Do It 101.com, Auburn Motor Company History

1875 - The Auburn Motor Company grew out of the Eckhart Carriage Company located in Auburn, Indiana, founded by Charles Eckhart. The Eckhart Carriage Company supplied the wholesale trade with a line of buggies and surreys.

1993 - Charles retired, leaving the business in the hands of his sons, Frank and Morris. Frank, the oldest son, assumed active management of the Eckhart Carriage Company.

1919 - The Eckhart brothers sold out to a group of Chicago investors headed by Ralph Austin Bard, they revived the business but failed to realize the profits that they hoped for.

1924 - The investor group approached Errett Lobban Cord, a highly successful automobile salesman, with an offer to manage the company, he countered with an offer to take over completely and they accepted.

1926 - Cord partnered with Duesenberg Corporation, using it as the launching platform for a line of high-priced luxury vehicles including the L-29 Cord. He built cars that became famous for their advanced engineering as well as their striking appearance. With the efforts of imaginative designers such as Alan Leamy and Gordon Buehrig the 1928 Auburn Boattail Speedster, the Model J Duesenbergs, the 1935–1937 Auburn Speedsters and the 810/812 Cords were developed.

1937 - Production of Auburns, Cords and Duesenbergs ended, Cord's stock manipulations would force him to give up control of his car companies.

This chart is not a complete listing of all the models, it only gives examples for each year.

* Front wheel drive L 29 was introduced in1929.
** Cord 810 introduced, featured hidden headlights in the front fenders, 1935.

1904 Auburn

The earliest know existing Auburn was a touring model car, equipped with a 10 hp flat mounted single cylinder engine in the center of the vehicle. It had a two speed transmission and weighed 1500 lbs. The car originally sold for $1000.