Twenty Grand (Duesenberg)

The Twenty Grand is the name given to the one-off custom 1933 Rollston Arlington Torpedo-bodied Duesenberg SJ ultra-luxury sedan. The design's initial price tag of US$20,000 ($485,810 in 2024 dollars ^[1]) during the height of the Great Depression infamously gave it its nickname of Twenty Grand.^[2] It is widely considered to be the most famous Duesenberg ever built and the pioneer of the ultra-luxury car design. It is the most valuable American car ever made and one of the most valuable cars in the world; estimated at around US$50 million dollars.^[3][4][5]

The Twenty Grand
Overview
Manufacturer	Duesenberg Rollston
Production	1933
Assembly	Indianapolis, Indiana New York City (coach building)
Designer	Gordon Buehrig
Body and chassis
Class	Ultra-luxury car
Body style	4-door ultra-luxury sedan
Powertrain
Engine	6.9 L (420 cu in) DOHC Supercharged Duesenberg Straight-8 engine
Power output	320 hp (239 kW) at 4200 rpm

The Twenty Grand is the most valuable and flagship vehicle of the Nethercutt Collection and the family's car collection, where it was fully restored by J.B. Nethercutt and painted in its iconic silver. It won Best of Show at the 1980 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.^[6]

The unprecedented 320-horsepower engine output made the Twenty Grand one of the most powerful American-built road cars for several decades, long after its construction. Jay Leno described the Twenty Grand as the 20th-century equivalent of the Bugatti Veyron in regards to the unprecedented engine power and prominence of each of the vehicles relative to their times.^[4]

History

The Twenty Grand in front of The Breakers mansion

Luxury brands Duesenberg and Rollston contracted automobile designer Gordon Buehrig for a ultra-luxury one-off design to be the leading automotive "Dream Car" display representing the progress of the United States automotive industry at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

Once completed in Indianapolis, the finished automobile's set price was an astronomical $20,000 during the middle of the Great Depression where cars typically cost around $600–800 ($19,432 in 2024 dollars ^[1]) and houses $2,000 ($48,581 in 2024 dollars ^[1]), leading onlookers to infamously nickname the vehicle The Twenty Grand.^[7][8] Ultimately because of its unprecedented price tag, it was proven too expensive for the American wealthy and foreign dignitaries at the World's Fair.^[2]

Due to the further deterioration of the economy from the Great Depression, the Twenty Grand was untouched for a year until it was sold to Shreve Archer in the following 1934 leg of the same fair for $20,000, making it the second most expensive Duesenberg ever sold new.^[9] Later the Twenty Grand would go on to have several other owners where it was altered with a modernized interior, fenders, and was painted black and green.^[6]

Twenty Grand and the Hussy at the Nethercutt Collection

In 1979, cosmetics entrepreneur J.B. Nethercutt purchased the Twenty Grand for $130,000 ($563,214 in 2024 dollars ^[1]), making it one of the then-most expensive vehicle purchases up to that time. He gave it a complete original restoration at the Nethercutt Collection, changing the exterior color from black to a metallic silver and reverting the interior to its original 1930s opulence. Once the restoration was completed, Nethercutt entered it into the pinnacle Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1980, where it ultimately won Best of Show. In the late 1980s the Twenty Grand was selected to be exhibited in Essen, Germany as one of “The Ten Most Beautiful Cars in the World.”^[8] It won Best of Show at the 2011 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance and at the 2022 Las Vegas Concours d'Elegance.^[10][11]

Replica

In 2012 a 1:1 fan-made replica vehicle was constructed as tribute to The Twenty Grand that included a supercharged Ford V8 engine. The replica was auctioned off in Scottsdale, Arizona for over $100,000.^[12][13]

See also

• Bugatti Type 51 Dubos