Automobile:Duesenberg Model J

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Duesenberg car symbolized wealth, style, grace, and performance. Fred Duesenberg of Indianapolis first began making cars in 1904, and until 1920, he made cars only for the race track. The car maker introduced his Model A in 1920, featuring the first eight-cylinder engine and hydraulic front-disc brakes wrapped up in a gorgeous, but expensive, package. The Model J premiered in 1928, a bigger, faster, more expensive version of the Model A. As Duesenberg sold only a complete chassis, car buyers had to commission their own coach builders. Some completely assembled Model J's cost $18,000, a kingly sum in the 1930s. The Duesenberg Company thrived into the first years of the Great Depression, but it folded in 1937.