The famous “20 Grand” Duesenberg visits Jay Leno’s garage

Any Duesenberg is bound to draw attention, but the car featured in this episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage” has always stood out from the crowd.

This four-door was built as a show car for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, where it became famous at the time as the “Twenty Grand” Duesenberg for its then outrageous price tag of $20,000. Leno notes in the video that the average American car at the time cost less than $1,000 and the average house less than $2,000.

The one-off Twenty Grand wasn’t the most expensive Duesenberg ever built—the 1934 Duesenberg Walker coupe cost $25,000 new—but it was too expensive to attract a first-time buyer. Duesenberg painted it black and brought it back to Chicago in 1934, where it was eventually sold to a wealthy buyer. It is now part of California’s Nethercutt Collection, where it is displayed alongside other classics from famous automakers such as Bugatti and Hispano-Suiza.

Like other Duesenbergs, the Twenty Grand is powered by an inline-8 engine based on Indianapolis 500 racing engines. This car’s engine has a displacement of 421 cubic inches and a supercharger that produces 320 horsepower. Like the price of the car, that was a staggering number in the 1930s.

The race-bred engine and the power it delivered meant Duesenbergs were considered driver’s cars in their day, but this car was also designed for chauffeur-driven driving. Its unique coach-built body includes a bulkhead and a full set of displays for rear seat passengers to monitor what the driver is doing. It gives new meaning to the term “backseat driver”.

The car was restored in 1979 and has been on display frequently since, although due to its value it is not often driven anymore. That means the driving portion of this video is limited to taxiing a bit around an airport apron, but it’s rare to see this one-of-a-kind Duesenberg in motion at all.