story of the Walking Beam engine that disappeared. This ran a year ago in the ACD Gazette. No leads came from it.As you can see from 3 or 4 of the photos when the car was built,that it was definitely a Rochester Duesenberg originally installed in the car.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Dear ACD Club Members: In 2008 I bought the early 1930s Pop Dreyer built sprint car photographed below from John Jackson Jr. of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. His dad John Jackson Sr. of Winchester Va. bought the car from Frank Moore of College Park, Maryland around 1970. Franks older brother, racing great Don Moore of New Jersey, Richmond, Virginia, and finally Maryland, had Pop Dreyer build the chassis and body for him during the 1930-1934 period. Don drove on the Kline Kar racing team in the 1920s,up until the late part of the decade. 

 

Kline Kars used Duesenberg four cylinder walking beam engines in their factory team cars. My car had a somewhat antiquated by the early 1930s,Duesenberg or Rochester Duesenberg walking beam engine put in it from new. It is possible the motor is one removed from one of the Kline Kars when the team disbanded, since Moore was on the factory team. However, based on the photos, I believe it is almost certainly a Rochester Duesenberg engine, used in such early 1920s cars as a Roamer, Revere, etc. In fact we just learned that around 1930 Don was driving a Roamer, so I suspect the Duesenberg Rochester engine was removed from his Roamer and put into this car. A deceased older gentleman who was a race car historian for many years in Richmond told John Jackson Jr. in the 1970s he remembers his friend Don Moore driving the Roamer to Indianapolis and picking up the newly built chassis and body from Pop Dreyer. Don in turn brought the chassis and body back to Richmond, and finished the car, installing the engine and transmission. 

 

Don Moore was a fierce competitor in the AAA big car east coast division with this car in the 1930s and early 1940s.The motor blew up around World War Two, and was replaced with a flat head Ford 6 in, which is still in it. The car is a superb original, and was shown at the 2010 Amelia Island Show. The Duesy motor was set aside, and someone around 1970 convinced Frank Moore that he was from the Indianapolis Speedway Museum, and to give them the motor. Then he and the motor disappeared. Please read John Jackson Jr's. account of this as told to him by Frank Moore around 1970. This engine is probably still in a garage in the greater Washington D.C. area. Please share with your antique and race car friends in the greater Washington area, and help me find a lead to reunite this motor with its car. 

 

John Jackson Jr's. written account of the Duesenberg engine, as emailed to me in 2008: "Interesting written material about Don Moore. He must have been quite a character. He started racing not long after the turn of the last century. I met his brother Frank (Babe). Nice individual. Dad bought the #47 from him. The car was sitting outside in the elements in College Park, Maryland. I know dad made two trips to get the car and the related spare parts of Dayton wire wheels, magnetos, Winfield carbs, clutch mechanisms, etc. It was during this "gathering" process that Frank told my father about the walking beam Duesenberg engine. Frank gave the engine remains to a man presenting himself as a representative of the Indy Motor Speedway museum. Dad contacted the museum who responded they never received such an engine from Frank Moore. This correspondence took place in 1971 time frame. A good friend of ours, who lives in the Washington D.C. area, and was connected through friends with interests in vintage race cars, inquired around about the motor remains and discovered who had it. His contact would not reveal were it was. Frank Moore said the engine needed a new crankshaft and other parts, which Don had sent to New Jersey to have manufactured sometime prior to WWII.

 

Don must have been much older than Frank based upon the pictures I saw of Don in his scrap books that Frank retained. The scrap books were a trip though racing history. I have copies of some of the pictures and memorabilia in the books. As a side note, the Kline Kar that now resides in New Jersey almost was scrapped per my deceased friend and former AAA driver from Richmond. He was contacted by a government authority to review the car and estimate its value back sometime as best as I can remember about 1983 or so. He told me that car was of which the Kline Kar was one. As I understood there was some kind of a disagreement within the family. One family member decided to scrap the three cars. Two of them were scrapped before rest of the family discovered what was going on. All I know about those cars is they had knock-off wire wheels. I suspect they were probably Model T's."

 

Sincerely yours,

John

 

 

Your help finding any and all of this motor in the greater Washington D.C. area,,or of another Rochester Duesenberg walking beam motor,is appreciated. Sincerely George Albright, Ocala,Fla.  ACD Member    Email: gnalbright@gmail.com  cell 352 843 1624 

[Guest]

Very interesting. Thanks for taking time to share this. 👍👍

Edited January 11, 2019 by Guest (see edit history)

[George Albright]

Car just reduced in Hemmings and on Hemmings.com to only $59,000. Thanks George Albright. Photos:  gnalbright@gmail.com. Cell weekdays 352 843 1624

[Leif in Calif]

The walking beam engine would be very obsolete by 1930. It was competitive in the pre-WWI period. 

[George Albright]

Don Moore drove that car until WWII with that engine in it in northeast AAA events. He drove Kline Kars with that motor in it beginning in the early 1920s. Must have known something special about that motor. George Albright 

[63RedBrier]

Hi, George!  So you are selling the Sprint Car, but if you found the original RDWB engine, would you keep it?  Good luck on either!  Greg

[George Albright]

Probably keep the car if I found the engine. One will eventually show up. Then you have an AMAZING ride! Thanks for the question!

[j m davis phd]

and what would you pay for a RDWB engine,

[George Albright]

I will pay $25,000 for a complete Rochester Duesenberg walking beam engine. Less for an incomplete one. Thanks for the question. George Albright 352 843 1624 cell weekdays best 

 

 

 

 

[1950panhead]

[1950panhead]