Last weekend, the Villa D’Este Concours d’Elegance took place in Cernobbio, Italy, which traditionally gathers the most impeccable oldtimers. The title of “Best in Show” this time went to the magnificent 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster, the first owner of which was the Maharaja of the Principality of Indore Yashwant Rao Holkar II
The Maharaja’s son Richard Holkar said that his father had a particular love of modernism and had amassed a vast collection of cars that embodied this style: various models of Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Delage, Bugatti, and, of course, Duesenberg. In the 1930s only very wealthy people could afford cars made by Duesenberg, among the owners were not only royalty, but also Hollywood stars such as Gary Cooper, Clark Gable and Greta Garbo.
The Old Timeymer is the last of 36 examples, the body for which was created by the London company Gurney Nutting & Co Limited. The car has a 6.8 liter inline eight-cylinder engine with 320 horsepower, which allows to reach 220 km/h. The peculiarity of the car are the red and blue signal lights mounted on the front fenders. The right lights were turned on depending on who was driving the car at the moment – the Maharajah or the Maharani.
In addition to the coveted trophy, the owner of the car, William Lyons, was presented with a unique A. Lange & Söhne: the 1815 Chronograph in white gold was assembled especially for the competition.