1932 Duesenberg J Figoni Sports Torpedo takes 'Best of Show' at Pebble Beach

2022 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance judges gave the prestigious "Best of Show" award to a one-of-a-kind 1932 Duesenberg J Figoni Sports Torpedo. This marks the first time an American car has earned "Best of Show" since 2013 and is the Duesenberg brand's seventh win.

Owned by Lee R. and Penny Anderson, the droptop has a fascinating story. It was assigned chassis number 2509 and shipped without a body to Motors Deluxe in Paris. This was a common practice in an era when coachbuilding flourished. French coachbuilder Joseph Figoni fitted the Duesenberg with a one-off Sports Torpedo body and returned it to Motors Deluxe owner E.Z Sadovich, who then drove the car in the 1932 edition of the Paris-Nice Rally before delivering it to its original owner, a Peruvian sugar heir named Antonio Chopitea.

Chopitea displayed his new Duesenberg at a concours held in Cannes and won the Grand Prix. What happened next remains a little murky: what's certain is that the Duesenberg traveled to the United States in 1933 and lost its Figoni-designed body in the 1960s. The chassis ended up wearing a different body for decades while the original body was fitted to another Model J, according to Hagerty. Luckily, both cars found their way to the same collection. Anderson purchased the duo and began the long, meticulous process of rebuilding chassis 2509.