It was a highly revolutionary car (priced at $8,300), and the Duesenberg brothers wanted to demonstrate its qualities by making it run the equivalent of the breadth of the continent : 3,000 miles (4,828 km), on the track at Indianapolis. The car was re-filled with water and fuel and the drivers exchanged without halting. In fact there were two stops for tire-changes, but the engine remained running. It averaged over 68 mph. In 1922, the first effective production year, 92 were made: then in 1923, 140 vehicles were produced. The Model A, of which a total of about 500 were produced, was followed by a mysterious Model X, which differed from the A in having a longer wheelbase and increased power (from 88 to 100 bhp). Only about a dozen of the Model X were produced.
Despite the success of the Model A and the reputation they now had, the Duesenberg brothers started to find themselves in financial difficulties, and would perhaps have closed shop had it not been for Errett Lobban Cord, who was building up a new corporation and had bought Auburn in 1924. Cord took over Duesenberg and the brothers were then able to set to work again with fresh vigour. At the At the New York show of 1928 they launched the Model J. Underneath an eagle on the radiator stood the words Duesenberg Straight Eight. The Model J was immediately acclaimed as the best American car ever made. The 8-cylinder in-line engine had two camshafts in the head, 4 valves per cylinder, and rods heat-treated in aluminium alloy. The car developed 265 bhp at 4,250 revs. Despite its weight of two tons it had a maximum speed of around 115 mph and, most important of all, could achieve 0-100 mph in 21 seconds. It could exceed 100 mph in second gear. Although designed entirely by Fred Duesenberg, the J engine was actually made by the Williamsport, Pennsylvania company, Lycoming. It featured among other items: servo-assisted brakes, speedometer (showing up to 150 mph), rev counter, 8-day clock, chronometer (from 1/5 second to 30 minutes), altimeter, oil pressure indicator, fuel indicator, engine temperature indicator, and ammeter.

The Model T, later to become so famous as the means of ‘motorising America’, was introduced in 1908, and stayed in production up to 1927. Exactly 15,007,033 vehicles were built-a record beaten only by Volkswagen after the Second World War over forty years later.

Many books have been written about the Model T, not all of them correct in every detail. One of Ford’s most commonly misquoted remarks about the car concerns the colour of the body. ‘You can have a Ford in any colour,’ he is reputed to have said , ‘as long as it’s black.’ This does not entirely correspond with the facts, for at first the T came in various colours. By 1914, however, production was so rapid that it was found that only black Japan enamel would dry quickly enough to keep the conveyor belts moving at the required speed. Therefore for a number of years black was the only colour available.
It is also untrue to say that T’s remained the same from 1908 to 1927. Structurally indeed they did not change; but they were being continually updated-partly because, unable to satisfy demand, Ford was obliged to have certain components made elsewhere. Only in 1920, 12 years after the model had been launched, was Ford in a position to totally build the car himself.
Apart from the look of the body, which immediately created a sense of solidity, and the many variants available, a fundamental characteristic of the T was its epicyclic gearbox. The company had already used this in other cars. In this system the engine was not engaged by means of movable gears. When the pedal was pressed down, a band-brake operated on the rim of the crown-wheel corresponding to the desired speed, thus effecting the change of gears.
Car : Ford Model K
Year : 1906
Engine : 6 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :114.3?114.3 mm
Cylinder capacity : 7033 cc
Gears : 2 forward
Brake horse power : 40
Maximum speed : 35 mph
Wheelbase : 10 ft 10 ins (3.04 m)

Ford Model K
Ford Model T
Ford V8 Model 18
The car that was to became the most popular make in the world, introducing the concept of mass production, started life officially in 1903. A company was formed by a group of 12 men led by Henry Ford. The 12 included the Dodge brothers, who later themselves became car manufacturers.
The firm’s premises in Mack Avenue, where production of the Model A began, were modest. Henry Ford was, in fact , already busy designing and making cars in 1896 (a quadric-cycle, a development from this, and two racing-cars). The Model A was driven by a twin-cylinder water-cooled engine with horizontal cylinders under the seat, and had chain transmission and epicyclic gears with two ratios. It was made for two years, and replaced by the Model C, which also had a two-year production span. The first 4-cylinder car was made in 1904; 1906 saw the model K, ostensibly a de luxe model, with a 6-cylinder engine. Ford and his collaborators quickly realized that this car was not going to make much impact on the market that was rapidly expanding and swarming with competitors. The K was manufactured for two years, and the best indication of Ford’s lack of interest in it is the fact that it was built in the Dodge factory, and then assembled in his own.
It should, nevertheless, be stressed that the Model K’s 6-cylinder engine was an exact ‘square’ both piton bore and stroke being the same, and that there were two epicyclic forward gear: this gearbox was to became characteristic of all Fords. However, particularly in this model , it appeared unable to a absorb and transmit the power of the engine. This was one of the most basic criticisms leveled at the car.
The K’s lack of success convinced Ford that, at least in those early years, the future of cars lay in a popular model, simple in design and capable of being produced in large quantities if possible. Step by step, he arrived at a solution with the 4-cylinder engines were abandoned.

Du Pont Touring
Car : Du Pont Touring
Year : 1921
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :100.01?130.17 mm
Cylinder capacity : 4090 cc
Brake horse power : 60
Maximum speed : 70 mph
Wheelbase : 10 ft 4 ins (3.14 m)
Suspension : front and back :semi-elliptic leaf- springs
The American public came to know of Du Pont after the New York car exhibition of 1919. The firm was founded by Paul Du Pont , whose family owned an important chemicals factory and had for many years also been involved with marine engines. Paul Du Pont wanted to make a car that would rival the most celebrated American cars of the time, including the Duesenbergs, and he planned a series of highly-refined vehicles of which only 537 were ever made.
The 1921 Touring was one of the first, and could seat five people. The 60 bhp engine was pump cooled; it had high tension magneto ignition, and a multi-disc dry clutch.

In 1925 Du Pont went on to make a 6-cylinder car, and at the 1928 New York exhibition launched the Model G, with 8-cylinder in-line Continental engine of 5,275 cc(125 bhp in the standard version , 140 bhp in the Le Mans). Du Pont ceased production in 1932. Paul Du Pont’s passion for cars had been cooled by the prohibitive expense of his company’s limited production, even thought the cars that they produced were first-rate. Even following the publicity gained by its participation in the 1929 Le Mans 24 hours, the Model G, perhaps the most highly admired of the Du Pont range, still had no commercial success.

Sadly, the end came at last for Duesenberg. In 1937 cord ran into difficulties with Auburn, and the Cord Corporation went into liquidation. Among the various attempts to revive this famous name, the efforts of Fritz Duesenberg, August’s son, in 1966, should not go unrecorded. He had solid financial backing, and his aim was to provide the American market with a super de luxe car along the lines of the Duesenberg J and SJ. The bodywork design was entrusted to Virgil Exner, and the production of it to Ghia, in Turin, Italy. The engine chosen was a Chrysler V8 developing 425 bhp. Line, instrument panel, and final details were to be based on the original J and SJ. The total price was made and exhibited in the States, but the lukewarm reception it received convinced everyone that the Duesenberg now belonged to the past, and that no substitute, however sophisticated, could replace the cars of the 1930s. This one prototype was nevertheless sold at auction for the enormous sum of $37,500 in 1966. Since then there have been at least two other Duesenberg companies, one making a replica of the 1936 SSJ 2-seater, and another making a modern-styled 4-door sedan selling at about $100,000.
Car : Duesenberg SJ
Year : 1936
Engine : 8 cylinders in line with compressor
Bore and stroke :95?120.5 mm
Cylinder capacity : 6882 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 320
Maximum speed : 125 mph
Wheelbase : 11 ft 10 ins (3.60 m)
Suspension : front and back :semi-elliptic leaf- springs

On the outbreak of war Duesenberg began contributing to the War-effort by working for the American Army and Air Force. He continued to produce 4-cylinder engines, which meanwhile had acquired 4 valves per cylinder and two camshafts (the Air Force used it in training aircraft). At the same time they introduced the 16-cylinder Bugatti, which the Duesenbergs and their chief designer, Charles B. King, had extensively modified, as well as a 16-cylinder of their own design. They designed a 12-cylinder engine, for Air Force use, and a 4-cylinder (160 bhp) engine for the Army. All their output during the war came from a factory at Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the Duesenbergs had moved before the outbreak of hostilities. The sale of this factory to Willys Motors, and that of the manufacturing rights on the 4-cylinder Model G to the Rochester Motor Company enabled the Duesenbergs to move once again. They chose Indianapolis and concentrated initially on a straight-s engine with overhead camshafts, of which four were made in 1920.
Three of these went into cars which came 3rd , 4th and 6th at their first showing in the 1920 500 Miles race. They then produced a 16-cylinder engine (two blocks of 8 coupled together) for a record-breaking car in which Tommy Milton reached more than 155 mph at Daytona. Car-racing occupied almost all their energies in these early years in Indianapolis, and made their name. Their cars won first prize in 1924 (Corum and Boyer , at over 98 mph), 1925 (Peter de Paolo at over 100 mph), and 1927 (Souders, averaging over 96 mph).
At this stage they produced a de luxe touring vehicle, that was introduced to the public inside the Commodore Hotel, New York, in October 1920. The engine in the Model A, as this first car was called, derived from the Duesenberg 3000 cc racing engine, but the cylinder capacity was raised from 3000 to 4200 cc. There was only one camshaft in the head, and two valves per cylinder as against three in the racing-car (one inlet, two exhaust). It developed 88 bhp at 3,600 revs, and could exceed 95 mph. The Model A was also the first American car with hydraulic brakes on all four wheels, and a tubular front axle; it incorporated the first balloon-type tires.
Car : Duesenberg J
Year : 1931
Engine : 8 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :95?120.5 mm
Cylinder capacity : 6882 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power :265
Maximum speed : 115 mph
Wheelbase : 11 ft 10 ins (3.60 m)
Suspension : front and back :semi-elliptic leaf- springs

Duesenberg Model A
Duesenberg J
Duesenberg SJ
In a country where more people drove cars than anywhere else, and where hundreds of firms were making brave but often unsuccessful innovations, Duesenberg remains a special case and will always be unique. Super-luxurious, super-fast, gigantic, yet highly manoeuvrable, heavy, yet requiring the minimum of effort to steer, these cars created an aura of perfection that defies the years. The few still in existence today are quoted at high prices, as in the 1930s when no Hollywood star was seen without one.
Even thirty years after the disappearance of Duesenbergs from Indianapolis, there are many who maintain that they were the best cars ever produced in America and that there is nothing even today to compare with them, even considering such luxury cars as Cadillacs and Lincoln Continentals.
Born in Lippe, Germany, Fred and August (Augie) Duesenberg emigrated to the U.S.A. with their parents in 1885. The brothers first became interested in cars at the turn of the century. Fred helped a friend in Wisconsin build the Rambler; then he opened a garage in Des Moines, Iowa, determined to produce a car of his own design as soon as he was financially able to de so. One of his customers, a lawyer named Mason, offered him the means to realize his dreams. The car he built was called ‘The Mason Motor Car’. It had a twin-cylinder engine, which horizontal opposed cylinders. Advertised as the toughest and fastest American twin-cylinder car, it sold at $1,250.

The company was later bought by Frederick Maytag, which probably pleased Fred Duesenberg as his thoughts were now elsewhere. The first thing he did was to make a 4-cylinder car, for the production of which the Duesenberg Motor Company was founded in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1913.
Car : Duesenberg Model A
Year : 1922
Engine : 8 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :73?127 mm
Cylinder capacity : 4261 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power :88
Maximum speed : 95 mph
Wheelbase : 11 ft 2ins (3.40 m)
Suspension : front and back :semi-elliptic leaf- springs

Dodge Four
Car : Dodge Four
Year : 1915
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :98.4?114.3 mm
Cylinder capacity : 3478 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power :35
Maximum speed : 45 mph
Wheelbase : 9 ft 2ins (3.25 m)
Suspension : front :semi-elliptic leaf- springs ; back: ? elliptic leaf- springs
Dodge was the creation of two brothers, John and Horace Dodge, who, with a thorough mechanical knowledge learnt from their father’s firm, left their home town of Niles, Michigan for Windsor, Ontario where they made bicycles, an then later spare parts for cars. In 1901 they moved to Detroit and were successful in supplying parts to various firms, especially Ford. Relations with Ford became difficult and the brothers resolved to set up their own company. In November 1914 the first Dodge car came on the market. The reputation they had acquired as suppliers greatly helped them and by 1915 they had produced 45,000 vehicles. By 1920 they were making 625 cars a day.

The car illustrated here is an early model. The engine had side valves and developed 35 bhp. It had a cone clutch, brakes on the back wheels, and magneto ignition. The poor gear layout with 2nd and 3rd gear on the left was one of the defects of the car.
In 1917 the Dodge brothers brought out what is held to be the first car with an all steel, closed body. In 1925 the company had been bought for $146 million by Dillon, Rea, and Company, and Dodge was absorbed into the Chrysler organization in 1928.

Detroit Electric
Car : Detroit Electric
Year : 1918
Engine : electric, beneath the floor
Gears : 5 forward
Brake horse power :3
Maximum speed : 25 mph
Wheelbase : 8 ft 4ins (2.54 m)
Suspension : front :semi-elliptic leaf- springs ; back: elliptic leaf- springs
It may seem surprising that at a time when there was no energy problem, a market for electric cars grew up and flourished in the U.S.A. , with, at one point, some 21 different manufacturers involved. It is also odd that electrically-propelled cars were made in Detroit until 1941.

Detroit Electric, founded in the American car capital in 1907, experienced a period of prosperity for much the same reasons that favour electric propulsion today: manoeuvr-ability in town traffic, silence, and fuel economy. In 1910, Detroit Electric sold 1500 car.
The salient feature of the car was the positioning of the 3 bhp motor between the two axles, with back-wheel drive. For many years the car was steered by a tiller (the wheel being adopted only in 1914). Its maximum speed was only 25 mph but it could run 125 miles before its batteries needed to be recharged. The batteries were situated at the front and back. After 1914 the electric car was only available with a closed body. Its rather high price ($2,500) made people gradually lose interest in this kind of vehicle. No-one could have imagined that 35 years later the car industry would be concentrating on electrical traction and it is ironic that today’s electric cars have a similar performance to the 1918 Detroit Electric.