Car once owned by Hearst nets hefty sum

AUBURN, Ind. - One of the most unique vehicles at this weekend's annual Kruse auto action was sold for a hefty price -- $535,000.\nThe sale price for the 1930 Duesenberg once owned by publisher William Randolph Hearst, however, was much less than what its owner could have banked earlier this year when he was offered $900,000 for the car.\nBob Dean, of Baton Rouge, La., sold the 1930 Model J Imperial Cabriolet Duesenberg during the annual Labor Day auction at Kruse Auction Park.\nThe car is worth closer to $700,000, said Mark Hyman, a collector car dealer from St. Louis. But the car sold Sunday to a man from Canada and Dean intended to sell the car when he came to the northeastern Indiana auto show for the sale.\nDean said he has owned five Duesenbergs over the years, owning the Model J for about 10 years.\n"It's a very special car," he said.\nHearst originally owned the car, Dean said, and Hearst toured Europe in the car with his mistress, Marion Davies.\nThen the couple traveled through South Africa before shipping the car back to Los Angeles, Dean said.\nThe car was one of two such Duesenbergs built with an all-aluminum body and extra-long chassis. Dean has owned the Hearst Duesenberg longer than the other four in his collection, which includes a Murphy Roadster.\nDean had another high-priced car at the sale -- a 2004 Ferrari Enzo, which has a sticker price of about $600,000.\nDean said he received an offer for $1.5 million, but a sign on the car asks for $1.6 million. Only 300 of the carbon fiber cars were produced and only Ferrari owners could get on the waiting list for the new car.