The final “Sweep Panel” Dual-Cowl Phaeton to be built by LaGrande, body number 1015 was delivered to Duesenberg “in the white” in February 1934. Notably, this bodywork featured suicide-style front doors, which is believed to have been a characteristic of the last five bodies produced. Several months later, the body was mounted to chassis number 2558 alongside engine number J-537. At the time that J-537 was completed, Duesenberg was transitioning to a more aerodynamic, modern appearance, and thus the car was outfitted with the newly specified stylish skirted fenders and 17-inch wheels.

In an effort to promote that more modern and sleek styling, J-537 was retained by Duesenberg’s factory branch in New York and used as their demonstrator. As one can imagine, as the finest American automobile that money could buy in the city that never sleeps, the car would have been test-driven by an enviable list of personalities during this time. Duesenberg historian Ray Wolff noted that the car was in inventory in New York as of September 1935. On 28 October 1936, the car was finally purchased by its first known private owner, Hugh Bancroft, Jr., the 26-year-old heir to Dow Jones & Co., publishers of the Wall Street Journal.

Following the conclusion of hostilities in the Second World War, J-537 would make its way to the West Coast, and was listed as being owned by a Chevrolet dealer in San Francisco. Several brief ownerships ensued before the car was sold by John Lane Ward of Modesto, California, to Tom Carstens, an early enthusiast in Tacoma, Washington, in early 1951. Carstens would retain the Duesenberg for nearly a decade, fitting it with side exhausts in his ownership. A fire occurred in 1958 but according to both Paul Kaufmann, whose father Joe was a later owner and restorer of the car, and restorer Steve Babinsky, who got to know every inch of J-537 in undertaking its present restoration, the damage was largely restricted to cosmetic injury to the right side of the car, the rear cowl, and the rear seat.

In 1960, J-537 came into the ownership of Robert Jelinski of Wisconsin who in turn sold the car to the renowned Duesenberg specialist Joe Kaufmann of Manitowoc. Known as “Dr. Duesenberg” to his many friends and clients, Mr. Kaufmann restored J-537, managing to preserve the original sheet metal and much of the original wood. He enjoyed showing it in Midwestern competition, winning many awards. In 1972, the car was acquired by Charles Johnson of Florida, who continued to show the car extensively, garnering many further show honors. Noted collector Tom Lester of Florida then purchased J-537 in 1980 and kept it himself for several years before it moved to Europe at the height of the collector car boom. By the end of the decade, however, it had returned to the United States in the hands of Mark Smith of Virginia, who continued to maintain and enjoy it. Such was Smith’s pride in the automobile that its engine number was used in his email address.

In 2000, J-537 was acquired by Frank Ricciardelli, a dear friend and longtime client of RM Sotheby’s. In his care, a fresh restoration was commissioned by Steve Babinsky’s Automotive Restorations of Lebanon, New Jersey, considered to be one of the premier restoration facilities in the United States. Recalling the work done in 2000, Babinsky noted that despite the car’s prior restoration, his team discovered it to be remarkably pure, retaining its original componentry, and all of the original sheet metal was able to be saved and used in the restoration. As one would expect, nothing was overlooked in restoring the car to its highest standards.

Speaking to the quality of Babinsky’s restoration, J-537 was shown mid-restoration without its coachwork as part of a special Classic and Vintage Chassis class at the 2002 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. One year later, the car would return to Pebble Beach in complete form, and received first in class honors. In 2004, J-537 won a Lion Award and the Buehrig Memorial Award at the Meadowbrook Concours d’Elegance. Best in Class honors would follow at the Amelia Island Concours in 2007. Perhaps most impressively, the Duesenberg received America Senior Premier honors from the Classic Car Club of America, achieved through earning its third consecutive 100-point score. Simultaneously, it was awarded the Warshawsky Award for Best of Show at the CCCA Annual Meeting, the first Duesenberg to win this prestigious prize. Finally, the car has also been Certified Category 1 by the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club.

Following Ricciardelli’s passing in 2017, RM Sotheby’s was sold by his family and acquired by the consignor in 2021. The car would return to the Monterey peninsula the following year where it was shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The car’s next appearance would be at the 2023 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, where it was awarded second in class honors. Perhaps most excitingly, J-537’s most recent concours appearance marked its first trip overseas, and the car was shown at the 2026 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the shores of Lake Como in Northern Italy.

Less than ten years away from its 100th birthday, J-537 still remains an exceptional Duesenberg in all regards. Still retaining its original frame, firewall, coachwork and engine and with ACD Club Category 1 Certification, it has been a proud member of a handful of extraordinary collections, and surely will continue to impress on the concours field at Villa d’Este and beyond.