1935 Duesenberg SSJ

This car, Lot 35, sold for $22,000,000, including buyer’s premium, at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach Auction on August 24, 2018.

The story of how a brash young salesman named Errett Lobban Cord sold — with a little repainting and some additional chrome — the excess inventory of Auburn and went on to own the company has often been told.

This was just the start of his empire, which by 1929 included 150 companies — including Checker Cab, New York Shipbuilding, Stinson Aircraft and American Airways.

In 1926 he acquired the Duesenberg Motor Company and the talents of Fred and Augie Duesenberg. On paper it appeared to be the perfect meld of their engineering talents and the sales and marketing ability of E.L. Cord.

The Model J was introduced December 1, 1928, at the New York Auto Show, and the few in attendance were witness to performance, technical sophistication and power in an automobile that would be the most expensive and elegant the automotive world had ever seen.

The horsepower was rated at 265 at a time when the 1929 Cadillac produced 90 and the chassis alone was priced at $8,500 — which would buy a dozen Ford Model As.

The massive four-foot-long engine, finished in Apple Green, was an engineering marvel.

The Great Depression was just around the corner, and as the economy crashed, so did the market for an automobile that could cost as much as $20,000 with custom coachwork.

The goal of selling 500 Model J cars a year could not be realized, and by May of 1935, only 428 had been sold and close to a couple dozen were parked on the lot. The end was in sight.

Cord, being the master marketer, dreamed up building a couple of special-bodied Duesenbergs and placing them in the hands of Hollywood celebrities. Cord believed the star cars would generate enough publicity to sell the excess inventory.

Here is where the story gets interesting.

The legend and the reality

A well-known automotive publication that was published quarterly claims that Gary Cooper saw a shortened Model J chassis in the showroom and had an idea for the car. His buddy Clark Gable then had to also have one.

Nothing substantiates this version.

The documented version has Duesenberg chief designer J. Herbert Newport Jr. creating two special speedsters on a shortened 125-inch wheelbase. They were powered with a supercharged Model J engine with twin carburetors that produced 400 horsepower — juice that was not seen again until well after World War II.

Only two cars were produced. The bodies were built at Central Manufacturing Company, a Cord entity. The bodies were given the LaGrande name.

Movie star cars

The two SSJs — not an official model designation — were identical except for color and taillight design. E.L.’s son Charles, who was a salesman in the Los Angeles office, presented them on loan to Clark Gable and Gary Cooper.

Remarkably, the sensational SSJs, in the hands of the most famous celebrities of the day, were not publicized. There are no known photographs of either movie star with his car — which is certainly out of character for Cord.

The SSJs were presented on a six-month loan. Cooper and Gable were offered the cars at the conclusion for only $5,000. Gable did not accept the offer, so technically he never owned the famed “Gable SSJ.” In later years, however, he did claim to have owned the car.

Cooper did buy his — but he traded in his Derham Tourster as part of the deal.

It is not known how long Cooper owned his SSJ, but it was later owned by speedboat-racing legend Robert Stanley Dollar before it rattled around with a few owners. It landed with famed collector D. Cameron Peck. Peck sold it to Briggs Swift Cunningham for $3,500 in 1949.

Miles C. Collier — a veteran SCM contributor and automotive scholar — acquired the entire Cunningham Collection in 1986. The Cooper SSJ has been displayed at the Revs Institute in Naples, FL, with frequent use on tours and displayed at prominent concours.

Collier was asked at the 2018 SCM Insider’s Seminar at Pebble Beach why he was selling his famous Duesenberg. He explained that it would provide funding for Revs 2.0, which is an idea-driven, nonprofit initiative to provide insights and expertise to the meaningful car community.

Collier said a related entity — called Meaningful Ventures — will create profitable, self-sustaining enterprises to carry the cultural legacy of the car to future communities.

A tremendous car and a record sale

The sale of the Gary Cooper Duesenberg SSJ will certainly assist in Collier’s endeavor, as it sold for a world-record price for an American car at auction when it realized $20,000,000 plus fees. The previous record of $13,750,000 for Carroll Shelby’s CSX2000 paled in comparison to this sale.

A prominent California collector bought the SSJ, and it will join other exceptional automobiles. Fortunately, the new owner shares Miles Collier’s philosophy that historically significant automobiles should be maintained and preserved rather than restored.

The Cooper SSJ Duesenberg sold for a record price, but was it beyond reason? Certainly not, as it is one of the crown jewels of American automotive history and stands alone as an automotive icon. ♦

(Introductory description courtesy of Gooding & Company.)