1980 Best of Show Winner
March 4, 2021
1933 Duesenberg SJ Rollston Arlington Torpedo Sedan shown by J. B. Nethercutt, Sylmar, California
This Duesenberg was built for the 1933–34 Century of Progress Exhibition, better known as the Chicago World’s Fair. At a time when most Americans were counting their pennies and many new cars cost less than three hundred dollars, the official price of this Duesenberg was listed as twenty thousand dollars. So fairgoers soon nicknamed the car “Twenty Grand.”
Noted designer Gordon Buehrig drafted the initial design for the body of this Duesenberg and Rollston of New York built it. The platinum metallic paint on the exterior, complemented by matching leather roof and gray cloth interior, was a real showstopper.
It was Shreve Archer who purportedly paid full price for the car and became its first owner. Thereafter, the car was in the D. Cameron Peck and the Ben F. Johnson Collections, and over the years, it was painted black and modernized. J. B. Nethercutt purchased the car in the late seventies and restored it to its original condition.
The restored car was first shown by Nethercutt at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival in 1979 and it took the top award. It won Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1980. It also earned one hundred points at the Grand Classic of the Classic Car Club of America.
In the late eighties the car was selected to be exhibited in Essen, Germany, as one of “The Ten Most Beautiful Cars in the World.” It has pride of place in The Nethercutt Collection, and it continues to be shown by the family today.