The Duesenberg Model J was an engineering tour de force, with its 265-horsepower twin-cam eight-cylinder engine derived from everything that Fred and August Duesenberg had learned in over a decade of successful racing competition.

Equally memorable, however, were the bodies mounted to this grand chassis, produced by a “who’s who” of the finest coachbuilders worldwide, and in every instance represented one of its builder’s most superbly tailored creations.

Some of the most beautifully designed coachwork on the Model J was produced by LeBaron, capable of a broad variety of designs, including especially handsomely proportioned convertible sedans.

According to Marshall Merkes and Ray Wolff’s Duesenberg files, this particular LeBaron body was of a design intended for Packard, only to be acquired on 22 December 1932 by Duesenberg’s New York factory branch—new and unfinished “in the white”—for mounting to J-127/2152.

This car had originally been delivered to John Paine of New York City, b...