AUBURN

Auburn Automobile Co. (1900-1936)

Auburn, Indiana

This is an Auburn radiator emblem (1924-1930)     mjs
Size: 69mm wide 48mm high    MM: None

In 1900 the Eckhart brothers, who owned the Eckhart Carriage Company, built their first single-cylinder, tiller-steered automobile and started the Auburn Automobile Company. In 1903 auto manufacture began in earnest. The Auburn was a chain-driven runabout with tonneau and touring variations. In 1905 a two-cylinder touring model appeared, in 1909 there was an Auburn four, and in 1912 a six. But all was not well and in 1919 the Eckharts sold the controlling interest in Auburn to a group of Chicago businessmen. The Auburn Beauty-Six was introduced in 1919 but the company suffered from the postwar recession.

By 1924 Auburn was making many more cars than they could sell. It was then that Errett Lobban Cord appeared and became Auburn's General Manager with the option of buying control of the Company, if he could save it. Cord introduced new body styles and colour schemes and repainted cars already built. They began to sell. Sales doubled each year and by 1926 Cord was president of the Company. Cord went on to introduce more stylish, larger and speedier models and successfully introduced Auburns to racing and record breaking.

Auburn became one of America's most successful cars and sales continued to grow until 1932 when the Great Depression resulted in falling sales. Cord had neglected Auburn in favour of his other business interests, which had included the Saf-T-Cab business and the Checker taxicab business. There was a final blaze of glory with the Auburn 851 boat-tail speedster but by 1936 it was all over and manufacture of Auburn cars ceased. Auburn tried to keep going by working in the ambulance and hearse-building business. About 5,000 of these vehicles were built in 1936 before all production stopped.

Emblems

The earliest single-cylinder runabouts built by the Eckhart Brothers in 1900 may well have carried name tags similar to those used on their carriages, see example below:

This is an Eckhart carriage tag (c1900)     mjs
Size: 70mm wide 18mm high

Subsequent Auburn runabouts may have carried similar small Auburn Automobile Company tags but I cannot confirm this. Serious production began in around 1903 for the 1904 model year.

A 1904 Auburn Model A tonneau at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum displays the "Auburn" name on the brass sill plates and hub caps using the same gothic style script, see examples below. It is possible that these continued in use in 1905 and 1906 but I cannot confirm this.

This is an Auburn sill plate (1904)     acdm

This is an Auburn hub (1904)      acdm

The first Auburn radiator emblem was the name "Auburn" embossed in the brass radiator tank top. This Auburn radiator emblem appeared in 1907 and continued to be used through 1908, see example shown below:

This is an Auburn Model G showing an embossed radiator emblem (1908)   acdm

From 1909 through 1915, the "Auburn" name was displayed using brass scripts attached to the radiator core. There were several styles of these "Auburn" radiator scripts, see examples below:

This is an Auburn Model G radiator script (1909)     acdm

This is an Auburn Model R showing a radiator script (1910)     dpl

This shows Auburn cars with radiator scripts at the Detroit Motor Show (1912)    dpl

This is an Auburn showing a radiator script (1912)     acdm

This is an Auburn radiator script (dates unknown)     sam
Size: 380mm wide

This is an Auburn radiator script (c1912-1915)      mjs
Size: 207mm wide

The first enamel Auburn radiator emblem appeared in 1916, see the Auburn brochure for 1916 shown below:

This is an Auburn brochure showing a radiator emblem (1916)  ms

The first blue and white enamel Auburn radiator emblem shown below is very rare:

This is an Auburn radiator emblem (1916)     mjs
Size: 68mm wide 47mm high    MM: Childs

The following blue and white Auburn radiator emblem is a slight variation of the previous emblem and is also very rare:

This is an Auburn radiator emblem (1916-1918)      mjs
Size: 69mm wide 48mm high     MM: Unknown

The following is an Auburn hubcap showing the "Auburn" script logo:

This is an Auburn hubcap (c1916)    dkc

The following Auburn hubcap shows a rare Auburn hub emblem:

This is an Auburn hub emblem (c1918)    ms

There was a new radiator emblem for the Beauty-Six introduced in 1919, see Auburn advertisement shown below:

This is an Auburn Beauty-Six ad showing the radiator emblem (1919)   sep

The blue and white enamel Auburn Beauty-Six radiator emblem shown below is very rare:

This is an Auburn Beauty-Six radiator emblem (1919-1924)    mjs
Size: 68mm wide 48mm high   MM: None

There was a new black and white enamel Auburn radiator emblem for 1924, which continued in use through 1930, see example shown above at the top of this post and again below:

This is an Auburn radiator emblem (1924-1930)     mjs
Size: 69mm wide 48mm high    MM: None (some D L Auld)

The following is a slight variation on the above Auburn radiator emblem with larger "ESTABLISHED 1900" letters:

This is an Auburn radiator emblem (c1930)      dnc
Size: 69mm wide 48mm high    MM: Unknown

This emblem is shown on the following photo of an Auburn Model 125 emblem from 1930:

This is an Auburn Model 125 radiator emblem (1930)    flickriver

The following is an Auburn hub emblem:

This is an Auburn hub emblerm (1929)    acdm

The following is an extremely rare color variation of the black and white enamel Auburn radiator emblem shown earlier and may have been used for a special custom built Auburn model:

This is an Auburn radiator emblem (date unknown)     sam
Size: 69mm wide 48mm high    MM: Unknown

The Auburn radiator emblem lost its enamel for 1931 and was finished in chrome, see example below:

This is an Auburn radiator emblem (1931-1932)      mjs
Size: 62mm wide 37mm high    MM: Fox

The following is an Auburn hub emblem from about 1932-1934:

This is an Auburn hub emblem (c1932-1934)     ms

The following black painted, cast metal Auburn radiator emblem was used on some models in 1933. This Auburn radator emblem is scarce.

This is an Auburn radiator emblem (1933)     mjs
Size: 92mm wide 56mm high    MM: None

In 1934, the Auburn name was displayed on a black painted, cast emblem showing the number of cylinders mounted on the front bumper, see example below:

This is an Auburn Twelve Salon Phaeton (1934)   Hyman

Close-up showing the Auburn bumper emblem (1934)

The following are examples of the Auburn bumper emblems. Auburn bumper emblems are scarce.

This is an Auburn eight-cylinder model bumper emblem (1934)    acdm

This is an Auburn twelve-cylinder model bumper emblem (1934)    acdm

The following are the corresponding Auburn hub emblems:

This is an Auburn eight-cylinder model hub emblem (1934)    acdm

This is an Auburn twelve-cylinder model hub emblem (1934)      mjs
Size: 80mm diameter

The Auburn six-cylinder and eight-cylinder models for the last two years of Auburn production displayed the "Auburn" name on a vertical chrome script mounted on the nose of the hood above the radiator and showed the Model number in chrome on the radiator grille, see examples below:

This is shows the Auburn hood emblem and mascot (1935-1936)     acdm

This is an Auburn hood emblem (1935-1936)    mjs
Size: 102mm high 15mm wide    MM: Fox

This is an Auburn Model 653 grille emblem (1935)    mjs
Size: 136mm high

The Auburn Supercharged Model 852 displayed the same emblems as noted above as well as  "SUPERCHARGED" hood side nameplates, see examples below:

This is an Auburn Supercharged Model 852 (1936)     acdm

This shows the Auburn Supercharged Model 852 hood emblem and mascot (1936)

This shows the Auburn Supercharged Model 852 grille emblem (1936)

This shows the Auburn Supercharged Model 852 hood side nameplate (1936)