1935 Duesenberg SJ Mormon Meteor Speedster
Most Duesenbergs were built with prestigious graceful bodies.
In 1935, Utah’s Ab Jenkins took the seminal Model J chassis and 320 bhp engine to build this bright yellow endurance speed record breaking beast to compete against the likes of Eyston’s, Cobb’s and Campbell’s British-built specials.
Built with August Duesenberg in a garage next to the factory, his design had a narrow body with minimal frontal area including a single cyclops headlight and heavily raked radiator, a long sloping tail to reduce drag and a lowered nose. Detachable fenders were made to make the car road-worthy, but never used during the record runs (the doors were added in later years). The 7 litre 400 bhp Duesenberg Mormon Meteor was raced at Bonneville Salt Flats for 24 hours – only stopping every 400 miles for fuel and tires- to prove it was one of the fastest cars in the world by covering 3523 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 135.47 mph.