If you love great looking classic old cars, you’re going to love this 1935 Duesenberg SSJ, which some say is the original American performance, Hot Rod.
In August 2018, this car which produces 400 horsepower through its supercharged straight-eight motor with double overhead cams, taking it to a top speed of 140 miles per hour in a lightweight open-roadster bobtail body was sold for $22 million to become at the time, the most expensive American collector car ever sold at auction.
This Gooding and Co promotional video gives a great insight into a car that combines stunning design with one of the most beautiful motoring soundtracks to create what I believe is a genuine piece of automotive art, the 1935 Duesenberg SSJ
The back story to this car makes it even more enticing. In the 1920’s brothers, Augie and Fred Duesenberg built very successful racing cars, with Californian Jimmy Murphy winning the 1921 French Grand Prix in a Duesenberg and by 1925, they had three Indy 500 titles under their belt.
Although the brothers build great race cars they were unable to make a profitable road car so they sold the company to entrepreneur E.L.Cord to add to his Auburn and Cord brands. Cord went on to manufacture the Duesenberg Model J with moderate success, but unfortunately, the stock market crash of 1929 forced him to shut down the project.
In 1935, once the financial markets settled E.L Cord tried to revive the Duesenberg brand by building two spec SSJ’s and that’s where this car came to be.
This Forbes.com article is a great read and looks at the 1935 Duesenberg SSJ story.
Although the 1935 Duesenberg SSJ set a world record of $22 million in 2018, it’s been eclipsed over the last four years by other classic sales and according to this 2021 evoindia.com article, it could only manage the ninth position.