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Topic starter
12/08/2022 11:08 am
Briefly, the legend has it that custom coachbuilders Emmett (Roger) Hardnock & Armand (Raffi) Minasian of Green Brier, Pennsylvania were commissioned by French cosmetic king, Gui de la Rouche for his lover, Simone in 1936 to be built on a Duesenberg J chassis. As Simone was to be the sole owner, the car was designed to be as feminine as possible in shape, color palette and accouterments including the large "S" on the doors and seats. E & M wished to have the finished car shown at the 1939 World's Fair, but first had to ship the car to France for Gui and Simone's approval. By that time, war clouds were in the air, and, worse, a nasty love triangle had occurred that involved Gui's secretary, Antoine St. Claire. As the became more nasty and political, suddenly the car disappeared along with Emmett as Gui confiscated the car without paying and Emmett and Antoine sought to steal the car back and hide it until it could be brought back to America. Armand went to France to look for his partner and he also disappeared. It was thought perhaps the car was disassembled and hidden during the war, but it was never found. It is said that descendants of Armand, searching for the car, found the blueprints in an old barn near the la Rouche estate and subsequently sold the plans to the Franklin Mint.
How's that for a phantom provenance for a phantom automobile. This epic tall tale undoubtedly came from the mind of Raffi Minasian.
John Merritt and Tony Perrone reacted
12/08/2022 12:37 pm
I’m not sure how tall the tale is Rich but it certainly catches attention as does the car. Thanks for this interesting post and images. Did Franklin Mint really pay for automobile plans?
Tony Perrone reacted
12/08/2022 4:01 pm
GREAT memories Pal!!
Not sure if you recall, on one of our outings to the FM's Car Festivals / D4C's Annual Meetings, I met with Roger and Raffi and had them sign the model's materials.
David Green and Rich Sufficool reacted
12/08/2022 4:35 pm
That's cool story. Even if I did not care for the car.
Topic starter
12/08/2022 4:45 pm
@david-green Well, both Emmett and Armand were on salary at the time, so... yeah.
Tony Perrone and David Green reacted
12/08/2022 6:54 pm
In all of the cars in my collection, this model gets more attention than any other.
Tony Perrone reacted
12/08/2022 8:37 pm
I considered this one several times over the years, just never got it. The overall look & color was a lot to get past, LOL!
John Merritt
South Lyon, Michigan - USA
Tony Perrone reacted
12/08/2022 8:50 pm
I own the the first assembled hand painted model, the one that is photographed on the brochure. If you look at the brochure, see the golden trim that extends from the chrome trim of the grille ... it is one line. On the production version, the golden trim does not meet the chrome element.
Anyway, the old photos of the two men in the brochure are photos of Roger's and Raffi's grandfathers.
FM kept this project in secret and confused even Duesenberg historians as Raffi and Roger used a real number of a lost Duesenberg chassis in the story, if I remember correctly what Raffi told me. FM only revealed the truth when they finally presented the car. Raffi has a big 1:5 model of the car, without the interior.
Topic starter
13/08/2022 10:46 am
@jcarnutz Look at the pure frontal pic. Couldn't you see the Joker behind the wheel? Add a lime green accent and it's in all the Joker colors too.
John Merritt reacted