As previously reported, the ultra-luxury Duesenberg brand is set to return to the streets in 2007, after a 70-year hiatus. BusinessWeek sat down with Jeff Teague, designer of the company’s comeback coupe called the Torpedo. “How do you bring back a car that was such a statement to drive, a car that was basically a rolling sculpture on four wheels? My dad, who was vice-president at American Motors, ingrained in me that the Duesenberg was the Stradivarius violin of cars,” Teague says. “So a newly launched Duesie, I think, has the pressure to turn heads.” Teague started with simple hand-drawn sketches that featured the brand’s most distinguishing elements, before starting on a computer rendering or working out the engineering details, which are yet to be fully developed. “I was drawn to the 1932 and ‘31 models, and decided to keep the original grille,” Teague says. The $300,000+ car will feature a revolutionary 12-cylinder engine with extreme fuel economy and performance.
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02/01, 6:07 PM
posted by:
madcapp
nice idea, never gonna go anywhere. Too bad.
02/01, 10:39 PM
posted by:
manny
whaddaya mean never gonna go anywhere? if bugatti and maybach can make a comeback with ultra-high-end cars, why not dusenburg?
02/01, 10:48 PM
posted by:
Jerry Mahoney
Because each Veyron costs $5M to make and sells for only $1M. And Maybachs aren’t flying out of the stores either .
02/02, 1:18 AM
posted by:
Chris Meisenzahl
Now THAT, is aggressive styling!
02/02, 7:58 AM
posted by:
nikivee
I’m more interested in the revolutionary engine that they talk about. 12 cylinder, double ended, ported, multi-fueled, four-stroke engine with a calculated 70 MPG and 300 horsepower from an economical 100 pound package measuring 18 inches in diameter and 24 inches in length.
That I have to see to believe. If that was true it would make every other engine in the world obsolete overnight.
02/09, 3:13 PM
posted by:
Steve
This is infinately superior to any of the other $300K+ cars. It looks better, offers innovation over brute force, and is not a $1M Bugatti
02/20, 6:27 AM
posted by:
JamesT
“Built by Lycoming, another of Cord’s holdings and an engine-builder for many independent car companies, the Duesenberg engine wasn’t larger than many contemporary luxury-car engines, but it left most of them in the technical dust. While the predominant American design of the day was the flathead, and more sophisticated cars used “valve-in-head” (overhead valve) engines with their valves operated by pushrods and rocker arms, the Duesenberg used twin overhead cams operating four valves per cylinder. Displacement was only (?) 420 cubic inches (6.9 liters), but the engine produced 265 horsepower at 4200 rpm. (In comparison, the Pierce-Arrow V-12 of the day displaced 462 cubic inches (7.6 liters), but offered only 175 horsepower.)”