Photo: Darin Schnabel | Courtesy of RM Auctions
Auctions

Duesenberg Pair Top RM’s Hershey Sale

Photo: Darin Schnabel | Courtesy of RM Auctions
Photo: Darin Schnabel | Courtesy of RM Auctions

American classics were the star of RM’s October 11-12, 2012, Hershey auction, with a pair of majestic Duesenbergs, each offered fresh to the market from the distinguished Ray Bowersox Collection, claiming top sales honors. Held in conjunction with the AACA Eastern Regional Fall Meet, the top lot of the weekend was a 1931 Duesenberg Model J Dual Windshield “Barrelside” Phaeton by LeBaron, J299, which sold for $1,292,500. One of just seven examples built and of six known survivors, the famous J299—an esteemed part of the Bowersox Collection since 1985—was the winner of the epic 1932 “celebrity” race at Lake Muroc against the Marx brothers’ Mercedes-Benz. Also from the Bowersox Collection, and garnering strong interest from collectors, was a 1929 Duesenberg Model J Sport Sedan, J139, with coachwork by the Walter M. Murphy Company. Offered for the first time since 1979, the handsome Model J, one of only two sporting examples, sold for $792,000.

In total, RM’s Hershey sale garnered $10.7 million in total sales with a strong 95 percent of all lots.

Members only$29 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

Sports Car Digest Membership is for people who'd rather spend an hour with one chassis number than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • 5,000+ members-only stories

    Concours, auctions, race history, driven classics and the full archive.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • The market, every week

    Auction results and classic-car values from the people who were there.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every Sports Car Digest shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join Sports Car Digest — Keep Reading

$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY. Your membership keeps a small independent team of historians, photojournalists and racing drivers doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $29/yr

Tags
Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.
Related