1935 Auburn

edited by David Barth, 14 February 2009.
Courtesy The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Photos were taken in January 2009.

Sponsor and statement by: Danette Gentile Kauffman
In memory of Gretchen and Daniel M. Gentile

Close to forty years ago, Dan Gentile purchased the Auburn 8-851 Cabriolet "in a basket." With help from an Auburn restorer working eight years, Dan brought this gem back to life and road worthiness.

Dan and Gretchen enjoyed driving in holiday parades in Auburn, Indiana. They donated this Auburn to the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) in 1983 and delighted in bringing children and other friends and family to see it.

Dan's 90th birthday party, held at the Crawford Museum in March 2006, featured party favors for all 150 guests: their photograph professionally taken next to the Auburn.

The Auburn Automobile Company was an offshoot of the Eckhart Carriage Company which produced their first cars in 1900. For the next twenty-one years, Auburns were respectable cars that sold just well enough for the company to stay in business. That all changed in 1924 when Auburn hired 31-year old Errett Lobban Cord to "turn things around." With Cord, Auburns continued to improve their performance while keeping their prices down. Business Week magazine called the 1931 Auburn "more car for the money than the public has ever seen." Although successful in this sense, the Depression had a large impact on the life-span of the company. This 1935 8-851 cabriolet was the company's last blaze of glory. Production continued until 1936. In 1937, Cord resigned from Auburn and two months later, the company folded.

Model: 8-851
Body Style: Cabriolet
Original Factory Price: $1,337.50
Brake Horsepower: 115
Displacement: 280 cubic inches
Bore: 3 1/16 inches
Stroke: 4 3/4 inches
Cylinders: 8, in-line, cast en bloc (cast together as a unit)
Wheelbase: 127 inches
Manufacturer: Cord Corporation
Location: Auburn, Indiana
Years of Production: 1900-1928 (Auburn Automobile Company)
1929-1937 (Cord Corporation)

Donor: Gretchen and Daniel M. Gentile