Duesenberg Model A History

The Model A — period advertising called it simply the 'Duesenberg Straight Eight' — was the brothers' first production passenger car, shown in New York in late 1920 and built from 1921 in Indianapolis after the company relocated from Newark, New Jersey. It was the first series-production car in the United States to use a straight-eight engine, a 260-cubic-inch (4.3-litre) overhead-cam unit of about 88 horsepower derived directly from Duesenberg's racing work.

It was also the first American passenger car offered with hydraulic four-wheel brakes, a genuine engineering advance that underlined the marque's competition pedigree. Sold as a bare chassis for coachbuilt bodies and priced around $6,500, the Model A was a low-volume prestige car: roughly 650 were built before production ended after E. L. Cord's purchase of the company in October 1926.