CarBrandLogos archive · Duesenberg · 1927

DuesenbergModel X

Thirteen cars built in the gap between one era of Duesenberg and the next.

Photo: Buch-t · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

The story

A defining chapter in Duesenberg history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Duesenberg Model X, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

1927 Duesenberg Indianapolis 500 Race Car

Origins

The Model X exists because E. L. Cord bought Duesenberg in 1926 and needed something to sell while the car he actually wanted was being designed. It was a revision of the Model A rather than a new car: the same 260 cubic inch overhead-camshaft straight-eight, the same front-engine rear-drive layout, on a modified chassis with a lower frame and revised suspension, bodied to each owner's preference by outside coachbuilders.

1927 Duesenberg Indianapolis 500 Race Car · Sicnag · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

Only thirteen were built across 1926 and 1927, which makes it one of the rarest American cars of the period and a footnote in a company history otherwise defined by extremes. Its purpose was served the moment the Model J appeared in 1928. A handful survive, valued chiefly for what they sat between.

At a glance