Duesenberg

2013 A-C-D Museum Fall Festival

2013 Auburn Car Parade — A 1936 Auburn 852 Boattail Speedster leads a long line of Auburn classics down Jackson Street in Auburn, Indiana on Saturday as the annual Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Festival is underway. Every year hundreds of Auburns, Cords and Duesenbergs journey to their home in Auburn to participate in the event. It is incredible to experience such a display.

AUBURN, IN — August 31, 2013 — “It’s more than just a car … It’s a Time Machine,” read the legend on the road sign heading into Auburn, Indiana this morning. The cars … the Auburns, Cords and Duesenbergs … have come home this weekend. Hundreds of them. When you see them parade from the judging fields in the morning back through downtown Auburn you wonder how so many of them have survived. Click here to view the video.

When we arrived on Friday you saw classic Auburns, Cords and Duesenbergs literally parked in the parking Auburn Museum Fall Festival 2013lots of the local hotels. You couldn’t get a hotel room for miles around. They were all sold out for the show.

Each year it is a wonderful experience to spend time in Indiana, the birthplace of so many American car companies. We were able to visit the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum here today. It is an experience I highly recommend. I’ve been to a good number of auto museums over the years. This is the best I’ve ever seen.

The A-C-D Museum is in the very building that E.L. Cord built to house his Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg car company. It still has the orignal art deco style

architecture. You can see from the photos of the company showroom that the structure has been maintained beautifully. The offices of E.L. Cord are all intact and even the sales meeting room and board room are maintained as they were. The most interesting rooms upstairs are the design studios of Gordon Buerhig and Alan Leamy. All of this history unfolds for you as you walk through the same hallways that Cord and his staff did back in the day.

Just in back of the museam is the home of NATMUS, the organization that is dedicated to the preservation of trucks, tractors, toy replicas and peddle cars. Their successful restoration of the GM Futuliner is legendary. On Saturday, much of the floor space in the NATMUS building was being taken up with displays of cars that are being offered at the Worldwide Auctioneers auction sale to be held on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, just down the freeway at the Auburn Auction Park, RM’s Auctions America was holding their three-day auction sale of collector cars. The Auctions America sale is highlighted below.

On the grounds at the Auction Park there is a car corral and even a swap meet area. If you are a car guy, there is something for everybody here in Auburn, Indiana on Labor Day Weekend.

View a video of the parade at the A-C-D Museum Festival, read the story and see more photos

A visit to the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum is almost a spiritual experience for car guys

Auctions America sells a 1959 Corvette Fuelie as auction action fills the Auburn Auction Park

A rare Pennant blue 1954 Corvette is being offered at the Worldwide Auctions sale.

Parade a Tradition in Downtown Auburn

Thousands of spectators were lined up and down Jackson Street here in Auburn, Indiana as Auburns, Cords and Duesenbergs returned home for the Auburn Fall Festival 2013. For a view of these cars in action, hear and see them as they paraded for spectators in front of the camera. Click the video window below:

One of the cars from the judging field is an Auburn convertible sedan.

More Auburns were featured in the parade than either Duesenbergs or Cords. Auburns have survived better than their cousins.

View from the business end of this Auburn Boattail Speedster. It is one of the most distinct designs in automotive history.

The Cord 812 was a supercharged automobile. The technology of supercharging was not invented by Cord, but was well used by the marque.

A Duesenberg Roadster like the one Clark Gable has owned.

An Auburn convertible sedan with suicide front door and sidemounts.

Female baseball players from back in the day were treated to a ride in the A-C-D Museum parade.

There were a number of Auburn 851 Speedster reproductions in the parade. All of the reproduction speedsters were very authentic, but you could tell by the sound of the engines which ones had the modern drivetrains as opposed the the original Lycoming motors.

The Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum

The interesting thing about the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum is its location in Auburn, Indiana. It occupies the very building that E.L. Cord built on the 23-acre parcel of land in Auburn, Indiana on which the plants and machine shops existed.

We recently enjoyed a look at the ACD Museum following the RM Auction in May, 2018. See the video below, then see some of the photographs from our prior visits!

Cord had a Fort Wayne, Indiana architect design his corporate showroom in an art deco style which has been preserved perfectly as part of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg museum.

The most popular factory built Duesenberg is the J Murphy Roadster. Here is a 1931 edition with iconic two-tone paint.

A featured display at the A-C-D Museum, the 1931 Duesenberg J Murphy Roadster has the extremely long body and yet a very low cut windshield.

The 1932 Cord E-1 was a prototype that actually never was produced. It was originally equipped with a 16-cylinder engine, then ended up with a 12-cylinder motor. It was a test car to be the successor to the famous L29 Cord.

The front end of this 1932 Duesenberg J Murphy Roadster was captured in many Art Deco drawings of the day.

An unusual 1932 Duesenberg was built with a boattail style rear valance. A Duesenberg chassis was built at the factory. At that point wealthy buyers would have a coachworks company design a custom body for the finished car.

So often these special Auburn motorcars were built with coachworks-like custom features. This one has a 3-Position convertible top.

A 1937 Cord Supercharged Convertible is displayed in the showroom on the ground level of the Cord building which now serves as the A-C-D Museum.

In the Dean Kruse Gallery is a 1904 Auburn which is the oldest Auburn known to exist. The first Auburns were introduced at the Chicago Auto Show in 1903. This 1904 model is one of only 50 produced by Auburn that year. Auburn was gaining a reputation for being a builder of quality motorcars. The chain drive car produced about 10 horsepower.

This 1911 Auburn Model N Touring car was the largest motorcar that Auburn had produced up to this time. The Model N Auburn weighed 2,700 pounds and has a 120-inch wheelbase. It was rated at 40 horsepower.

One of the greatest contributions to automotive history was Cord's innovative use of front wheel drive technology. In the engine room of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum is this Cord L29 chassis showing how the Lycoming engine was matched up to a front wheel drive transmission. It uses universal joints that allow the front wheels to turn side to side and receive power from the engines. The L29 chassis was first used by Cord in 1930. — One of the greatest contributions to automotive history was Cord’s innovative use of front wheel drive technology. In the engine room of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum is this Cord L29 chassis showing how the Lycoming engine was matched up to a front wheel drive transmission. It uses universal joints that allow the front wheels to turn side to side and receive power from the engines. The L29 chassis was first used by Cord in 1930.

A 1937 Cord 810 Supercharged engine was on display in the engine room of the museum. Once again the Cord motorcar was ahead of its time with this Supercharged Flathead V8 displacing 289 cubic inches. The front-wheel-drive transmission was a four-speed. This engine was innovative on so many levels. The camshaft operates roller rocker arms.

When E.L. Cord took over the Auburn Car Company the first thing he did was take 100 freshly built Auburns that were all painted black and had them repainted in art deco looking two tone finishes with bright colors. That was what set Auburns apart and contributed to their early popularity under Cord's guidance. At the time, Cord was only in his thirties. — When E.L. Cord took over the Auburn Car Company the first thing he did was take 100 freshly built Auburns that were all painted black and had them repainted in art deco looking two tone finishes with bright colors. That was what set Auburns apart and contributed to their early popularity under Cord’s guidance. At the time, Cord was only in his thirties.

Auctions America at the Auburn Auction Park

Although the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum initiated the Auburn Fall Festival event long ago, the biggest beneficiary of the event is RM’s Auctions America, the auction company that puts on the big sale at the Auburn Auction Park. Included with the auction sale is a car corral and a swap meet.

As we arrived today RM's Auctions America had already SOLD a rare 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible (left) and a 1941 Buick Roadmaster Convertible. — As we arrived today RM’s Auctions America had already SOLD a rare 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible (left) and a 1941 Buick Roadmaster Convertible.

The first car we saw sold today was a 1937 Cord 812 Supercharged. It seems fitting that Auctions America sold so many Cord and Duesenberg cars today.

The big sale of the day was a 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ Phaeton which went for $760,000.

A beautiful 1947 Chevrolet Woody Convertible was sold out of an exclusive collection.

When a 1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner Retractable came up on the stage they lowered the top into its secret compartment in the trunk.

A Fawn Beige 1962 Corvette Fuelie Convertible was sold.

Bidding on the 1931 Studebaker President All-Seasons went way over $100,000.

A desirable big block 427/425 Corvette Coupe went over the block.

Worldwide Auctions at the NATIMUS Museum

Worldwide Auctions held their Auburn Auction sale in the building behind the A-C-D Museum where NATIMUS has their considerable collection of trucks and toy cars. Among the top cars in the sale were the AB Jenkins salt flat racer and several Auburns and Cords. There were some collectible treasures to be found here.