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Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ

  • silverghost
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05 Jun 2013 15:54 #25344 by silverghost
Replied by silverghost on topic Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ
Looks like I may be wrong here ~~~? ?

Are we talking about 4-8 PSI supercharger boost in addition to that 8.1:1 normally asperated piston/combustion chamber compression ratio ?

OR~~~
Is that ratio With the supercharger boost already factored in ?

That would make a BIG difference !

Do these model "J" superchargers have a safety anti-backfire control pop-off valve~~~?

I had thought I had once seen, many years ago, a model "J" engine in my general area where one of the aluminum intake manifold aluminum pipes had exploded & blown-apart like a grenade due to a leaking, or stuck open, intake valve and the resulting backfire explosion pressure ?

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. BRAD HUNTER Huntingdon Valley Pa/Ocean City NJ 215 947 4676 Engineer & RE Developer Brass & Classic Auto, Antique Boat, Mechanical Automatic Music Machine, & Jukebox Collector

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  • landmark
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05 Jun 2013 15:35 #25343 by landmark
Replied by landmark on topic Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ

silverghost wrote: Bob~~
I do not know the actual real answer to your compression ratio question for this SSJ~~~~ especially without the added-on supercharger boost pressure.

But that figure seems very high, with or without, that added supercharger pressure given the octane of the fuels generally available around in this 1930s time period .

It was not until after WW II that higher octane fuels were made widey available to the general public that could actually handle those compression ratios you have mentioned in my opinion~~~
These higher octane fuels were developed during the war in order to get more horsepower out of war aircraft, PT boat, and Sherman tank air cooled engines .
As the war years progressed supercharger boost pressures & compression ratios got higher & higher to increase engine horsepower, speed, & overall engine performance.


Hello,

I would guess that for a power output of 400 bhp @5000 rpm an uncharged J-engine (equiped with 4 single carbs) will need a compression-ratio of 9.5:1 or higher. So I think the (mechanical/static) ratio of 8.1:1 for the supercharged SSJ will be right.

I am not an expert, but I have read (can't remenber the source) that in the 1920ies and -30ies, it was not unusual that fuel was mixed with some ethanol. The Octane-number of pure ethanol higher than 100 (108?). So a mixture cold have had an octane-number >90

Here I have a link to that data-sheet Bob Roller is talking about <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=":wink:" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->

images.hemmings.com/wp-content/u ... 5_1000.jpg

The question is, how much pressure the supercharger is able to produce. I don't think that the charger-construction is able to produce a very high pressure, but I don't know it.
Maybe someone knows more about that and like explain it.

Cheers

Matt

Was man besonders gerne tut,
ist selten ganz besonders gut

Wilhelm Busch

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  • silverghost
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05 Jun 2013 13:10 #25341 by silverghost
Replied by silverghost on topic Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ
Bob~~
I do not know the actual real answer to your compression ratio question for this SSJ~~~~ especially without the added-on supercharger boost pressure.

But that figure seems very high, with or without, that added supercharger pressure given the octane of the fuels generally available around in this 1930s time period .

It was not until after WW II that higher octane fuels were made widey available to the general public that could actually handle those compression ratios you have mentioned in my opinion~~~
These higher octane fuels were developed during the war in order to get more horsepower out of war aircraft, PT boat, and Sherman tank air cooled engines .
As the war years progressed supercharger boost pressures &amp; compression ratios got higher &amp; higher to increase engine horsepower, speed, &amp; overall engine performance.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. BRAD HUNTER Huntingdon Valley Pa/Ocean City NJ 215 947 4676 Engineer & RE Developer Brass & Classic Auto, Antique Boat, Mechanical Automatic Music Machine, & Jukebox Collector

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  • Bob Roller
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05 Jun 2013 11:16 #25340 by Bob Roller
Replied by Bob Roller on topic Cooper SSJ
I have that 8-87 issue of SIA and think Iread in the specs on that car that it had a compression ratio of 8:1. Is this an 8:1 ratio PLUS the supercharger or an equvilant figure? Seem to me the high compression plus the supercharger would create an extreme ratio that could blow head gaskets or even the engine. Anyone have any opinions on this?

Bob Roller

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  • RandyEma
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04 Jun 2013 19:19 #25339 by RandyEma
Replied by RandyEma on topic Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ
Cooper owned J431 Derham tourster and J563 LaGrande swb speedster. R

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04 Jun 2013 16:19 #25338 by silverghost
Replied by silverghost on topic Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ
Thank You sir~~~

Your father Never should have sold that Spectacular "SSJ" Duesenberg ! ! !


Does anyone know how many model "J" Duesenbergs
Gary Cooper owned in his lifetime ?

What were their "J" Numbers ?

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. BRAD HUNTER Huntingdon Valley Pa/Ocean City NJ 215 947 4676 Engineer & RE Developer Brass & Classic Auto, Antique Boat, Mechanical Automatic Music Machine, & Jukebox Collector

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  • maxkalba
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04 Jun 2013 15:51 #25337 by maxkalba
Replied by maxkalba on topic Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ
Great stories silverghost!

I've read that article in Special Interest Autos 8-87 where John W. Burgess compared Bob Estes' SJ with the SSJ and said the SSJ "blew the doors off of Bob's car". John also said he went 126.6mph on Muroc Dry Lake in J-563.

Does anyone have any picture of Gary Cooper with his SSJ? I haven't come across one pic on the internet.

-Kurt Kahl

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  • Bob Roller
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04 Jun 2013 14:46 #25336 by Bob Roller
Replied by Bob Roller on topic Gary Cooper's SSJ
Other than a "test" drive on a parking lot in 1987,has anyone ever really
given this car a real,foot to the floor road test or for that matter,the other SSJ erroneously credited to Clark Gable?

Bob Roller

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  • silverghost
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04 Jun 2013 13:53 #25335 by silverghost
Replied by silverghost on topic Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ
Fantastic Duesenberg~~~an all time favorite !

Fun little known fact~~~

Actor Gary Cooper was a very close personal friend to early Mega Antique &amp; Classic car collector, and the Southampton Long Island NY Antique Automobile Museum, owner Henry Austin Clark Jr.
They both shared a love for these great old cars.
Gary Cooper was a real car &amp; performance speed nut all his life !

Mr. Cooper would visit "Uncle Austie" at his home, or museum, very often when he was visiting in the New York area.

As I may have mentioned before my Father Arthur Hunter Jr. was a very distant family relation to Austie's wife who's maiden name was Waleta Hunter !

Dad &amp; I once actually met Mr. Cooper at "Uncle" Austie's museum one Saturday while on one of our many visits to Austie's auto museum.

Gary Cooper was a very kind &amp; modest man~~~
He was very much like his movie actor persona.
What a great fellow indeed !
He was very kind to Dad &amp; I.
I guess I was only about five years old at the time but he made a Giant impression on me as a small child who loved Western cowboy movies.
We have a few snapshots in Dad's old files of our visit that very day with Austie &amp; Mr. Cooper !

Gary Cooper was a Real cowboy as he was raised on his parent's ranch in Montana !

We all,~~~ the four of us, also rode in several of Uncle Austie's old cars &amp; his fire engine around the museum property that day.
Here we were like Four litte kids riding in "Uncle" Austie's great cars together~~~
Austie, my Dad, Mr. Gary Cooper~~~and myself !

Of course I was the only Real little kid that day~~~
But you would never had known it from the looks on All our faces~~~~We were all having "A BIG TIME" using Mr. Cooper's very words about those great rides on that very Saturday !
What memory could have been better for a ittle kid like myself than that Day in the very late 1950s early 1960s ?

Another little known fact~~~

Gary Cooper was actually burried in Southampton Long Island New York not very far from Austie's former museum site &amp; Austie's mansion home at the Sacred Heart Cemetary Southampton Long.Island.~ N. Y.
I believe "Uncle" Austie had something directly to do with Mr. Cooper actually being burried there~~~as Mr. Cooper had actualy died In L. A. Calif .
His wife &amp; daughter later moved back to New York area which is where her family was originally from I believe ?
Her parents were old socialite friends of the Clark family who were owners of the giant Jack Frost Sugar empire.

After Gary Cooper's un-timely passing, at I believe only age 60, "Uncle" Austie told us he would often, almost every week, visit his close friend's nearby grave~~~and always taking one of Mr. Cooper's favorite Antique ,or Classic, museum car autos along on the visits with him !
"Uncle" Austie really always missed his old friend~~~~

R.I.P~~~ Mr. Gary Cooper !

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. BRAD HUNTER Huntingdon Valley Pa/Ocean City NJ 215 947 4676 Engineer & RE Developer Brass & Classic Auto, Antique Boat, Mechanical Automatic Music Machine, & Jukebox Collector

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  • maxkalba
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04 Jun 2013 04:28 #25333 by maxkalba
Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ was created by maxkalba
A big thanks to Chris Summers who has identified by grandfather's car as the famous SSJ owned by Gary Cooper. I believe he was the third owner in the early 1940's before he went off to war. This ends years of searching and guessing to exactly which model he owned. Thanks Chris!

Wish he hadn't sold it... <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: -->

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