Fred Duesenberg

By Sigur Whitaker
 
Fred Duesenberg had a love affair with racing. It didn’t matter if it was bicycles, speed boats, or automobiles. His racers obtained great success.
 
Without a formal education in mechanics, Fred Duesenberg worked as an apprentice on racing bicycles for Thomas Jeffrey, builder of the Rambler bicycle. The Rambler bicycle was expensive, at $80 in 1897, which today would be over $3100. Around 1900, the Duesenberg brothers opened a bicycle shop in Rockford, Iowa. During this time, Fred was a successful bicycle racer and broke two world records for speed. To pace his bicycle training, Fred built a racing motorcycle.
With lawyer Edward R. Mason providing the financing, Fred and Augie founded the Mason Automobile Company in Des Moines, Iowa in 1906. Equipped with a two-cylinder engine, advertising claimed the car could go 475 miles on 18 gallons of gasoline, approximately 26.4 miles per gallon. To introduce the car, it was driven up the 47 steps of the Iowa state capitol building on August 16, 1906.
 
In 1909, Frederic Maytag purchased the company and started making the Maytag-Mason. The Duesenberg brothers left the company to pursue making race cars. After sales slumped, Maytag sold his interest in the company in 1911. Without the Duesenbergs, the company continued its downward trend and declared bankruptcy in 1913. The last Mason was produced in 1915.
 
In 1912, Fred and Augie entered a Mason in the Indianapolis 500 but it failed to qualify.
 
The Duesenberg brothers first appearance at the Indianapolis 500 was in 1913. At the time, they were involved with the Mason car. Willie Haupt drove a Mason to ninth place while Bob Evans finished thirteenth. Billy Knipper with a Knipper chassis and Duesenberg engine finished sixteenth.
 
In 1913, Fred and Augie founded the Duesenberg Motor Company, Inc. in St. Paul, Minnesota, to build engines for race cars.
 
Eddie Rickenbacker, who becme America’s “Ace” during World War I and the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was the Duesenberg team captain in 1914. In the 1914 Indianapolis 500, he finished 10th with an average speed of 70.827 mph. Willie Haupt in another Duesenberg finished twelfth, and George Mason, who exited the race after a piston failure, finished twenty-third.  On July 4, Rickenbacker piloted the Duesenberg racer to victory in the 300-mile race at Sioux City, Iowa, with an average speed of 78.8 mph. It was a spectacular finish. Just 30 yards from the finish line, his right rear tire burst, and he won the race on the rim. In third place was Ralph Mulford in another Duesenberg.
 
By 1915, they were racing under their own name. As Henry Ford watched, Eddie O’Donnell finished fifth in the Indianapolis 500 and Tom Alley eighth. O’Donnell’s car was approximately thirty-three minutes slower than Ralph DePalma's record time. A Duesenberg driven by Ralph Mulford went out of the race in the 125th lap because of a broken rear axle. While in Indianapolis, Ford visited the new Ford automobile plant which assembled, sold and repaired Ford automobiles.
 
J. R. Harbeck, president of the Loew-Victor Engine Company, contacted Fred Duesenberg shortly after the Disturber IV became the first hydroplane to go over 60 mph. Loew-Victor specialized in marine engines. What began in 1916, as some contract work for Loew-Victor resulted in the 1917 merger of Loew-Victor and Duesenberg  Motors. The company was renamed the Duesenberg Motor Corporation. Fred was the chief engineer and Augie was the assistant chief engineer. The company produced the Duesenberg Patrol Model, six- and eight-cylinder engines used in a variety of boats ranging from fishing boats to luxury cruisers and navy ships.
 
In the 1916 Indianapolis 500, which was shortened to 300 miles, Wilbur D’Alene finished nearly two minutes behind Dario Resta. Tom Alley finished eleventh of the field of 21. Three Crawford chassis powered by Duesenberg engines finished eighth (Art Johnson), ninth (Billy Chandler), and fourteenth (Dave Lewis whose car had a fuel tank issue on lap 72.)
 
Carl Fisher was concerned that the war raging in Europe would impact auto racing, scheduled the Harvest Classic, an afternoon of racing at IMS on September 9, 1916. Crowds were disappointing for the three race card. Duesenberg entered four cars, piloted by Tommy Milton, Wilbur D’Alene, George Buzane, and Charles Devlin. Milton and Devlin ended up driving other entries.The three races were dominated by Johnny Aitken who pocketed $4,600. Buzane was the only Duesenberg in the 20-mile race and finished seventh of the ten racers, some 1 minute 34 seconds behind Aitken. D’Alene and Buzane were in the 50-mile race with D’Alene finishing fourth and Buzane seventh out of a field of nine. Buzane was on the pole for the 100 mile AAA championship race. Wilburn D’Alene finished third and Buzane fourth out of a field of thirteen.
 
Between 1916 to 1918, Loew-Victor became a major contractor for marine and airplane engines sold to the United States and its allies.
 
When the United States entered World War I, the Duesenbergs  brothers relocated to Elizabeth, New Jersey, Loew-Victor financed a manufacturing facility to build airplane engines, marine engines and four-cylinder passenger car engines. They won a very lucrative contract from the Bolling Commission to build sixteen-cylinder aircraft engines designed by Ettore Bugatti and modified by American Charles B. King. The Bugatti U. S. Model production began in January 1918. Within a month, the factory had more than 1200 employees.
 
They also produced four-cylinder engines for ReVere, Biddle and Romer automobiles. In 1917, Fred and Augie opened a second shop in Newark, New Jersey, where they developed their first single overhead cam straight engine, which would later power the Model A Duesenberg.
 
When World War I ended in November 1918, there was little need for the Duesenberg marine and airplane engines and the partnership was dissolved. The Elizabeth, New Jersey factory was sold to John North Willys, president of Willys-Overland Motors, for a short period of time the second largest automobile manufacturer in the United States. The designs for the four- and six- cylinder passenger car engines were sold to the Rochester Motor Company.
 
Freed from military work, the Duesenberg brothers decided to resume building their racing engine, but this time with a straight eight. They also completed the design of the first Duesenberg passenger automobile, today known as the Model A.
 
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