A rare 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Convertible Coupe recently sold at auction for $4.5 million. The Duesenberg Model SJ is only one of three produced – and the only supercharged example.
The vehicle sports a 320 bhp, 420 cubic inch DOHC inline eight-cylinder engine with centrifugal supercharger, three-speed manual transmission, beam type front and live rear axles with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and vacuum-assisted four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. It can reach a top speed of 140 mph.
One of the vehicle’s most innovative feature was its convertible top. Most ragtops of the era were clumsy and challenging, requiring a small gang to operate properly. The owner would unbuckle the top from the windshield frame, and then slip a hand crank into a chromed socket on the side of the body. With a few turns of the crank, the top would fold to the rear of the car and out of sight under its flush-fitting metal lid, producing an open two-passenger car whose lithe, flowing lines made it the Duesenberg equivalent of the Mercedes Special Roadsters of the era.
Production of this body style was handled by the A.H. Walker Body Company, of Indianapolis, one of several firms that produced bodies for Duesenberg under the classy pseudonym of “LaGrande.” With Duesenberg’s days waning and the Great Depression still largely at its zenith, Walker built only a mere three examples of the Newport-designed convertible coupe.
