The Auburn 852 Supercharged
Boattail Speedster was introduced during the Great
Depression to widespread praise for its elegant styling
and incredible performance, and endures as a monument to
the ambitions and vision of Errett Lobban “E.L.” Cord.
When Cord took over management of Auburn in 1924 he set a
new course for the ailing manufacturer, and by 1931 it had
risen to 13th in national sales, surpassing Packard,
DeSoto and Hudson among others.
Auburn
became the cornerstone of Cord’s vast empire, not through
any technical distinction but by giving customers more car
than any other in its price class. Sadly coincident to the
beginning of the darkest period of the Great Depression,
the Boattail Speedster (the 1935 Model 851 and the
identical 1936 Model 852) was the pinnacle creation of
Cord’s career, its coachwork designed by Gordon Buehrig,
its Lycoming straight-8 engine supercharged and tuned by
August Duesenberg. The Speedster had it all: flowing,
seemingly wind-sculpted coachwork that started with a
rakish front grille and ended in the famous Boattail, a
snug two-seat cockpit and a supercharged Lycoming inline-8
engine. On each Speedster’s dash was a plate declaring
that the car had been driven past 100 MPH, not a difficult
task for a machine weighing just over 3,700 pounds and
packing 150 horsepower; the formula made the Speedster one
of the fastest cars on the road in mid-'30s America.
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