The “Great” Gatsby - 25th November, 2016

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You can see the resemblance to the Duesenberg used in the 2013 film “The Great Gatsby” but there is also a fair bit of 1985 Mustang mixed in as well. That’s because this Gatsby replica is based on a 1985 Ford Mustang. So it’s a cut price Duesenberg. But let’s face it most of us are a cut price Leo DiCaprio at best so it’s just about spot on. Sure most of your friends will hate it, your wife/husband will leave you, but the kids will love it...

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book “The Great Gatsby” is about millionaire Jay Gatsby and set in the prosperous 1920s featuring jazz, speakeasies, nice cars, flappers and bootlegging. In the original 1920s novel Gatsby’s car was a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost painted yellow. But Hollywood figured they’d change that in the 2013 movie and changed the decade the story was set in, too. Hollywood is good at that. So in the film the car is a yellow 1932 Duesenberg which is a very expensive American car loaded with bling for very rich people before they were wiped out by the great depression.

So the car being auctioned is a replica of the Gatsby car only in the wrong colour. Apart from that it looks fairly plausible if you ignore the Mustang body panels and the 80s Mustang interior which looks, well, very 1980s. Unlike the Duesy the replica has four seats so you could use it for Art Deco tours in Napier maybe. Or maybe some other tourism venture or promotional lark where a very distinctive car would be useful. Kids parties anyone?

The car is un-complied and therefore unregistered but does have the correct paperwork to get the ball rolling. Being a pretty untypical daily driver the mileage is quite low and the condition looks good. The cheese factor is high with this one but there’s a certain charm that I just can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe you can.

The piece of rolling crazy art is part of the Turners National Classic Car Auction that starts tonight. More info here.