These stories
On a quiet weekend, you just love to sit down and read this and that. The description of this Duesenberg Model J, chassis number #2465, a Franay-bodied Convertible Sedan, mentions Maria, Queen of Yugoslavia, who probably did not own the Duesenberg, but is said to have driven it extensively – and was very satisfied with the vehicle. Maria, born in 1900 as a Hohenzollern princess, married from 1921 to Alexander Karadordevic, who became King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1922, is said to have been a loving, reserved person – but who liked to drive herself. And who greatly appreciated the ‘absolute safety at high speeds’ of the Duesenberg.
The vehicle had been made available to him by Edmond Z. Sadovich, whose ‘Motor de Luxe’ in Paris was certainly the most important Duesenberg representative outside the USA – in 1931, he sold 14 vehicles at the Paris Motor Show and in the weeks that followed. He presented this beautiful example for the first time in June 1931 at the – wait for it – ‘Salon Animé de la Carrosserie et de l’Élégance Féminine Automobile’ at the Prince’s Park in Paris. And then there’s another one of those stories: the car was presented by Jacqueline Lebaudy – and that’s where things get really wild. Her father Jacques Lebaudy had inherited a decent fortune, landed at the Cape Juby on the west coast of Africa in 1903 with a sailing ship, set up a tent there, left five crew members behind – and declared himself Emperor of the Sahara. Over the years, he became increasingly eccentric, moving to the United States with his wife and daughter, Jacqueline. When he told his wife in 1919 that he now wanted to marry and impregnate his daughter, she shot the ‘emperor’. There were more crazy twists in the life of Jacqueline Lebaudy, but Sadovich definitely had the full attention of the press when he had her appear with the Duesenberg.
And then there were the brothers Antonio and Gustavo Chopitea from Peru. The two sugar barons were the first official owners of the Duesenberg shown here, two gentlemen with immense wealth at the time, who owned houses in the USA and France – and a fantastic collection of automobiles. They bought Duesenbergs by the half-dozen, one of the most famous is certainly the ‘French Speedster’ by Figoni, which was ‘Best of Show’ at Pebble Beach in 2022, but they were also among Bugatti’s best customers. We’ll have to do a bit more research on that one – in any case, a Duesenberg was auctioned by Gooding & Co. at Amelia Island 2025 for $2,342,500.
The whole Duesenberg story? You can read it here. We have more beautiful pre-war classics in our archive.
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