1928 Auburn 8-115 Boat Tail Speedster

Description

The Auburn Automobile Company built its first production cars in 1903. A two-cylinder model was added in 1905 and in 1910, the company began to produce a four-cylinder car. Its six-cylinder engine debuted in 1912. The Auburn cars were well made and reliable but rather ordinary in appearance. By 1924, Auburn production was down to six cars per day, so the owners hired a rising star in the industry, E.L. Cord, to help revive the company. The young car salesman then brought in James Crawford to design and develop a new range of vehicles. The result, the first Auburn Speedster model, was introduced in 1925 as the "Auburn Eight-In-Line” with a 4.5 litre Lycoming straight eight engine, then a year later the engine was increased to 4.8 litres and the model became the “8-88”. Most notably, the new Auburn wore a highly-styled open two-seater body penned by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky which featured a boat-tail shaped rear (which came to give the model its commonly-used name) and a vee windscreen. Suspension was by semi-elliptic springs all round, and after experiments with hydraulic brakes, Auburn opted for mechanical brakes. The three-speed gearbox was in unit with the engine. In 1927 the 68hp Lycoming engine was uprated to 115hp and the Auburn Speedster became known as the “115”, then the “120” in 1929 and the “125” in 1930. In 1934 the best-known Auburn Speedster model, the “851” was introduced, styled by Gordon Buehrig with sweeping new lines and a bespoke flat-head eight cylinder engine. Sadly, just three years later Auburn went out of business.