Duesenberg Model A History
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.
Generations
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Model A
Photo: “1923 Duesenberg Model A Tourer, 88PS 4260ccm 140kmh pic1” by Alf van Beem / Wikimedia Commons — Public domain . Cropped to 16:9.
Duesenberg's first road car — a 260-cubic-inch straight-eight on a coachbuilt chassis, the first series-production American car with a straight-eight and hydraulic four-wheel brakes.
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1921 Photo: “1921 Duesenberg Model A by Bender Body, Greenwich 2021” by Mr.choppers / Wikimedia Commons , licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 . Cropped to 16:9.
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1922 Photo: “1922 Duesenberg Model A Dual Cowl Phaeton by Fleetwood - Chassis 603 - fvr” by Rex Gray / Wikimedia Commons , licensed under CC BY 2.0 . Cropped to 16:9.
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1923 Photo: “1923 Duesenberg Model A Tourer, 88PS 4260ccm 140kmh pic1” by Alf van Beem / Wikimedia Commons — Public domain . Cropped to 16:9.
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Body styles
- Touring
- Roadster
- Sedan
- Phaeton
- Coupe
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