Emboldened by their success the brothers set out to begin production of their own Automobile. Indianapolis was the ideal location with an already established network of suppliers to the trade, not to mention access to the Speedway which was used by many local manufacturers as a test track.  The Duesenberg Manufacturing facilities were located on 17 Acres on the southwest corner of West Washington St and Harding Ave adjacent to the Overland Plant.  It was eventually a sprawling campus consisting of many buildings.  Often bedecked with bunting and flags, the factory was one of the most visible of all Indianapolis Auto Manufacturers owing to its prime location on the main road-US 40, the National Road-out of town.  The layout and configuration of the buildings was an outward embodiment of the closeness of management to the employees and production with the Administration Building overlooking the Production line and delivery facilities, all of which were heavily glazed for easy visibility and ventilation.  

The sole surviving building is Building #3.  In 1984, the Main Administration building and most of the rest of the complex was demolished to make way for the Metro (now IndyGo) Bus Headquarters, despite being in pretty good structural condition.  The plant had been used by Marmon Herrington for production of trucks and busses after the demise of Duesenberg Inc. in 1937, just prior to WWII. Marmon Herrington immediately expanded the plant, doubling its size by 1940, and produced Armored and Transportation Vehicles for the War effort . In 1941, Marmon Herrington delivered 10 Million dollars worth of military vehicles to the American and Allied Armies from this site.   Marmon Herrington continued to use the plant until 1963. When it was demolished in 1984, the plant had been vacant for many years.

After the demolition and reuse by Metro, the original company sign was still present, albeit quite faded, on Building #3. One of the first projects of Indiana Automotive was the repainting of the sign in 2014, so that the history of the site lives on to even the most casual observer.  

A little known and now lost building was the Duesenberg Race shop, which was housed across the street in a smaller 2 story building.  The race shop was located on the second floor of the Thompson Pattern Works at 1532 W Washington St.  There was no elevator in the building so the race cars had to be rolled out of a doorway on the second floor. This rather unremarkable building survived despite sitting vacant for decades until it was destroyed by a rather cataclysmic fire in December, 2003.  It’s ironic that out of such a humble structure emerged one of the most successful American Racing Teams of the Twenties.

The Duesenberg brother’s reputation had been forged in racing and competition from the very beginning of their engineering careers at Mason.  It was only natural that they would continue that emphasis when launching their own car which was at its core a performance automobile. The Race Team was a separate entity headed by August Duesenberg versus a factory sponsored team, which probably explains the separate building.  

Employing talented and now legendary drivers they had come to know from the previous racing efforts for Mason, the team experienced immediate success by winning the French Grand Prix in 1921-the first American car to do so.  

A win in the 500 eluded the team for a few years, kind of. In 1922, Jimmy Murphy won with a Duesenberg chassis although he had fitted a Miller engine to this chassis after breaking with the team. Duesenberg’s took 7 of the top 10 places that year, not counting Mr. Murphy’s car.   In 1923, the Miller’s dominated with Duesenberg a distant 10th place finisher. The first outright win came in 1924 with L. L. Corum in 1stand Ralph DePaolo in 6th-again amongst a sea of Miller’s.  The team repeated in 1925 with Ralph DePaolo setting the first 100 plus mile per hour average speed at 101.127, with Phil Schafer in 3rd, Peter Kreis in 8th, and Wade Morton in 15th.The only other manufacturer to finish in the top 20 was Fiat- the rest were all Miller’s.  The best the team could muster was 5th with Ralph DePaolo in the shortened 1926 race, but won again in 1927 with George Souders piloting his car from 22nd position to the winners circle.  

By this time the company was in receivership as the demand for high priced luxury cars outweighed the many competitors in this market niche. E L Cord bought the company and absorbed it into his conglomerate. The brothers were skeptical when Mr. Cord instructed them to design and build an even more expensive car-given their recent experience-but rose to the challenge and the greatest car ever conceived and built-the Model J-became a reality.  

The Duesenberg Race Team continued to enter cars in the 500 in the late 20’s and 30’s and were still a dominate team with several entries and strong finishes, although 1927 was their final win. The final Duesenberg related entry was the Burd Piston Ring Special driven by Chet Gardner to 11thplace with an Offenhauser engine in 1937.

Sources: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum, Historic Indianapolis, Historic Structures.Com, Indiana Cars by Dennis Horvath, Duesenberg by Dennis Adler.