A Streetworks Exotics Classic Car Restoration Project
How It Started
One afternoon, I got a call from a good client and friend about a project he was deeply invested in. He told me it involved an old Duesenberg prototype. At first, I assumed he meant one of the prewar classics-but none of those had ever come to us for a full restoration. Then he explained: this was the postwar prototype that Frank Duesenberg had conceived to revive the company. The only one ever made, bodied by Ghia and designed by Virgil Exner.
After researching the car, I knew we had to take the job. We arranged to pick it up in Miami. Our shop foreman, Erik, made the trip with our largest trailer-a 48-foot gooseneck rig. The scope of the project hit home when Erik called to say it had taken eight hours just to load the car and all its parts, with three people helping. This wasn't just a classic car restoration. We were taking responsibility for something irreplaceable.
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Getting to Work
Once the car reached Pewaukee, work started right away. Classic car restoration is a phased process that aims to return a vehicle to its original factory condition or a modernized state. Because the Duesenberg had never been fully completed in 1966, we weren't just restoring-we were finishing development work that had been abandoned decades earlier. That meant solving problems the original team never got around to solving.
Rebuilding the wiring was the hardest part early on. No diagrams existed, so we traced every wire by hand, one at a time. Before disassembly, we documented the wiring layout with detailed photos, which proved essential for troubleshooting the vintage wiring harness. It took weeks. The process demanded total concentration, but the payoff was a car where every light, gauge, and switch worked as intended-including the original dashboard needles. We also recommend investing in a factory service manual specific to the vehicle for detailed technical specifications.
The interior wood brought its own difficulties. This was solid timber, up to an inch thick-not veneer. Some pieces were too far gone and had to be replaced with matching grain; others we refinished carefully to bring them back to a consistent appearance that respected the original design.
To perform the restoration work, it's important to have essential tools for classic car restoration. Our shop is fully equipped to tackle complex repairs, upholstery work, and engine restoration. We work hard to restore every aspect of the car, from the engine to the bodywork, ensuring the highest quality results.
Throughout the project, we kept the owner informed of every obstacle and decision. Honest communication was the only way to keep expectations realistic and the project on track. When you're working on something like this, trust between the shop and the owner makes all the difference.
The Duesenberg Legacy
To appreciate what was at stake, it helps to know the history behind the name.
The original Duesenberg company was founded in 1913 by brothers Frederick and August "Augie" Duesenberg in Des Moines, Iowa, before relocating to Indianapolis. They made their reputation in motorsports, with Duesenberg cars dominating the Indianapolis 500 throughout the 1920s. The Model J, introduced in 1928, became the standard for American luxury: a 420-cubic-inch straight-eight with dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, and up to 265 horsepower in supercharged form. These cars were hand-built, priced accordingly, and owned by Hollywood stars and industrial magnates.
The Great Depression ended the dream. By 1937, the company had ceased production after building fewer than 500 cars. The name lived on in collectors' circles, but the business was gone.
Nearly three decades later, Augie's son, Fritz "Frank" Duesenberg, partnered with businessman Milo Record to bring the brand back. Inspired by a 1963 Esquire feature in which Virgil Exner sketched modern takes on classic marques, they hired the Chrysler designer to create a Duesenberg for a new era.
Exner delivered his design in 1964. The prototype was hand-built at Carrozzeria Ghia in Italy over 1965-66. The chassis came from a Chrysler Imperial convertible—the strongest available—stretched 11.5 inches for a wheelbase of roughly 137 inches. Under the 82-inch hood sat a 413-cubic-inch Chrysler V8, producing 375 horsepower. The body featured disappearing headlights behind clamshell doors, flowing fenders, suicide doors, hidden fuel cells in place of a conventional tank, and an interior finished in solid wood, cashmere, leather, and gold-plated Jaeger instrumentation—including an altimeter, a nod to the marque's aviation heritage.
At $19,500—two to three times the price of a Rolls-Royce—it was meant to be the ultimate American luxury car. Deposits came from Elvis Presley (a $5,000 check survives in museum archives), Jerry Lewis, and Philip Wrigley. Plans called for 1,000 cars a year. But funding collapsed in 1966. The prototype was the only one ever completed. It sat for decades in the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum, then was sold through a series of collectors. The company was gone, but the car survived.
An Owner Who Couldn't Walk Away
Tom Shannon, the current owner, first saw the Duesenberg as a 17-year-old visiting his grandmother in Ohio. He made a side trip to the Auburn museum after reading about the car. The sight of that unfinished prototype stuck with him.
Forty-three years later, when the car surfaced from the Bortz collection and failed to meet its reserve at auction, Tom stepped in. He bought it sight-unseen. His reasoning was simple: "There isn't going to be another one."
He's candid about the cost. "I'm in this car for easily double what it's really worth. But it's okay." He describes it the way any honest collector would—a boat you keep throwing money into. But for Tom, this wasn't about resale value. He'd first seen it as a dusty museum piece. Now he wanted to see it run.
The Restoration
The restoration started in Tom's own collection, where his mechanic stripped the car to its bare chassis and body. For a full restoration like this, we strip the vehicle to bare metal, blast all jambs and crevices, hammer and dolly all dings and dents with minimal filler, then epoxy prime the bare metal to prevent oxidation. The body was painted in Florida to preserve as much originality as possible, though the original finish was beyond saving. Then the real work moved to Streetworks Exotics in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.
Since the Duesenberg was never fully completed in 1966, our work went beyond restoration-we were effectively carrying forward development that had been left unfinished for decades. This required us to address challenges the original team never had the chance to resolve.
The wiring was one of the earliest-and toughest-challenges. There were no diagrams, only miles of aging wire, so we painstakingly traced each connection by hand. Detailed photos taken before disassembly became our roadmap, guiding weeks of focused work. In the end, the effort paid off: every light, gauge, and switch worked flawlessly, including the original dashboard needles.
The interior woodwork presented its own set of challenges. Crafted from solid timber—some pieces up to an inch thick, not veneer—certain elements were beyond repair and required replacement with carefully matched grain. Others were meticulously refinished to achieve a cohesive appearance while staying true to the original design.
At 5,700 pounds (closer to 6,000 fully loaded), the Duesenberg was massive. Custom gold eagles, heavy chrome, purpose-built wire wheels from Dayton with double the usual spoke count to handle the weight, and side-mounted fuel cells offering about 100 miles of range. It had been rushed out of Ghia when funding dried up, arriving roughly 95% complete-close enough to look finished, but with significant gaps underneath.
Our first step at Streetworks was a complete body-off disassembly. Every component-chrome, mechanical systems, interior trim-was cleaned, restored, or recreated where necessary. The grille and radiator shroud alone weigh nearly 100 pounds. The bumpers were custom-built for this car, not borrowed from any other model.
The technical problems ran deep. Because the prototype combined parts from both 1965 and 1966 Imperials, basic functions like shifting into park didn't work. We had to engineer solutions for development issues the original team had never resolved. Anyone who's been through a classic car restoration knows that one repair often reveals two more—and on a car like this, the surprises were constant.
Hidden headlights with their drop-down doors, fluted exhaust tips that echoed prewar Duesenbergs, suicide doors, and an altimeter calibrated for low-elevation Burbank-every detail received careful attention. The Dayton wire wheels were original but needed new tires. The air conditioning system-essentially freezer units in the front and rear-was brought back to working order. Even the oversized trunk and the cross-feeding fuel system were returned to full operation.
The cashmere headliner, leather upholstery, rear-seat picnic tables, and the gold Jaeger chronometer (possibly salvaged from a WWII B-17) were all preserved or restored to a standard that would hold up to close inspection at any concours event.
From start to finish, we made it a priority to keep the owner fully informed-every challenge, every decision. That level of honesty kept expectations grounded and the project moving forward. On something this complex, trust between the shop and the owner isn't optional-it's essential.
Preservation and Conservation
Preserving and restoring exotic and classic cars is more than a business-it's our passion and our art. Our team specializes in restoring vehicles from every era. Each restoration process is tailored to the vehicle’s unique needs, combining traditional craftsmanship with modern technology to achieve results that honor the car's original character.
We approach every project with meticulous attention to detail, using both metric and imperial units to ensure accuracy and authenticity in every measurement and repair. From tackling rust and repairing dents to refinishing the body and matching original paint, our skilled restorers take pride in every step of the process. Whether we're restoring an exotic Iso Grifo's bodywork or bringing a forgotten Maserati back to life, our goal is always to maintain the integrity of the vehicle while delivering a finish that meets the highest standards. At Streetworks Exotics, we treat every classic car as a piece of history—restoring it with the care and respect it deserves.
The Result
The Duesenberg now drives the way it was always meant to-plenty of torque, smooth power delivery, and a presence that's impossible to miss. Tom puts it best: "It's like driving a living room down the street."
He also has a growing respect for Exner's design work. The centerline that visually narrows the body, the delicate roof, the curving rear fenders, and the way the rear deck angles down to make a three-ton car look lighter than it is. "The more you look at it," Tom says, "the more you appreciate the brilliance of Exner."
In 2025, the fully restored prototype debuted at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in the Virgil Exner Designs class, where it earned second in class. That's a strong result for a car that had never been fully completed in its original lifetime. Judges and enthusiasts were drawn to the authenticity of the work and the way our team had honored the original intent without relying on modern shortcuts.
For Tom, the moment was personal. "I hope my son likes it," he says, "because I'll never be able to sell it." His son was 18 months old when the exotic car restoration wrapped up. Someday he'll inherit a car that represents an era when this kind of craftsmanship was done entirely by hand—before computers and high-volume production made projects like this nearly impossible.
Why Streetworks Exotics
These words come straight from Matt Backhaus, founder and owner of Streetworks Exotics.
The 1966 Duesenberg Model D Prototype is more than a car. It's the last Duesenberg ever built-the only one of its kind-and a reminder of what American automotive ambition looked like at its most serious.
Our shop focuses on post-war exotic car restoration and classic vehicle restoration, including Iso Grifo, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin, Porsche, and Jaguar. We take on the projects that other shops tend to avoid-cars that are unfinished, poorly documented, or truly one of a kind. Whether it's rewiring a prototype with no blueprints, refinishing solid wood interiors to concours standards, or completing engineering that was left unfinished decades ago, we approach every project with the same care we brought to this Duesenberg.
Based in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, we serve clients across the country, and the world—including Tom, who shipped his car from Florida.
If you have a classic or exotic car that needs this kind of attention—whether it's a one-off prototype, a barn find, or a concours contender—we'd like to hear from you. Visit us at streetworksexotics.com to learn more about what we do and why owners like Tom trust us with cars that can't be replaced.
