Duesenberg
Hardbound, 9-1/4 by 12-1/4 inches, 296 pages, hundreds of full color and b/w photographs. ISBN 0-87349- 388-5. Available from Krause Publications, 800-258-0929; www.krause.com.
For many years we have anticipated the appearance of a Duesenberg book mostly devoted to color photography of the Model J but it has never happened until now. This volume is the work of Dennis Adler who has had a long career in car photography for Car Collector magazine as well as a number of books on car collections and individual makes.
This book highlights Adler’s photographs of Model Js but aspires to be something more in that it encompasses Duesenberg history all the way back to the Masons that were the first cars produced to Duesenberg designs. The sections on early Duesenberg history reproduce a number of rarely seen historical photographs as well as a few color shots of existing pre-Model J cars. There is a brief look at Duesenberg racing accomplishments.
Unfortunately, the text falls far short of being an accurate account of Duesenberg history. Historians and authors beginning with J.L. Elbert over fifty years ago have combined to accumulate and publish a wealth of material based on primary sources in books, club publications and periodicals to record the Duesenberg story. The library at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum’s archives contain valuable original documentation on corporate activities.
Although credit is given to these sources, the historical accounts in this book cannot be regarded as a correct interpretation of the Duesenberg history. The book is reasonably priced and well reproduced. Its large format will look well on the coffee table and there are lots of good pictures. Buy it for them and skip lightly over the text