History
Luxury brands Duesenberg and Rollston contracted leading American custom stylist Gordon Buehrig to design a one-off ultra-luxury car as the "Dream Car" representing the progress of the United States automotive industry at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.
Once completed in Indianapolis, the finished automobile's set price was an astronomical $20,000 during the middle of the Great Depression, where cars typically cost around $600–800 ($0 in dollars ) and houses $2,000 ($0 in dollars ), leading onlookers to infamously nickname the vehicle The Twenty Grand.[5][6] Ultimately because of its unprecedented price tag, it proved too expensive even for the wealthy American and foreign dignitaries attending the World's Fair.[1]
Due to the further deterioration of the economy from the Great Depression, the Twenty Grand was untouched for a year before being sold for $20,000 to Shreve Archer during the 1934 run of the Fair, making it the second most expensive new Duesenberg ever sold.[7] Later the Twenty Grand would have several other owners, who made such alterations as a modernized interior, fenders, and black and green paint.[8]
In 1979, cosmetics entrepreneur J.B. Nethercutt purchased the car for $130,000 ($0 in dollars ), making it one of the most expensive vehicle purchases up to that time. It was completely restored at the Nethercutt Collection, changing the exterior color from black to a metallic silver and reverting the interior to its original 1930s opulence. Once the restoration was complete, Nethercutt entered it into the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1980, where it won Best of Show. In the late 1980s the Twenty Grand was selected to be exhibited in Essen, Germany, as one of “The Ten Most Beautiful Cars in the World.”[6] It won Best of Show at the 2011 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, and at the 2022 Las Vegas Concours d'Elegance.[9][10]
