This 1935 Duesenberg Has Just Been Named the Top Show Car of 2023

A spectacular, beautiful, and idiosyncratic 1935 Duesenberg, commissioned by a Maharaja and custom-bodied by one of the great automotive coachbuilders, has just earned the coveted Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award.

The annual contest was established in 2015, with the winner being selected from the automobiles which took the top prizes at the world’s most prestigious concours d’elegance in the previous year. Judges include Ralph Lauren, Jay Leno, and Henry Ford III, and the award was cofounded by noted classic-car collector Sir Michael Kadoorie, the chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels group—owner of the Peninsula chain.

The Duesenberg Model SJ Speedster qualified for the Peninsula recognition by winning the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, on the shores of Lake Como, in 2023. Now part of the Lyon Estate Car Collection in Orange County, Calif., the Duesenberg was originally ordered by Maharaja Holkar of Indore, who sent the chassis to J Gurney Nutting & Co in London to be bodied. The firm had built its reputation with a series of bespoke cars for British royalty, and for its royal Indian customer it included features such as chrome flagsticks, blue and red indicators on the fenders to show whether the Maharaja or his wife the Maharanee was driving, and a steering wheel made of wicker.

Fear of a Japanese invasion of India meant the Maharaja’s car was delivered first to his estate in Santa Ana, Calif., before eventually making its way to his homeland. It returned to California in the 1950s and joined the private collection of late U.S. Air Force Major General William Lyon.

It is now in London to be displayed in the lobby of the city’s new Peninsula Hotel, which hosted the award ceremony and which celebrates the first anniversary of its opening on September 12. The hotel lies less than a mile and half from the former Gurney Nutting workshop in Chelsea, where the Duesenberg received its coachwork.

London’s first billion-pound hotel has a strong automotive theme inspired by the private passion of its owner. The Brooklands restaurant, by chef Claud Bosi, has already garnered two Michelin stars and is named for the fabled former motor racing circuit just outside the city. The restaurant, bar, and their shared lobby are adorned with some spectacular automotive and aviation memorabilia—including early Brooklands-era racing cars and a Concorde nosecone—and will be joined by the Model SJ Speedster until September 14. For £85 (about $111), visitors will be able to book a Classic Car Afternoon Tea: an English tradition given an automotive twist, including a Battenberg cake in the same black-and-orange color scheme as the Duesenberg, and served in its presence.

The winner faced the stiffest possible competition from cars which also won the great prizes of the 2023 collector-car season. The rarified field included a 1935 Voisin C25 Aerodyne, a 1937 Bentley 4¼-liter Rothschild Sedanca Coupe (also bodied by Gurney Nutting), a 1937 Bugatti 57S Roadster, and a 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Berlinetta by Pininfarina.

“The caliber of the 2023 finalists is nothing short of extraordinary,” stated Sir Michael Kadoorie. “Each vehicle exemplifies an incredible feat of automotive engineering and design. Selecting a single winner becomes increasingly difficult.”

“It is a great honor to receive this award on behalf of my father,” said Bill H. Lyon, who now represents the Lyon Estate Car Collection as well as the Lyon Air Museum. “Among elite collectors, the Peninsula Best of the Best Award is considered the pinnacle of recognition.”

Click below for more photos of this 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Speedster.