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Former Tonight Show Host Jay Leno, Classic Duesenberg, Featured in Old Cars Weekly


Old Cars Weekly’s March 8 cover story tells the tale of a special guest with a special car – Jay Leno’s Garage star and former Tonight Show host Jay Leno and his rebuilt Classic-era Duesenberg.

When Duesenberg historian and restorer Randy Ema and Jay Leno set out to rebuild Leno’s vehicle, Old Cars Weekly editor Angelo Van Bogart got wind of the ambitious project and asked to cover the story when the car was ready.  That was ten years ago.  Now, in the March 8 issue of Old Cars Weekly, Van Bogart finally gets to tell the tale of how this Classic Duesenberg Model J was brought back to life.

Van Bogart, says, “We are so pleased to be finally able to tell the incredible story of Jay's Duesenberg to Old Cars Weekly readers.  Personally, I’ve been waiting a long time to tell it!  Readers will enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed covering it and sharing it.”
The car was one of only six coupes originally built on a Duesenberg Model J chassis.  Of those six coupes, only three survived – until last year, when this car’s restoration was completed. This car had a twin, which were sold both in 1931.  The twin was never seen again, while this one received a homebuilt convertible body in the mid 1940s by a Ford Motor Co. dealer in Indiana.  The original coupe body was discarded, leaving Jay and Randy with only a chassis to work with — no body, no interior, no fenders, no instrument panel. All of these parts and more had to be built from new to make the Duesenberg a coupe again.

Leno quietly acquired the car about a decade ago and sent it to Ema, who removed the hideous convertible body and built from scratch an entirely new body that is incredibly accurate to the original.  Now that it’s finished, the car’s features include an extremely plush interior worthy of the finest parlor, individual and adjustable seats, brocade upholstery and lacewood trim panels. This car and its twin were built on the long wheelbase of Duesenberg’s two standard wheelbase lengths.  The car is considered a stationary coupe or rigid roof coupe. Its original price was $14,750.


Advertisers showed strong interest in the Leno-Duesenberg feature.  Old Cars Weekly signed on six new advertisers for the issue; Mecum Auctions increased their commitment to the issue with a three-page front gatefold unit that promotes the 31st Dana Mecum Original Spring Classic in Indianapolis this May. Overall advertising for the March 8 issue was up 140% over the same issue last year.


Ray Chelstowski, General Manager of F+W Media, the parent company of Old Cars Weekly, said, “The amazing story about Jay Leno’s classic Duesenberg is a history lesson about a time when some cars were built the way we build private jets today. It’s the kind of classic car story Old Cars Weekly is uniquely positioned to tell.  When it comes to vintage cars, nobody does it better than Angelo and his team.”

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