Auburn Automobile Company

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Auburn 8-90 “Boattail” Speedster 1929, the original form
Also Auburn 8-90 "Boattail" Speedster 1929
Auburn 851 "Boattail" Speedster

Auburn Automobile Company was an American automobile manufacturer that operated from 1900 to 1937.

history

The Auburn Automobile Company emerged in 1902 from the carriage building of Frank and Morris Eckhart, sons of a German immigrant. Eckhart Carriage Company was founded in 1875 by Charles Eckhart (1841–1915) in Auburn , Indiana . Eckhart's sons, Frank and Morris, started with doorless and roofless single-cylinder runabouts in 1903, then bought two more local car manufacturers and moved to a larger factory in 1909. The company was reasonably successful until the factory had to be closed due to a shortage of materials during the First World War.

The company was sold to a group of Chicago investors in 1919 . In 1924 Errett Lobban Cord took over the company. He adjusted the range of types and the confusing supplier structure. As a result of his efforts, the beading line curved over the bonnet was introduced.

From 1927/28 onwards, eight-cylinder in-line engines with a displacement of four to five liters were offered (for example the types 8-90 and 8-125, with the number in the back meaning the SAE-PS ) from the company that was also part of the Cord Group Lycoming came from. The models were equipped with hydraulic brakes and central lubrication. The flagship was the version with a Speedster body, a narrow pointed rear construction with a sloping windshield angled in the middle. These models reached top speeds of 130 to 145 km / h. The sedans reached around 110 km / h. A twelve-cylinder engine was added later, as well as compressor models. However, there were no further developments on the chassis.

In 1929 Errett Lobban Cord founded the Cord Corporation as a holding company, under which his companies Auburn, Duesenberg , Lycoming and the new automobile brand Cord were combined. The models of the new brand were produced at Auburn.

From 1932 there was an overdrive that was implemented with a two-speed gearbox on the rear axle reduction. In the economic crisis from 1931 to 1933, production dropped from 34,000 to just 5,000 Auburn. Nevertheless, the cheapest V12 model came onto the market in 1932–34 (6.4L, 160 hp), followed by an eight-cylinder engine with a supercharger. This engine was also installed in the new Speedster, 500 of which were built from 1935 to 1936.

In 1936, Cord's finances finally got out of hand. In 1937 the company was dissolved.

Since the 1960s there have been several attempts by various manufacturers to revive the Auburn brand name .

Production numbers

The annual production figures are shown below.

year Production number
1900 8th
1901 25th
1902 72
1903 120
1904 144
1905 160
1906 189
1907 197
1908 356
1909 1,018
1910 1,365
1911 954
1912 1,605
1913 1,554
1914 1,094
1915 2.113
1916 2,686
1917 2,307
1918 1,374
1919 6,062
1920 5,034
1921 3,306
1922 2,408
1923 2,443
1924 2,474
1925 4,044
1926 7.138
1927 14,515
1928 12,899
1929 23,509
1930 12,985
1931 34,228
1932 11,145
1933 5,038
1934 7,770
1935 6.316
1936 1,263
total 179,918

museum

In Auburn, a museum set up in the company's former sales and administration building with many operational exhibits commemorates the corporate brands Auburn, Cord, the Indianapolis-based Duesenbergs and the designer Gordon Buehrig. On Labor Day weekend there has been the meeting of the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club there for more than 50 years, at which around 300 of these cars and their owners regularly come together.

literature

  • Lee Beck, Josh B. Malks: Auburn and Cord . MBI Publ. Company, 1996.
  • Don Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg . MBI Publ. Company, 1992.
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 1: A – F. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 93-95. (English)

Web links

Commons : Auburn Automobile Company  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Automobilrevue No. 49 / December 8, 2010, "Once upon a time ..."
  2. ↑ Beverly Rae Kimes, Henry Austin Clark Jr .: Standard catalog of American Cars. 1805-1942. Digital edition . 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola 2013, ISBN 978-1-4402-3778-2 , pp. 69-78 (English).