Ch. 10 Auburn
Each car company has untold, sometimes ironic anecdotes that paint its history, for better or worse. Auburn was conceived by two brothers whose father had created a carriage-making business in the teeth of a major recession. Demand for the brothers’ car creation would rise as the need for carriages fell off in the nineteen-teens; Auburn had a ready-made client list to which they sold!
Auburn came late to the game of marketing speedsters. It wasn’t until they were reorganized under the command of Errett Lobban Cord in 1925 that the strategic vision for the company changed to include sport models. And thus was born the Auburn Speedster.
Errett Lobban Cord
E.L. Cord was an automobile executive par excellence, and he gave his designers the freedom to innovate in all of the model lines. These were high times, Auburn was ascendant, and a speedster was jazzy news. It was inevitable that a speedster model would come forth.
1928 was the first roll-out of an Auburn Speedster, and the Model 88 and Model 115 were their first examples. Over the course of the next several years, and in line with the company’s rise in fortunes, as well as their fall, some form of Auburn Speedster model would be offered up until nearly the end of company production in 1937.
Famous designers such as Al Leamy and Gordon Buehrig made their mark on various Auburn Speedster models during successive model years. The last and probably most beautiful rendition was executed by Buehrig in 1934 at the behest of then head of Auburn, Harold Ames, who told Buehrig to recycle the unsold 1933 Salon Series Speedsters and make something new-looking to sell.
The 1935 Model 851 Supercharged Speedster emerged; it was anything but a bitsa car. An instant classic was created, one that commands the show field at any concours to this day.
1935-36 Auburn 8-851/852 Supercharged Speedsters. image courtesy Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automotive Museum.
Errett Lobban Cord climbed his career ladder of sales successes one rung at a time: his first step was to build, race, and sell Model T speedsters in Southern California. Cord would later use these profits to bankroll his way upward in the automobile industry.
E.L.Cord with one of his homebuilt Ford Model T speedsters. Image courtesy Cord family archives.
Cord’s tale of successes and setbacks is told in his bio as part of this chapter. E.L. Cord knew the value of having a speedster in the showroom as well as on the racetrack, as he had in the automobile dynasty that he created. We recount the E.L. Cord story here.
Ch. 11 Duesenberg
In 1926 E.L. Cord made an offer to purchase the floundering Duesenberg Automobile and Motors Corporation, a famous collaboration of Fred and Augie Duesenberg, who mainly built cars in order to fund their racing enterprise. Too few Duesenberg street automobiles were produced to keep their company afloat, and so E.L. Cord stepped in and bought their company at a fire sale price.
Fred & Augie Duesenberg. Image courtesy ACD Automobile Museum.
The Duesenberg that E.L. Cord envisioned in 1926 would be the capstone of Cord’s three-tiered auto dynasty, with Auburn offered for the middle-class market, the Cord (yet to be produced) for the well-to-do, and the Duesenberg to be an exclusive conveyance, an over-the-top vehicle for those who wanted and could afford the best-looking and fastest American luxury car ever made.
Plans were made, long nights with principals were spent at the kitchen table in the Cord residence planning this detail and that, which would be sent over to designer Al Leamy to incorporate. What emerged in 1930 was an automobile that was based on Cord’s vision of the largest and most powerful American car for its time. A Duesie!
1931 Duesenberg catalog models. Note the 2+2 open cockpit speedster in the left margin. Wow! catalog image courtesy AACA Library.
While Cord was in the process of purchasing Duesenberg, the brothers had been experimenting with a bridge design of automobile known as the Model X. A design executed by John Tjaarda, the 1926-27 Model X Speedster was innovative and yet classic at the same time. Cord decided to keep the project alive and fold it into his development of the Model J Duesenberg.
1927 Model X Speedster.
A projected run of 500 Model J chassis was planned, and detailed drawings of the chassis, along with the Al Leamy-designed Model J façade ( a requirement) and engine-drivetrain specs, were sent out to a small group of the principal coachbuilders of the period. This was how the Duesenberg Model J was initiated.
A small number of these coachbuilt cars were either specified to be “speedsters” by either the company or designated as such by their coachbuilders. They had an open cockpit, were relatively lighter than other Duesenberg models, and had racier lines, true to the spirit of a speedster. Repeating elements across coachbuilders included a tapered tail similar to that found on race cars of the period, often referred to as a “boattail,” as well as a raked and sometimes folding windshield, and a limitation of two seats. A few had side-curtains, while most had roll-up windows. Some carried side-mount or rear-mount spare tires; some did not. Names for them varied, but all in all, they were speedsters in the truest sense!
A total of 10 factory-designated speedsters were made by coachbuilders, the most well-known builder being Murphy in Pasedena. Several Murphy Speedsters were built and sold under the names “Torpedo Convertible Coupe” or “Torpedo Roadster.”
Murphy-designed Torpedo Speedster. Image courtesy AACA Library.
Not included in the original group of 10 but considered by many as qualified original speedsters were the two designed by J. Herbert Newport in 1935. These were built on a 125 inch chassis, very short for a Duesenberg, and at the time of their construction Newport called them “Special Roadsters.”
Newport-designed short wheelbase SSJ Speedster. Image courtesy Revs Institute.
In later years Newport named them “Special Speedsters.” To this day experts of the marque continue referring to them by both terms!
Ab Jenkins in his Mormon Meteor speedster. image courtesy Utah State Historical Society
David “Ab” Jenkins was known as “the racing Mormon” because of his faith and his involvement with endurance racing in an around the Great Salt Lake. Ab was the chief proponent of Bonneville being the fastest and safest place to establish land speed records, to which he devoted a significant portion of his life. Jenkins drove a special Duesenberg speedster to establish several speed records on the salt; we cover his story in this chapter on Duesenberg.
Ch. 12 Porsche
Dr. Ferdinand and son Ferry Porsche, 1938. Image courtesy Porsche Archives
Ferry Porsche, son of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, was largely responsible for creating the sports car company called Porsche in 1947 as an offshoot of his father’s prewar-established design firm. Despite its humble beginnings in a sawmill in Gmund, Austria, Ferry Porsche’s vision and efforts to build a luxury sports car established a market foothold through hard work, perseverance, and having loyal supporters. One key harbinger of greatness was that Porsche won its racing class at the 24 Heures du LeMans in 1951. In its first competitive outing, no less. Talk about gaining instant “street cred!”
Max Hoffman with Ferry Porsche, NYC, 1952. Porsche Archives
Max Hoffman, an enterprising car salesman who had fled Europe to avoid the impending Holocaust that swept most of Nazi-occupied Europe, convinced Ferry Porsche in 1952 to change Porsche’s market plan for the U.S. Although sales in Europe were going well for the fledgling company, the market in the U.S. was very price point sensitive, and one could purchase a handsome MG for almost half the price of a Porsche, or a nice Jaguar for almost even money. Or a Cadillac!
Several sports car makes were handled by Max Hoffman in his Manhattan sales office. He knew the American market, he knew Porsches, and Hoffman knew what would be a good entry price for the car. And so, over a lunch meeting with Ferry Porsche in May of 1952, Hoffman proposed the idea of a simple, stripped version of a Porsche for the American market that would be more competitive in the marketplace, a model that would sell for less than $3000, a low-cost Porsche that would open up the sales floodgates. Hoffman also suggested that, to aid its marketing, they use an iconic name from America’s automobile heritage for the new model: Speedster.
356 Speedster on street.
356 Speedster ad by Hoffman. These ads would often be found in in the leaves of racing event booklets. Perfect place to showcase a 356 Speedster!
Following theses events, 356 Speedsters were introduced in 1954 and priced to tantalize an already-interested fan base; the showroom tag read $2995, a big drop from Porsche’s America Roadster’s cost. And, as the name implied, the Speedster was a simple, no-frills open tub, meant to go fast and have fun and adventure. Side curtains, a skimpy top guaranteed to leak, an indifferent heater, and no radio. But fun? You betcha!
Hillclimbing with a 356 Speedster. Porsche Archives.
The marketing plan using the Speedster as a way to attract attention and sales for the more expensive coupes and cabriolets worked. The tried-and-true formula of “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” succeeded for this new entry to the U.S market. Porsche sales jumped from a measly 141 in 1952 to over 4000 by 1958, the year that the 356 Speedster was officially retired from production. As for Porsche AG, it finally gained a foothold in the U.S., thanks in part to “the little tub that could.”
This strategic maneuver provided the American market with a fast and dependable sports car and also accelerated the growth of Porsche, an automotive dynasty that thrives to this day. The 356 Speedster is still raced in vintage racing events, but having achieved icon status, its greatest success is now found on the auction blocks, with collectors vying to own a piece of history. “Speedster” just says it all!
James Dean studio headshot. public domain image courtesy Wikipedia
James Dean was one of several budding movie stars who was drawn to race cars in southern California. This, of course, meant exposure to and competing in a Porsche 356 Speedster. None of these Hollywood types died in a 356; however, what sealed Dean’s fate was that step too far, into the seat of the quick but deadly Porsche Type 550 Spyder. We cover Dean’s fast but short life to close this chapter.
=BOOK NEWS=
Regarding the book, Classic Speedsters, this week the book proof was given its final read-through for any errors or omissions. The next step is for the book to be printed, bound, and shipped (to us) by the printers, Friesens of Manitoba, Canada. Unlike other book publishers who have sent their materials overseas to be printed, we do not expect a shipping delay or a materials supply shortage, as we are not caught up in that boondoggle. What a mess!
We are hoping for the completed book to be ready for sale by the upcoming holiday season at www.ClassicSpeedsters.com. We will keep you posted on launch date.
(P.S. Below is a snapshot of the back cover)
Stay tuned, speedster friends!
Classic Speedsters book jacket - back cover. This was taken from a 1930s Packard factory brochure, an image of the Packard Proving Grounds. AACA Library