1928 Auburn 8-88

Under the leadership of Errett Lobban Cord, the automobiles produced by the Auburn Automobile Company would gain a reputation for being performance, reliability, and appearance, and its moderately-priced eight-cylinder lines represented a nearly unprecedented value.

The company's existence extended much earlier than E.L. Cord's arrival, having been founded in 1900 by Charles Eckhart and his sons, Frank and Morris. Their Eckhart Carriage Company had provided the financial stability, industry reputation, and engineering expertise to excel in the evolving horseless carriage era, and its success necessitated moving into a larger plant in 1909. Material shortages caused by World War I forced the Eckhart brothers to sell the company in 1919 to a group of Chicago-based investors headed by Ralph Austin Bard. The company survived, but it was unprofitable until E.L. Cord's arrival in 1924, and under his leadership and marketing skills, the company's unsold inventory was soon sold.

The company's performance image was bolstered by the Al Leamy-styled Boat-tail Speedster, which was a new introduction to Auburn's eight-cylinder range for 1928. Additionally, the company made frequent speed record runs. Wade Morton of California had a 1927 Auburn 8-88 specially prepared by a former Duesenberg mechanic named Eddie Miller. It was brought to a broad track in Culver City in March of 1927, where it proceeded to run a thousand miles, setting a new American record at a speed of 68.37mph. The Stutz marque was quick to respond, sending one of their vehicles to Indianapolis in April, driving a thousand miles at 68.4 mph. In May, both Stutz and Auburn went head-to-head at Atlantic City in a 75-mile showdown. Rom Rooney's Stutz roadster edged out the Auburn by the tightest of margins, with an average speed of 86.247 mph compared to Morton's Auburn 8-88 roadster's average speed of 86.24 mph. The Auburn 8-88 Roadster had the advantage when it came to price, however, selling at $1,695 compared to $3,150 for the four-seat Stutz AA Vertical Eight Speedster.

An Auburn team of Wade Morton, Ralph Hepburn, Fred Winnai and Ab Jenkins traveled to the Atlantic City boards later that summer where they established AAA national records from 75 miles to 15,000 miles.

The stunning performance of the Auburn automobile was rewarded with strong sales as the company closed out the 1920s, helped along by streamlined styling, advanced mechanical specification, and affordability. They were among the first production automobiles to utilize four-wheel hydraulic brakes, and its top-of-the-line Model 115 was equipped with a highly developed Lycoming straight eight (4MD) engine that displaced 299 cubic inches and produced 15 brake horsepower at 3,300 RPM. When clothed with the lightweight and aerodynamically efficient Speedster body, it was an ideal candidate for record-setting runs. Once again, Wade Morton was among the first to showcase the car's potential, setting a AAA stock car record on the sands at Daytona Beach, Florida, on February 20, 1928, in a stock-bodied 1928 Auburn 115 Speedster at 104.347 miles per hour.

1928 Auburn 8-88
The Auburn 8-88 was one of the company's best-selling series and was offered as a roadster ($1,995), a tourer ($2,300), cabriolet ($2,100), a sedan ($2,200), and a speedster. The Lycoming L-head eight-cylinder engine displaced 247 cubic inches and produced 88 horsepower with the help of a two-barrel carburetor. It was paired with a three-speed manual transmission, and Lockheed four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes provided the stopping power. The suspension was comprised of semi-elliptical leaf springs, with a solid axle at the front and a live axle at the rear.

Boattail Speedster
The styling of the boattail speedster is attributed to Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky and Alan Leamy, the Cord L-29 designer. The coachwork was via the newly in-house McFarlan Automobile Company. The Boattail Speedster body style would remain part of the Auburn catalog for many years, drawing in crowds to the company's showrooms with its vee windshield, angular raked doors, narrow body, and tapered boattail rear end. Approximately 253 examples of the 8-88 boattail speedster were produced in 1928.

The Auburn Automobile Company remained in existence through 1937, when it became a victim of the Depression and E.L. Cord's stock manipulations. The company's headquarters in Auburn is now the home to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum; it became a National Historic Landmark in 2005.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2024