F/S TWO Duesenberg J original body cowls. The real deal!

georgealbrightg · 2007-11-01T20:52:10.000Z

For Sale TWO original,authentic body cowl assemblies off of Duesenberg Model Js. Perfect for building an original car around,or using the cowls as a basis for a speedster,open car,station wagon,etc. Also great museum display pieces with or without Duesy chassis. Both from the Karl Klieve estate.Cowl #1: From J-132,chassis 2154,which was originally a Derham showcar with a special clear vision type body.It is Derham Design # 15406,built in 1929. A very similar but not built Derham is design # 15407,as seen at the top of page 166 of the Roe Duesenberg book. You will notice that once the small side windshield frame is removed,the cowl is almost EXACTLY like the 2 Derham phaeton cowls on J116 and J124. These 2 cars can be seen on page 247 and 248 of the Roe Duesenberg book.All 3 cowls were probably built in the Derham shop at the same time.The cowl has a beautiful low slope on the sides which makes it perfect to build a third Derham phaeton behind,which is almost what I did. The cowl is VERY similar to the 2 SSJ speedsters,and could be the basis for building a 3rd SSJ around also. Finally you could take any open phaeton or roadster of the era,and put them behind this cowl on a new or repro chassis.Keith Brown around 1955 removed this cowl off of the J132 chassis and put a Derham convert. sedan on the chassis. This cowl was put into storage,and acquired by Klieve. Keith still has the brass Derham body plate for the cowl! He will probably let the new owner of the cowl borrow it for copying.Price for the cowl is $17,900 for it,which is exactly what I paid for it. Cowl #2:A Willoughby Limo cowl and fenders off of J467,chassis 2481. This is the cowl and 4 fenders off of the famous "Chicken Fancier" car discribed in the Elbert Duesenberg Book. A photo of the car can be seen at the bottom of page 151 of the Roe Duesenberg book.In short the chicken fancier was,along with Father Devine,one of the 2 African American owners of Duesys in the 1930s. He had 2 fried chicken restaurants in Chicago,and rode around Chicago in this car with a NEON SIGN of the back of it advertising the restaurants! Alas,he wound up on the wrong side of a gun,when his wife realized he was always riding around Chicago with the shades pulled down in this limo,BUT never pulled them down when SHE was in the car! Thus she shot him-dead! True Story! As mentioned the 4 later style fenders are with the cowl.The front fender is set up for outside pipes. This Willoughby cowl is virtually identical to all Willoughby Duesys and a must if you are restoring one.Plus the cowl could be used as the basis to reconstruct an open or closed Duesy,or even use this as the cowl on a Duesy station wagon-the ultimate woody! Price for this cowl and fenders is also what I paid for them,$16,900. Photos avail by email for both. George Albright,Ocala,Fla. cell 352 843 1624 Email: gnalbright@gmail.com

Nov 1, 2007 (edited)840 views

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