UNDOUBTEDLY one of the most beautiful body styles on the great Model J Duesenberg chassis was the “Disappearing Top” Convertible Coupe, a clean, elegant, and sporting creation of the Walter M. Murphy Company of Pasadena, California.
Among the best-known survivors of the roughly 25 built, body number 921 was delivered to Duesenberg on May 4, 1930.
Significantly, the car has remained intact with all its original components.
According to the records of Duesenberg historian Dwight Schooling, its earliest known owner was Blake Garner of Chicago, who possessed it in 1936.
Cyrus “Blake” Garner was a young, wealthy investment banker who later moved to Hollywood, becoming well-known as a film producer and as a playboy frequently named in the gossip columns as a companion and would-be husband of actresses.
Many years down the line, the car subsequently served a very useful purpose as a prop car in Hollywood.
Its best-known appearance was in the 1962 psychological thriller Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? alongside Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, in which it serves as both a pivotal figure in the film’s opening scenes and as a symbol of diva starlet Blanche Hudson’s success.
Buxom Jayne Mansfield, a legendary sex symbol of the era, posed with the Duesenberg for publicity photos.
During the 1970s it became a regular in the television series Bring ‘Em Back Alive, and in 1978 it made a cameo in the film Gable and Lombard.
Road-tester Alan Campbell noted, “The motor spins to life the minute the starter is touched, and on the road the massive machine hums like a locomotive… more than one policeman gave the Duesenberg a friendly wave of approval instead of a ticket. The speed creeps up on you. Driving at what I thought was 30mph I was shocked to look down and see the speedometer registering 45mph on Wilshire Boulevard!”
The car was judged First in Class at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2005, the first of no fewer than 18 victories it would achieve in the next two years.
In 2008, the Model J became part of the legendary Andrews Collection in Texas, where it resided alongside several other outstanding Duesenbergs and many other superb Full Classics.
The car was recently fitted with a high-speed ring and pinion, because, true to the Duesenberg mystique, it is a car which likes to go fast.
In current ownership it has been fitted with new carpeting and a new top to the proper original design, and has had the fuel system rebuilt and attention given to some of the major chrome pieces.
It returned to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2024, winning Third in Class, some 20 years after its original restoration!
The car went under the hammer at R.M.Sotheby’s Miami late last month, with a final sale pending.
Offered solely due to a realignment of its owner’s collection, it remains in fine overall condition with an impressive history file testifying to its provenance and excellence as one of the best surviving Murphy “Disappearing Top” Convertible Coupes.
