Clark Gable's Custom 1935 Duesenberg Heads to Auction With $8 Million EstimateA 1935 Duesenberg Model JN Convertible Coupe once owned and personally restyled by Clark Gable is headed to auction this summer, where it is expected to sell for between $5.75 million and $8 million.RM Sotheby's will offer the car at its Northern California sale Aug. 13-15 during Monterey Car Week. The auction house granted Robb Report permission to reveal the consignment ahead of its official announcement.Gable ordered one of only four Rollston-bodied convertible coupes in the JN series, the final two-seat open cars Duesenberg delivered to customers. Not content with the factory look, the actor sent the car to Bohman & Schwartz, a Pasadena, California, coachbuilder, where designer W. Everett Miller worked directly with Gable on a series of modifications. The actor sketched many of the changes himself, and records of his design input remain with the vehicle.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe alterations included a more sharply raked windshield, a lowered top, a body-color radiator shell, rear fender skirts, dual rear-mounted spare tires and custom wheel covers. When the work was finished, the son of coachbuilder Christian Bohman delivered the car to Gable at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where the actor was living at the time. Gable reportedly thanked him by appearing at a college party the young man was attending that evening, socializing with guests and dancing with the women in attendance.The Duesenberg appeared in publicity photos and earned a cameo in the 1938 film Merrily We Live. It was also intertwined with Gable's marriage to actress Carole Lombard. After Lombard died in a 1942 plane crash, about three years into their marriage, Gable parted with the car rather than keep a reminder of happier days.The vehicle's subsequent ownership passed through New Mexico, where wrestler Robert Hermann held it, then Indianapolis and Illinois, where Paul V. Colianni paid $4,500 for it. It later moved through Wisconsin and New York before Florida collector Charles Johnson acquired it in 1973 and commissioned a restoration. Sam and Emily Mann have owned the car since 2005 and had it returned to its original Gable-era configuration by Stone Barn, a New Jersey restoration shop.The restored car claimed the Gwen Graham Trophy for Most Elegant Convertible at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and Best of Show honors in 2008 at both the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance and the Meadowbrook concours. The original crankshaft, long missing, has been recovered and accompanies the sale uninstalled, meaning the car now includes all of its original numbered components.Via Darin Schnabel, courtesy of RM Sotheby'sJoin our Newsletter, follow our Instagram page, and follow us on Facebook.
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