Intended to compete with the most luxurious and powerful cars in the world, it was introduced in 1928, the year before the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression.

E. L. Cord, the owner of Auburn Automobile Company, and other transportation firms, bought the Duesenberg Motor Corporation on October 26, 1926, for the brothers' engineering skills, talent and brand name.

He intended to produce a car to rival the size, power, and luxury of top European brands such as Hispano-Suiza and Rolls-Royce.

[5] Fred's brother August, who had played an important role in the development of the Model A and its variant, the rare X, had nothing to do with the initial design of the J and had no formal connection with Duesenberg, Inc. until later.

[7] The newly revived Duesenberg company set about to produce the Model J, which debuted December 1 at the New York Car Show of 1928.

The first and — at the time of the New York presentation, only — example made of the series, the J-101, was a LeBaron sweep panel dual cowl phaeton, finished in silver and black.

[9] Most engine and chassis were made in 1929 and 1930, but due to the Depression, high price, etc., ended up sold and bodied throughout subsequent years.

The rest were designed and made by independent US coachbuilders such as Derham, Holbrook, Judkins,[15] Le Baron, Murphy, Rollston (later renamed Rollson), Walker, Weymann, and Willoughby, and Fernandez et Darrin, Franay, Gurney Nutting, Saoutchik, and others in Europe.

Unlike almost all American manufacturers, Duesenberg did not switch to a fully synchronised gearbox in the mid-1930s, which made the Model J difficult to drive and outdated by the latter years of its run.

[19] Reinforcing this claim was the powerful 320 hp (239 kW) supercharged "SJ" model developed on the 142.5 in (362 cm) wheelbase[20] by Fred Duesenberg and introduced in May 1932.

[23] Fred Duesenberg died of pneumonia on July 26, 1932, resulting from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in which he was driving a Murphy SJ convertible.

[24] His brother, Augie, took over Fred's duties as chief engineer and Harold T. Ames became president of Duesenberg, Inc. Only 36 SJs were ever built.

High performance parts developed for the Special, especially the "ram's horn" twin-carburetor inlet manifold, would be used on later supercharged Js.

[27] The short-wheelbase supercharged J, referred to by the public as the SSJ, had an extra-short wheelbase of 125 in (3,200 mm) and an engine delivering close to 400 hp (298 kW) through the use of the dual-carburetor "ram's horn" manifold developed for the Duesenberg Special.

[28] Only two were built; both had lightweight open-roadster bodies produced by Central Manufacturing Company, an Auburn subsidiary in Connersville, Indiana.

[29] In an attempt to give a more modern look to an ageing design, the JN was equipped with smaller 17-inch-diameter wheels (versus 19 inches), skirted fenders, bullet-shaped taillights, and bodies set on the frame rails for a lower look.

[30] The Model J quickly became one of the most popular luxury cars as well as a status symbol in the United States and Europe, driven by the nobility; the rich and famous, among them Al Capone, Evalyn Walsh McLean, Greta Garbo, Ginger Rogers,[31] Howard Hughes, Mae West, Marion Davies, Tyrone Power, Clark Gable, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, William Randolph Hearst, the families Mars, Whitney, and Wrigley; members of European royalty such as the Duke of Windsor, Prince Nicholas of Romania, Queen Maria of Yugoslavia, and the Kings Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Alfonso XIII of Spain.

The final evolution of the Duesenberg engine was ram-air intakes, which were added to some of the last supercharged models to produce 400 hp (298 kW), referred to as "SSJ".

[8] Duesenberg became far less popular during World War II, and by 1941 to 1942, used specimens were abundant and cheap, with advertised prices averaging around $700 ($13,053 in 2023 dollars [16]) for the cars in excellent condition.

Several Model Js were advertised in The New York Times in the fall of 1950, at prices as low as $500, though an exceptional restored example could exceed $2,000 ($25,328 in 2023 dollars [16]) which was still within the reach of the average working American.

A record price of $205,000 ($1,266,518 in 2023 dollars [16]) was set at an auction in 1974 for a model J, surpassing Adolf Hitler's personal Mercedes-Benz 770, which sold for $153,000 the year prior.