Duesenberg

US, 1920 – 1937, 1966

(1) Duesenberg Motor Co, Indianapolis, Ind., 1920 – 1937

(2) Duesenberg Corporation, Indianapolis, Ind., 1966

Fred Duesenberg began by making bicycles and designed his first Duesenberg car, the Mason, in 1904. He and his brother August made engines with horizontal overhead valves for the 1912 Mason racing cars, and founded Duesenberg Motors in the following year in order to produce marine engines and complete racing cars bearing the Duesenberg name. The most famous of the latter appeared in 1920: a 3-litre Bugatti-inspired Duesenberg straight-8 with single overhead camshaft and three (vertical) valves per cylinder. This Duesenberg won the 1921 French Grand Grand Prix. In the 1920s the Duesenberg racing cars were the great rivals of the Millers at Indianapolis, and victory was assured in 1924 by the adoption of a centrifugal blower on Duesenberg cars. Though a two-stroke 1½-litre 8-cylinder racing engine capable of 7.000rpm was made in 1926, this was not proceeded with. The horizontal-valve Duesenberg engine was taken over in 1920 by the Rochester Motor Manufacturing Co Inc and was used in various sporting and luxury cars.

Meanwhile, at the end of 1920, the first Duesenberg production car made its debut. This Duesenberg Model A was an extremely expensive, if very advanced, luxury car, embodying an 8-cylinder in-line engine – the first to be seen in an American production car – of 4.2 litres, basically similar to the Duesenberg racing unit, but with only two valves per cylinder and developing about 100bhp. There were also hydraulically-operated front wheel brakes – another ‘first’ as far as America was concerned. The Model A was current until 1926. A handful of its little-altered successor, the Duesenberg Model X, was made in 1926-1927, but in the former year E.L. Cord of Auburn acquired control of the Duesenberg company. He stipulated that Fred Duesenberg’s next car should be completely new, and a quite exceptional machine. In fact, the Duesenberg Model J, which made its bow at the end of 1928, was the most remarkable automobile in America: bigger, faster, more elaborate and more expensive than any other, yet also superior to them in refinement and good looks. Its 6.9-litre, 8-cylinder engine, made by Lycoming (a firm which Cord had also bought), had two chain-driven overhead camshafts operating four valves per cylinder; a layout of racing type unique among American cars at the time and said to develop 265bhp at 4250rpm – more than double the output of any rival. Although the complete Duesenberg car weighed more than 4980lb, it was claimed to be capable of 116mph in top gear and 89mph in second. Only Duesenberg Model J chassis were made for which $8500 was asked in 1929. Immensely long and strong and lowbuilt, Duesenberg cars were very popular with all the leading coachbuilders. The Duesenberg company preferred to sell cars complete with bodies designed by them but made by approved builders, such as Murphy, Bohman & Schwarts, Judkins, Derham and Le Baron. In this form, catalogued Duesenberg models cost up to $17.950. The transmission – apart form the double dry-plate clutch – was conventional, as was the suspension by half-elliptic springs and hydraulic shock absorbers. The brakes, of course, were hydraulic, with vacuum servo assistance from late 1929.

In 1932 a supercharged version of the Model J, the Duesenberg SJ, was added. To cope with the 320bhp now alleged to be available, bearings, reciprocating parts and valve springs were strengthened. Usually, the shortest Duesenberg J chassis was used, with the highest axle ratio and stronger front springs. A maximum speed of 129mph was attributed to the Duesenberg SJ, with an acceleration figure of 0-100mph in 17 seconds.

Duesenberg survived the Depression, but died in the collapse of the Cord Corporation in 1937. Attempts to revive the Duesenberg name were made in 1947 and in 1966. The first Duesenberg was unsuccessful, and in 1966 only one Duesenberg car was actually made, powered by a 7-litre V8 Chrysler engine with push-rod overhead valves, developing 431bhp at 5.000rpm. Transmission was automatic, front suspension was independent, and there were disc brakes. Body styling was by Ghia. This Duesenberg venture, too, collapsed.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN 

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Mors

France, 1895 – 1925; 1941 – 1943

(1) Société d’Electricité et d’Automobiles Mors, Paris, 1895 – 1907

(2) Société Nouvelle des Automobiles Mors, Paris, 1908 – 1943

Emile Mors was an electrical engineer, which may account for the ingenious ignition system (by low-tension coil and dynamo) found on his first Mors cars with aiv V4 engines, dry-sump lubrication, water-cooled heads and air-cooled barrels. These power units were rear-mounted, and the belt-and-pulley change-speed gear on the Mors car was in the Benz idiom. Production in 1898 was running at 200 Mors cars a year and front-mounted engines made their appearance on the Mors Petit Duc, an 850cc flat-twin with partial water cooling, cone clutch and final drive of the Mors car was by side chains. Steering was by handlebar and the Mors car cost £294 in England in 1900. The Mors car was still listed in 1901, though later examples were wheel-steered. 

The Mors racing cars designed by Brasier at first rivalled and then surpassed the hitherto invincible Panhards, winning the Paris-st. Malo and Paris-Bordeaux in 1899, following this with victories of Mors cars in the Paris-Toulouse-Paris and Bordeaux-Périgeux-Bordeaux in 1900, and the Paris-berlin and Paris-Bordeaux in 1901. In 1902 the Mors 60hp 9.2-litre competition machines had shock absorbers and in 1903 capacity of the Mors car had gone up to 11.6-litres, with mechanically-operated overhead inlet valves and streamlined bodywork of the upturned-boat type. Gabriel won the Paris-Madrid race on one of these Mors cars, while the Hon. C.S. Rolls recorded 84,68mph over the kilometer at Welbeck on a similar Mors car. The 1904 racers saw a reversion to T-head power units, but this was the last year in which Mors cars made any impression on the circuits. Though Jenatzy drove a Mors car for the team in the 1908 Grand Prix, he took 9th place, and the 2½-litre Mors cars prepared for the cancelled 1914 Coupe de l’Auto never reappeared.

Though full water cooling was not adopted till 1902 on Mors cars, vertical 4-cylinder engines made their appearance late in 1899, followed in 1900 by low-tension magneto ignition. 1901 Mors cars had what amounted to one carburetter per cylinder, with a huge central float chamber. From 1902 onwards the Mors cars followed conventional lines; 1903 Mors carmodels retained the chain drive, but had mechanically-operated sv in a T-head, pressed-steel frames, Dubrulle lubrications and Mercedes-style honey-comb radiators. Brasier had already departed the Mors car company to work for Georges Richard. In 1904 Charles Schmidt, also of Mors cars, went to design European-style cars for Packard in America – this had no connection with the American Mors cars made from 1906 to 1909. Also new on Mors cars in 1904 was the ‘shouldered’ radiator shell which persisted on the Mors carmarque almost to the end. 4-cylinder Mors cars only were made in 1905; they came in 2.3-litre, 3.2-litre, 4.3-litre, 5.7-litre and 8.1-litre sizes, and the largest Mors car, rated at 40/52hp, had an auxiliary transverse spring at the rear and cost £1.224. In 1906 the aluminium water jacketing introduced on Mors cars in 1903 was abandoned, while cone clutches gave way to the contracting-band type which Mors cars never departed from. Ignition was now by high-tension magneto and options included the Huillier windscreen (patented by a Mors car company’s director) and compressed-air starting. A cab-over-engine petrol brougham was listed on the 17hp Mors car chassis. In 1907 L-head monobloc engines arrived with the small 10hp Mors car and 15hp models, which Mors cars also had shaft drive and pressure lubrication: at the top of the range was an 50hp 6-cylinder Mors car with gate change and low-tension magneto ignition and this Mors car sold at £1.375 in England.

The 1908 depression was a blow from which the Mors car company never really recovered, though the company was reconstructed under André Citroën’s management and in 1909 they made 2.000 Mors cars, sales being aided by bigger shaft-driven 2.5-litre and 3.7-litre models. Chain drive and make-and-break ignition were to persiste on the biggest Mors cars until 1912, though there was a shaft-driven 3.6-litre 6-cylinder Mors car in 1911 and the L-head monobloc 12/15hp with 4-speed gearbox was quite popular in 1913/1914. Poppet and Knight sleeve-valve models in great diversity were offered on Mors cars during the last two pre-World War 1 seasons, the latter coming in 2.1-litre, 3.7-litre, 4.4-litre and 7.2-litre sizes with engines by Minerva. By 1914 only the small Mors cars retained sv power units; Citroën double helical bevels were standard, and an sv sports 17/20hp Mors cars was offered with electric lighting. Only Minerva-built Knight engines were used in Mors cars after 1918, the radiators wearing a triple-S monogram as a riposte to Panhard’s double-S (for sans soupages). Mors cars, however, had fewer resources than their former rivals, and not even good looks and a 70mph performance (plus front wheel brakes in 1921) could save the 3.6-litre Sporting 20 Mors car. A 2-litre Mors car, also Minerva-engined, appeared in 1922, but by 1925 most, if not all the Mors car company’s facilities had been absorbed by Citroën. There was a brief renaissance by Mors cars with electric cars during World War 2, but the last vehicles to bear the name of Mors were the Speed motor scooters made from 1952 to 1956.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com