Auburn, Indiana has a pair of car museums: The Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum and the National Auto & Truck Museum. The Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum is in the former showroom and headquarters of the Auburn Automobile Company. The National Auto & Truck Museum is a former Auburn Automobile Company factory.
The Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum concentrates on Auburns, Cords, and Duesenbergs. It includes other manufacturers’ historic cars and exhibits of cars made in Indiana. The National Auto & Truck Museum covers a wide variety of cars.
I’ll break this series into three parts. Part One will cover a little history of the companies and pictures of some of their cars. Part Two will cover cars from other manufacturers exhibited in the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum. Part Three will cover a selection of cars from the National Auto & Truck Museum.
Thanks again to Don Escaped Texas for posting about this museum.
History
The Auburn Automobile Company is the oldest of the three companies. The Auburn Automobile Company started in Auburn, IN as the Eckhart Carriage Company in 1874. The founder’s sons turned the company towards producing automobiles. The company turned into the Auburn Automobile Company in 1900. The company ran into hard times and its factory closed during the First World War. In 1919, the brothers sold the company. The new owners tried to revive the company, but failed. The new owners approached Errett Lobban Cord to help with the company. Cord proposed a buyout, which the then-owners accepted. Cord completed his buy-out in 1925.
In 1929, Cord founded the Cord Corporation as a holding company for all of his interests, including Auburn Automobile. Auburn’s factories produced Cord automobiles.
The Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Company, Inc was founded in 1920 by brothers Fred and August Duesenberg. This wasn’t the brothers’ first stint with car manufacturing. They started the Mason Motor Car Company and an earlier iteration of the Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Company. The 1920 iteration of the Duesenberg company was founded after the brothers moved to Indianapolis, IN. This iteration was known for the straight eight engine. The company entered receivership in 1924. E. L. Cord purchased the company in 1926.
The Depression was not good for the company. E. L. Cord’s illegal stock manipulation of his company did not help. After the SEC issued an injunction against Cord, he sold his shares in 1937. Shortly afterwards, the company stopped producing automobiles.
Museum Pictures
Before I show you a selection of my pictures from the museum, let me show you a video of the most expensive Duesenberg ever made. Jay Leno owns several Duesenberg cars. I suggest if you like Duesenbergs that you spend some time on his channel watching his Duesenberg videos.
I mentioned earlier the museum is in a building housing the former showroom and headquarters of the Auburn Automobile Company. The museum preserved the CEO’s office and several of the designers’ offices.
The ground floor of the building is the showroom, and houses some of the automobile exhibits.
We’ll start with some early Auburn cars, and then go through a selection of other Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg cars.
I’ll wrap up with my favorite car from the museum. First, pictures of the car, then pictures of the two placards with information about the car. I found its history quite interesting.
Wrap-Up
That’s it for this part. These pictures scratch the surface of the Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg cards in the museum. The next part will cover automobiles in the museum which aren’t Auburns, Cords, or Duesenbergs.
I First out in the open because I am loud and proud of who I am as a Firster. The establishment has taken the same approach with their corruption. It comes from the Clinton School, I suspect. Hillary and Bill just decided why hide their corruption after the Chinese-donor scandal of the 90’s? We’ll just make it all as blatant and as obvious as possible. Surely we wouldn’t be so open about who we were taking money from if it we were doing something untoward. Or maybe it’s just that after the Snowden leaks and Russiagate, they realized that a significant portion of the country doesn’t give a shit about corruption.
And, sadly, Firsting…it’s a lonely road here up at the top of the mountain.
Cool cars, though.
Cool cars
Seconded.
The 1935 is my favorite. Such a swoopy look, prior to the hidden headlight coffin front ends. It looks inspired by a hot rod scene that had yet to exist.
Beuhrig made gorgeous cars.
I want the 1910 Auburn.
Good lord.
*lights cigarette*
Leno’s 1934 is one of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen. Art Deco goodness!
The 1920 iteration of the Duesenberg company was founded after the brothers moved to Indianapolis, IN
From St. Paul IIRC.
Thanks DEG. I love this stuff!
Yes, the first iteration of Duesenberg was founded in St. Paul, MN.
Jay Leno’s collection is great.
Such pretty cars.
Yes, yes they are.
Fun to look at, not fun to drive.
niiiiiice!
🙂
So in 1520 Main a Duesenberg Model J may or may not have been mentioned
Hmmm…..
Very cool. Thanks DEG!
You’re welcome!
Second.
I was last at this museum about 40 years ago. Might need to make a return trip as new items have arrived.
There’s nothing quite like a zoomy-looking two seater thirty feet long and heavier than a dump truck.
I didn’t go, but my dad went to the Auburn museum and raved about how great it was.
The 1908 Auburn looks like the car from The Beverly Hillbillies.
If I remember correctly, the Beverly Hillbillies car was an Oldsmobile truck.
President’s office looks nice. A step well above modern exec’s desks. Woo hoo! Made it to the corner office! I’ve got the deluxe Steelcase system furniture now!
Thank the brutalist movement for taking all the glamour out of office furniture.
I guess to each their own, but it looks pretty boring.
Sort of on-topic, how to decorate a cubicle:
Yeah, I thought it looked staggeringly mundane.
And what is the purpose of the leather armchairs?
“And what is the purpose of the leather armchairs?”
Guests? Somewhere to sit and smoke a cigar.
Don’t forget the glass of whiskey.
That went without saying.
🙂
I played poker on Friday night and there were a bunch of guys smoking cigars (I used to, find them disgusting now).
Anyway, how smelly were old offices?
Depends how many cigars you smoke, the more you smoke, the less you notice it, probably.
Yeah I know for me it seemed like I could still smell smoke in my nose yesterday.
Your moustache was on fire?
I’m an occasional cigar smoker. During the winter I smoke in my 30′ X 40′ shop. I run the air cleaner and sit under it. I still smells like cigars the next day. And probably for another day or two to people who don’t smoke.
So no good tips on how to avoid the stink, except no fiery mustaches.
Patchouli oil and incense.
I walked through a house with my realtor this weekend. You could see the outlines of where the pictures were hung on the wall because there where no smoke stains under them. The carpets had all been removed (I’m assuming because of the smoke smell). Great location 10 minutes from work with 20 acres and a 4 car heated garage. Imma pass. I can’t get past the smoke smell.
You could probably live in the garage…
NO!
I bought and rehabbed a house like that. It wasn’t as bad as you think. Get a remediation dude in there and get a bid.
Really. The house I bought was obscenely bad, but it cleaned up fine.
Don’t pass. All you need is smoke remover (zep works) and a paint job and deep clean.
If you can get a good deal because no one wants to deal with the smoke, it’s worth it.
Alternative solution:
Take up smoking.
Another bonus: you won’t have to save for your retirement, that’s a lot of cash to free up. Almost enough to pay for a tobacco habit.
Oil-based Kilz.
CEOs do occasionally meet with people in their offices. Most CEO offices have chairs for people other than the CEO to sit in. The furniture arrangement is weird because they were fitting it to the space. What would be really interesting would be if they had recreated his office – walls (likely panelled), pictures, and all. I’m betting that’s not even all the furniture, either.
Right, but those chairs are not positioned for meeting with anybody. They are positioned so that you would have three people interrogating someone standing in front of the prexy’s desk.
Definitely possible.
Maybe maybe not. Keeping an office devoid of furniture emphasizes the sheer amount of space controlled by the office holder. If you couple that with no visitor’s furniture, it’s a total “I belong here, you don’t” statement.
I’ve never met a CEO who was that insecure/that big an asshole. I’m sure there are some, of course.
Period photo of the office. My guess is the chairs are where they are just to keep them out of the way. They get moved to wherever when being used.
That looks a little… barren.
That period photo is really odd. No idea why you wouldn’t leave the chairs where they would be used, in front of the desk.
I recall seeing some pix of old-time executive offices, where the secretary had a desk and chair of her own in the boss’s office. Which made a lot of sense, pre-automation.
The off-center light fixture is odd, too. Surprised to see what look like sprinkler heads on the ceiling from that long ago.
So they completely replaced the furniture, down to the writing set and coffee pot.
Dafuq is actually lighting that room? Ain’t the windows.
I assumed RC was right about the recreation not being anywhere near as nice as the original. I was shocked when I found that boring-assed old pic.
Here’s a pic from further back. It’s a huge room. Would be interesting to see more period pics of the rest of the office.
Can’t really be a good villain unless you have an organ console in your office.
“I guess to each their own, but it looks pretty boring.”
Agreed, I was expecting something much more ornate and grand. I guess things were already trending the wrong way in the 1930’s.
Re: the Twit
That’s pretty cool. I’m jealous, my home office doesn’t look that nice.
That is a nice desk.
They have a secretary’s desk in the room. I have a picture of that which I didn’t include in the article. There is a typewriter set up on it which visitors can use.
I overheard some other visitors talking about the typewriter. “They have instructions for the typewriter! Kids today.” “Nah, these were new technology back in the day. The secretaries had to be trained to use them.”
When I arrived at that desk with the typewriter, I read the instructions. It was obvious that they were written for a modern, younger audience that had no clue how a typewriter works.
Wow those are beautiful. What are those silver pipes on the side of some of them? That’s a cool look.
Thanks for sharing!
Exhaust, I believe. For some reason, carmakers decided that tucking the manifolds away made more sense.
They were wrong. Aren’t they sweet looking?
A lot of them appear to do into the wheel well/fender region. It doesn’t make sense for exhaust, which is why I didn’t immediately say exhaust (though that was my first thought). What’s the route the pipes would take from there?
I’m kind of surprised some indy car maker doesn’t make similar cars today. It’d be a small market, but between gearheads and rappers, they’d sell some. With a large enough markup, you could go a long way with only a few sales.
And yes, you and ToK are right, it’s a cool look.
“I’m kind of surprised some indy car maker doesn’t make similar cars today. It’d be a small market, but between gearheads and rappers, they’d sell some. With a large enough markup, you could go a long way with only a few sales.”
Gubmint will make them really hard to build.
CAFE standards, safety standards, etc. etc.
Especially since the biggest market would be LA.
Somehow those old cars still manage to look futuristic. And I’ll say it again, if an electric car manufacturer starting designing cars like that, they’d make a fortune.
Yes, the latter Cords still look like something from a future that was never to be.
Fewer injuries that way. Those manifold/exhausts get hot in a big hurry.
If I remember correctly, those were part of the supercharger cooling system.
Some of them are fake. I think the ones on an Auburn in Jay Leno’s collection are fake as that car is not supercharged. A previous owner put them on.
Interesting. I just assumed they were headers and were routed to the exhaust.
I think you’re right, DEG.
Love the spare-mounted side mirrors on the 1927 Phaeton.
The Auburn 851 looks very much like the Monopoly car.
This is going to be a really fun series. Thanks, DEG!
I did a little digging on the Monopoly car. Here’s what I found.
I submitted the second part today. Third part is in the hopper.
Glad you like this part. I hope you enjoy the next two.
Ah yes. I guess it’s been a while since I played Monopoly. Not as closer as I was thinking.
That Auburn Speedster is slick.
The sidelamps on the early Auburns are a nice touch.
I’m wondering if these will be practical again someday. Between modern manufacturing techniques, miniaturized motors and other components…
I know that they’d never meet CAFE standards, but as an around-town EV, maybe they could work?
Screw CAFE standards. Shoot anyone who tries to enforce them.
Little harsh on your fellow bureaucrats there aren’t you?
Familiarity breeds contempt?
A Bureaucrat War sounds interesting to me.
Something I’m still fuzzy on…
For cars of this era, wasn’t the body manufactured separately from the chassis + engine? What is considered the “real” car? A particular body + innards combo? Just the moving bits?
I do believe there was a period of time where there would be one company that made the chassis and mechanicals, and you got it sent to a carriage maker to put on the upper/passenger compartment. Mostly because they carriage makers had the skills for all those detail elements and the vehicle manufacturers specialized in the mechanicals.
Yes.
If I remember correctly, a few of the cars in the photos I picked for this article had a body manufactured by a separate company.
The ’21 Dusenberg with Hawaiian plates is one, but I think a few others are also.
Also, not all engine makers were frame makers. Totally different set of skills not transferable. You still see this with heavy equipment motors, wich are almost all made by Detroit Diesel, while Mack, Peterbuilt, et all make the frames and livery.
International is one of the few who made both, but they fucked up when the sold to Peterbuild, and now have to make Loadstar?, Navistar?, something like that.
On this note, one of the weirdest things I saw on my trips to Vienna was a late 50s Cadillac (I think a late 50s series 80) with a Fleetwood body parked on a city street in Vienna a block or two away from the Wiener Metropol.
Series 70.
“Just the moving bits?”
Best euphemism yet.
I wish civilian vehicles had a battery jump port like tactical vehicles. It doesn’t have to be as rugged as the NATO slave receptacle. I guess with all the EV mandates it will soon be moot.
That would be nice.
NATO slave receptacle
RAACIIISSSTT!!! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!1111!!!
“slave” receptacle?
Oh no.
I thought ‘NATO slave’ would refer to soldiers, and the receptacle would refer to a armored troop carrier or something?
I’m kind of surprised some indy car maker doesn’t make similar cars today
Muh pedestrian safety!
Pedestrians should be able to walk .. in the road .. in high-speed zones .. at night .. in dark clothing.
They can.
Just not very far.
They can, however, fly.
Huh, I look at one car article, made a couple positive comments, and suddenly the ad on the side of my Yahoo mail is for a motorcycle company.
Wonder if there’s a connection.
Well, We just recently had an article series on fixing that information leakage.
Yeah, I need to go back and read Pat’s article(s). That, and switch over from Yahoo to Proton mail.
My wife and I love old cars. These are great pictures, DEG! Looking forward to more.
All of the fuel standards and related bullshit have just ruined the art that drove the automobile industry for so long.
Cars used to be pieces of art that also had utility. The tradeoff between the two was part of the joy of both design and choice for the consumer.
Yet another reason (#4,781,351,234) to hate government.
Been meaning to ask – what’s the status on the military mandates? I had heard that the funding bill passed removing the mandate? And the recent ruling upholding the voiding of the contractor mandate. Basically, what’s your status these day? I’m sure DEG is interested so won’t be too upset at off topic!
I saw that the RINOs and the Dems fucked the people who were forced out by refusing to approve an amendment to the defense authorization bill.
So we’ve got that going for us.
Yeah, I though the amendment was scrapped.
Also, a bunch of Republican governors are pushing for Biden to end the Covid state of emergency at the Federal level.
PM – RC has the right of it. Basically, if you didn’t resist, then the mandate is gone now and you move on with your career. If you did resist, the govt/DoD went out if its way to make sure they can still fuck you by not taking all of the bad paperwork (GOMORS/3307s/counselings/etc.) out of your file. So your career is effectively ended for having the temerity to exercise your right to challenge the DoD in federal court.
The DoJ asked for an emergency stay to “figure out what the NDAA means for the cases,” the judge granted it, and now on the back side of the stay you can bet $$ that the govt will be asking courts to dismiss any claims related to the illegality of the order. Folks who filed for RARs should still have live claims, but there will be a lot of fighting over whether APA claims remain live now that there is no longer a mandate.
The other issue remaining is what it means to “rescind” the mandate. i.e. This isn’t a law; it’s an appropriations bill, so by its nature is temporary. Also, the DoD worked around federal law by adding the mRNA shots to the required vaccine schedule. Will Austin pull the Covid-19 vaccines off of the list of required shots..??? No one knows, but I expect (as usual) malicious compliance at best, and straight-up illegality as the norm now.
This isn’t going anyway any time soon and we’ve got some tricks up our sleeve, as well. We do not intend to let the govt off the hook for what it’s done and we’ve got some other irons in the fire for both immediate and long-term accountability.
“Look, ye, to the state of sunshine…”
Okay, let me be technically accurate on my first statement – Biden is supposed to sign the NDAA with the rescission by Friday. They’re on a CR right now likely so that the govt lawyers can work on the language for his signing statement. My bet is that it says something to the effect that those who refused still get screwed.
Copy – thanks for the insight! And your efforts.
Keep up the good work.
Kudos to you and your cohorts for chasing this.
Keep up the fight.
https://rumble.com/v21leo2-this-is-insane.html
What’s even more insane is that it was probably the Brits who bombed the pipeline.
That was good. I may need to start watching him. His putting the blame solely on American corporations (as opposed to multi-national corps) was a tish annoying, but his
heartcynicism is in the right place.Jeffery Sacks talking about our terrible decisions over the last 30 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNymCy637AM
Has anyone else read the “war game” that the FBI wrote to train twitter?
For you military types, do your war games incorporate the names of real people/places/organizations?
What I found most entertaining in that nonsense is that it proposed a scenario where Twitter/social media companies were left alone in the wilderness to make the determination of whether the content was misinformation on their own while the intelligence agencies like the FBI publicly announced they had no evidence the documents were forgeries.
“All but simultaneously” OMB retweets the hacker account!
‘
Every military exercise I recall had fictional opponents that were thin covers of the real targets. Maybe that was because I was in units traced to Russia or Korea. Most of the time we were really fighting ourselves because a role playing OPFOR was rare (JRTC was a big exception).
I worked data engineering on government contracts. They were strict on the use of real people in test data so they often filled with famous fictional people. One source didn’t clear their system before going live so our data feed included the Flintstones, Jetsons, Simpsons, …
NTC has for real OPFOR.
11 ACR know how the enemy fights. I can’t recall who was OPFOR at JRTC but they had similar training and mods.
I’ve been in headquarters during war games. The only one I recall with for real opposing units was shortly before we deployed to the Gulf in 1990. Usually we were fighting the 3rd Peruvian Bicycle Brigade that just happened to have the speed and firepower of Chinese motorized brigade.
During one exercise we introduced the 7th Chicom Horde which was a formation of 1,000 x 1,000 men with pointed sticks. It took a day for the TOC to ask questions about the symbol on the map.
https://youtu.be/plYuRz9-nK8
So, my professional org just got fully skin suited this year.
The first priority is…. DIE.
A weird number of questionable characters come from my hometown.
I used to be an absolute car nut – reading reviews ala 1990s and early aughts to the point where I could know a car by the taillights.
These days – crossovers galore – my interest has dropped like a rock. EVs – and their massive performance potential – also takes out some of my dreams of a big block powered 2-door Caprice. Why bother?
Of course I did see a 10-speed Ford F150 with the Coyote V8 that was supercharged. It could run mid-9s in the quarter mile which blows away just about everything except in the mega expensive category. That, and some of the insane street legal cars that can run in the 6s in quarter. So good to know the uber gearheads are still on top. 🙂
Oh and I’ve done two small block chevy engine swaps myself along with full interior restores. However these days my interest – and the cash flow – just isn’t there to do restorations or upgrades any more.
my dreams of a big block powered 2-door Caprice. Why bother?
The only reason to ever do that was for fun (I doubt you were planning on grudge matches or, Allah help us, racing for pinks). If that hasn’t changed, why not build the Caprice?
I once owned a 1983 Jeep CJ7 outfitted with a Chevy 352 V8.
Bring A Trailer is currently Caprice-less, but this was a nice one.