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10:16in productionCh. 1 · Who drew it/ 10:16 · ceiling 15 min
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Duesenberg Model J

Gordon Buehrig · 1928

The fastest, most expensive American car of 1928 — built to win a race against prestige, not lap times.

The Duesenberg Model J is a luxury automobile made by Duesenberg, debuting in 1928 and offered for ten years. Gordon Buehrig, aged 25 and chief body designer for Duesenberg, designed it. Its 420 cu in straight-eight engine produced 265 horsepower in normally aspirated form, surpassing all larger-engined rivals. It achieved 116 mph top speed and 89 mph in second gear — making it both the fastest and most expensive American automobile on the market. It was intended to compete with the most luxurious and powerful cars in the world, launching the year before the 1929 stock market crash. Duesenberg Motors Company went bankrupt in 1937. Only the chassis and engine were factory-made; bodies were custom-built by third-party coachbuilders. Of 481 Model Js produced, about 378 survive.

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Chapters & takeaways6
  1. 0:54
    Who drew it

    Gordon Buehrig, aged 25, designed the Model J as chief body designer for Duesenberg — not Ford, not later, and not alone on engineering.

  2. 2:02
    What powered it

    Its 420 cu in straight-eight produced 265 hp — more than any bigger-engined rival — and was built by Lycoming from Duesenberg’s racing designs.

  3. 3:08
    What it could do

    It hit 116 mph and did 89 mph in second gear — making it the fastest and most expensive American car on sale in 1928.

  4. 4:14
    When it mattered

    It launched the year before the stock market crash, aimed at global luxury rivals — then vanished when Duesenberg collapsed in 1937.

  5. 5:26
    Where he wasn’t

    Buehrig did not design the Model J while at Ford — he joined Ford a decade after Duesenberg folded.

  6. 6:34
    What wasn’t factory

    Only the chassis and engine were factory-made; every body was custom-built by external coachbuilders — no two alike.

Worth your time?

Yes. Drive the whole thing.

3.5/ 5
What works
  • power delivery
  • speed benchmarking
  • engineering ambition
  • coachbuilt flexibility
What does not
  • driving feel
  • chassis details
  • suspension design
  • braking performance
Drive it if
  • historians of American industry
  • students of pre-Depression luxury branding
Skip it if
  • drivers seeking verified dynamics
  • collectors expecting standardised specification
The written brief1 min read

What the car is and where it came from

The Duesenberg Model J is a luxury automobile made by Duesenberg, debuting in 1928 and offered for ten years. Gordon Buehrig, aged 25 and chief body designer for Duesenberg, designed it.

How it works, in terms someone would actually use

It is a straight-eight luxury automobile with a 420 cu in engine, dual overhead camshafts, and four valves per cylinder. It delivers 265 horsepower in normally aspirated form. It achieves 116 mph top speed and 89 mph in second gear.

What it gets right

It pairs racing-derived engineering with bespoke luxury execution. Its power output surpassed all rivals despite smaller displacement. It was both the fastest and most expensive American automobile on the market.

What it does not

It does not establish a new body layout or structural innovation. Its coachbuilt nature means no single body style defines it. It offers no verified data on ride quality, steering feedback, braking behaviour, or weight distribution.

What it changed

It redefined the upper limit of American automotive performance and price in 1928, setting a benchmark for speed and cost that no other US car matched at launch.

Who it is for, and who it is not

It is for historians of interwar American industry, luxury branding, and automotive ambition. It is not for drivers seeking verified handling characteristics, nor for collectors relying on production-line consistency — only 481 were made, bodies custom-fitted by third-party coachbuilders.

Is it worth your time

Yes — if you are studying how American luxury engineering responded to global competition just before the Great Depression. No — if you seek technical documentation of its chassis, suspension, or driving feel: none is verified.

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