1933 Rigling-Duesenberg Race Car

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Miami, Florida | March 2024

Herman Rigling and Cotton Henning were chassis builders during the “Junk Formula” years at Indianapolis. And their racing chassis were logged as “Rigling” in the Indianapolis 500 box scores. The junk formula was supposed to ensure stock-ish engines (in some cases, very stock). No superchargers, limited displacement, etc.

That said, you could still build a scratch-built racing engine and meet the criteria. Enter August Duesenberg, who built a beauty that this car first ran with at Indy in 1931. This car’s Indy 500 history includes:

1931 Indianapolis 500 – 35th, DNF (with Babe Stapp)
1932 Indianapolis 500 – DNQ (with L.L. Corum)
1933 Indianapolis 500 – 13th (with Willard Prentiss)
1934 Indianapolis 500 – DNQ (with Harold Shaw)

Let’s keep in mind that this was running at Indy during Duesenberg’s glory years. For 1933 the car used an engine from a Duesenberg Model Y road car. That engine was damaged by a later owner, who tried to adapt it to accept a Model J engine. That project was never completed.

After a late-90s/early-00s restoration, during which the car was fitted with a Duesenberg Model A engine, it relocated to its current collection in 2011. There are not many Duesenberg-powered race cars out there anymore, and even fewer in private hands. This one has an estimate of $500,000-$700,000. More info can be found here.

1931 Rigling-Studebaker

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 17, 2019

Photo – Gooding & Company

WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker became the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1927. For 1930 he introduced a new set of rules that required a riding mechanic and also increased the allowable engine displacement. The result was an influx of off-the-shelf parts used on cars, many of which were just heavily modified versions of street cars.

This car was built by Studebaker’s head of testing, George Hunt, in collaboration with land speed racer Ab Jenkins. The chassis was purchased from fabricator Rigling and Henning, and a Studebaker President 336ci straight-eight was stuffed under the custom aluminum bodywork. It features four Winfield carburetors and produces 205 horsepower. It’s competition history includes:

1931 Indianapolis 500 – 18th, DNF (with Tony Gulotta)

1931 Pikes Peak Hill Climb – 1st (with Chuck Myers)

1932 Indianapolis 500 – 6th (with Zeke Meyer)

1933 Indianapolis 500 – 12th (with L.L. Corum)

After 1933, the car was run by Jenkins on the Bonneville Salt Flats and was later used by his son as a road car. The restoration was completed in the early 1980s, and it is now expected to bring between $500,000-$750,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Gooding & Company.

Update: Sold $1,105,000.