While the fame of Duesenberg is today cemented by the great Model J, the renown of the company’s inline eight-cylinder engines emerged in racing. The design debuted at the Indianapolis 500 in 1919, and the lessons learned in competition spurred ongoing improvements. For 1923 the Duesenberg 122-cubic-inch engine incorporated a gear-driven, dual overhead-camshaft head with four valves per cylinder and pent-roof combustion chambers, succeeded by simpler two-valve hemispherical combustion chambers for 1924. That year the Duesenbergs also turned to supercharging to further increase output, with the result being Joe Boyer’s victory at Indianapolis.

Finishing 6th overall behind Boyer at Indy in 1924 was Peter DePaolo, who the following year returned to Indianapolis in a supercharged 122-cubic-inch Duesenberg, with which he scored a convincing win of his own while setting a new average speed record of 101.13 mph that stood for seven years. DePaolo recorded so many victories in the Duesenberg, eventually achieving the AAA National Championship for both himself and the manufacturer, that he dubbed it the “Immortal Banana Wagon,” both because of its color and “because I won so many bananas with it.”

The car offered here was restored for the collection of the late racing aficionado and historian David Uihlein. Known for his relentless pursuit of the surviving artifacts of America’s competition history, Uihlein had acquired an original 3.0-liter Duesenberg aluminum block, crankcase, and gear tower, and a piece of an earlier Duesenberg twin-cam competition cylinder head. Engineer E.J. Healy used these to sketch out plans for a complete engine, fleshed out by patternmakers and casting experts in England, with final machining by Uihlein’s own Banner Welding Systems, and cams reground by Joe Gemsa. The engine was assembled by the renowned Chris Leydon, then mounted and finished by Paul Freehill of Indiana in a chassis and body recreated by the noted Indianapolis builder Joe Silnes.

The reborn “Immortal Banana Wagon” remained a highlight of the Uihlein stable until 2007, then joined a large collection in the American West, from which Terence E. Adderley, long one of the country’s most renowned Duesenberg collectors, acquired it in 2011. A beautifully constructed, irreplaceable, and unique artifact of the genius of Fred and Augie Duesenberg, and a tribute to the driving talent of Pete DePaolo, it is also the sole survivor of an engine design very successful in the United States—one that even challenged the seemingly indomitable Alfa Romeo team at Monza.