Jay Leno

A Car to Die For?

Duesenberg. Jay Leno. Macy's Department Store. The Titanic. Supreme Court of the State of New York.

These names are familiar, for the most part. The Duesenberg is a legendary vintage car manufactured by an American family of German descent. Jay Leno is the high-profile American television talk-show host, comedian and car fanatic.

All of these names are linked by a Duesenberg that was allegedly sold at auction and then privately bought by Jay Leno. A few years later the previous owner died, and his executors sued, claiming that the auction was rigged, enabling Leno to obtain the valuable car at a bargain-basement price.

The previous owner - some new, probably not so familiar names now enter the frame - was John W. Straus, whose grandfather made Macy's into a retailing powerhouse.

Straus bought the car in the late 1940s from his mother, who inherited it from her husband. John, who owned a Bugatti and several other cars, drove the Duesenberg occasionally. Mostly it lived in the garage, bone idle, for more than 50 years. Straus also stored his Rolls Royce there.

As John Straus became old and infirm, he fell behind in storage payments, then caught up but, somehow, the garage sold the car at a lien auction in 2005. Leno then bought the car for $180,000.

John Straus died on May 18, 2008. In 2009, his executors - Straus' daughter Wendy Lubin and Barbard Field - filed suit against Leno, his production company, the garage owners and several others for nearly $1.7m.

Shortly after the suit was filed, Dennis Ricca, the garage manager, committed suicide. Straus' Roller had ended up in his possession.

Leno's Duesenberg came with some hidden extras, most notably, some unpleasant publicity at the least, tragically shady dealings at the worst.

Shop Till You Drop

Isidor Straus, John's grandfather, is often identified - incorrectly - as the founder of Macy's, best known for its mammoth flagship store on 34th Street in Manhattan.

Actually, RH Macy's was founded not by Straus but, wait for it, Rowland Hussey Macy in Massachusetts and then relocated to New York. After Macy and his partners died, Isidor Straus and his brother Nathan became the owners.

You may be more familiar with Isidor (1845-1912) and his wife Ida (1849-1912) than you realise. They went down with the Titanic, although both were offered places in lifeboats - she because she was a woman, and he because of his age, 67.

Isidor declined, saying that he would enter a lifeboat only with the other men. Ida remained with her husband, saying, "Where you go, I go." His body was later recovered; he is buried in Woodland Cemetery, Bronx, New York. Her body was never recovered. Their bravery was memorialised in the film Titanic.

A Doozy of a Car

In 1931 Herbert Straus, one of Isidor and Ida's seven children, bought a new Duesenberg J Wood Town Sedan (VIN 2467; Engine No. J418), one of only 470 that were manufactured. When his widow sold the car to John, it had barely been driven. And thanks to its more than 50-year hibernation in the garage, the 75-year-old car had only 7085 miles on the odometer.

The lawsuit against Leno, Ricca and others states that "The vehicles were garaged by Straus at a parking facility located on East 76th Street in Manhattan for over 50 years. Notwithstanding the hundreds of thousands of dollars paid by Straus to the garage over the years, these vehicles were purportedly auctioned-off to satisfy certain relatively trivial parking bills." The suit also asserts that John Straus was unable to protect his rights due to “deterioration from dementia,” and that the auction was a “sham."

Did John Straus ultimately pay his garage bills in full? Even if he did not, was the lien auction legal or fair? Was the auction open to the public and were there any other bidders?

These and other tantalising questions will probably never be answered now. The case was settled out of court in June 2011. Leno kept the car, and John Straus' estate received a cash settlement, although not apparently from Leno.

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