Sound Your Horn

Driving Melvin’s Duesenbergs

I have been a subscriber to Old Cars since the ’70s and have enjoyed every issue. The latest [story] by John Gunnell titled “ACD Reunion Circa ’78” brought back a flood of memories for me. John mentioned Melvin Clemons from West Virginia and I have a little story about Clemons and his 1930 Murphy-bodied Duesenberg.

At age 14, living in southwestern Pennsylvania, one Sunday morning while on my paper route, I came to view a beautiful black auto, the like of which I had never seen. I spent about 30 minutes walking around the car and taking in all of its features before moving on. I later found out it was a Duesenberg Model J. I had never even heard of the name and assumed it was of foreign manufacture.

Years later, while visiting again in Pennsylvania, I received a phone call from a friend who operated at restoration facility in New Salem, Pa. His name was Skipper