Auburn Cord Duesenburg – Auburn, IN (USA)

I was working out of Schaumburg, Illinois, at the end of last week, so decided to make the drive across Indiana to Auburn on Saturday to see this fabulous museum. This absolutely fantastic museum is housed in the former showroom and head office of the three marques, and which has been beautifully restored in all its Art Deco splendour. Inside, on the ground floor, there is a period style showroom, with these glorious cars from the 20s and 30s, as you can see in the pictures. There are far more cars upstairs, and there is a separate display of other cars from Indiana – such as the Studebaker, and the Crosley. A further display area has a few other interesting cars. There are lots of side exhibits in the building, explaining more about the company, the people, the market at the time, and plenty on the engineering and design. These are the cars of EL Cord, an inspirational entrepreneur in the motor business. Auburn cars were aimed at the middle-class, and Duesenburg were definitely intended for the very upper end of the market. So, he added a third brand, Cord, with the very advanced 810 and 812 models of the mid 30s which were ultimately to prove the company’s downfall. I just gazed in awe at the SJ Duesenburgs, the Auburn Speedsters, the Cord 810 and 812s and the L29……… and and and………. So, here are just some of my pictures. Starting with the imposing outside to the facility:

This is the “showroom”:

There is more to the museum upstairs, with further display space and replicas of the original offices used by the Company.

Auburn

The famous 851 Speedster model, which was very popular with movie stars and others who could afford this expensive car.

Cord

The innovative 810/812 models were intended to be salvation for the company but ended up contributing to its downfall. Advanced they certainly were. Only a few were ever built.