The Duesenberg J was one of the most remarkable cars of the classic era, and its 1934-35 advertising campaign was remarkable as well.

The early print advertisements for the Duesenberg Model J, introduced in December of 1928 at the New York Auto Show, were totally conventional. The ad copy boasted of the car’s impressive technical features, including the 265 hp straight-eight engine, the 150-lb forged steel crankshaft, the 116 mph top speed. And indeed, with the Duesenberg J there was plenty to talk about.

But by 1934, a completely different strategy had emerged. These ads didn’t describe the car at all, or even show it.  Instead, there was simply an illustration of the presumptive Duesenberg customer with the words, “He drives a Duesenberg,” or “She drives a Duesenberg.”

The drawings in the ads, which appeared in Vanity Fair and Country Life magazines in 1934 through 1935, were the work of Paul Gerding (1895-1983), a noted Chicago artist and illustrator whose clients included Studebaker, DeSoto, and ladies’ apparel makers. The illustrations show men and women in settings of extreme wealth and luxury, beyond the merely affluent. The depictions included a yacht captain; a lady of the manor supervising workmen in her vast gardens; a bird hunter with his shotgun, dogs, and gamesman.

The settings were entirely appropriate, considering that at the time, a Duesenberg chassis minus bodywork cost $9500, when a new Ford or Chevrolet was less than $600. Duesenbergs truly were for the very few. How effective the campaign was in reaching out to this handful of customers is hard to say. The Duesenberg J was an engineering tour de force but not a commerical success.