Photo: car.design.trends / Instagram
Throughout the history of the American automobile, there have been numerous brands that rose and fell like shining stars because they burned through fuel a little too quickly to be replenished (sustainably).
Think of old and new names like Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Mercury, AMC, Packard, Edsel, or Plymouth, among many others. In fact, the list of defunct automobile manufacturers in the United States is so long that you have to write it down in alphabetical order and then arm yourself with a lot of patience to get to the bottom of it.
One of the most famous cases of great brands that did not live long enough to be called contemporary is also Duesenberg, an automobile company that has always been associated with a great reputation for craftsmanship. Some historians have even gone so far as to call them synonymous with scientific pioneers during their era, and others call the brand one of the most prestigious automobile brands in the world.
Duesenberg Automobile & Motors Company, Inc., an American luxury and racing automobile manufacturer founded in Indianapolis, Indiana by brothers Fred and August Duesenberg in 1920, was known for some of its most notable innovations (inline-eight engine, four-wheel hydraulic brakes, etc.) as well as its racing success and beautiful street-legal automobiles. However, unfortunately, it was a short-lived venture: it was the first American marque to win a Grand Prix (1921 French Grand Prix), went on to win the Indianapolis 500 in 1922, 1924, 1925, and 1927, but was finally dissolved just a few years later in 1937.
Fear not, even though it has been nearly 90 years since its demise, Duesenberg has not been forgotten by anyone, not even in the parallel universes of vehicular CGI. There, the imaginative realm of automotive digital content creators has taken it upon itself to resurrect the luxury brand with a racing pedigree. More specifically, the good folks at car.design.trends we recently focused our attention on a hypothetical proposal for a new Duesenberg made by Marco Federici – alias MarkDragonCooper on social media, a transportation designer and a self-proclaimed “car lover.”
Its design project is simply called the Duesenberg SS24, most likely in honor of the Duesenberg SSJ, the supercharged, short-wheelbase version of the luxury Duesenberg Model J automobile produced between 1928 and 1937. It retains the style of the era in convertible form, but embraces the future of automotive style in a very obvious LED-style steampunk way. The interior is also modern and retro at the same time, of course, and the whitewall tires are not missing from the CGI action. However, unfortunately, there are some impractical aspects, such as the ultra-long and very thin tail, and we know nothing about what motivates this hypothetical resurrection of the Duesenberg: there is a ICE OR Electric vehicle powertrain under the hood?