Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum!!

1934 Duesenberg Model J Dual Cowl Phaeton
They DO NOT make them like this anymore!

Three famous US automakers are celebrated at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn Indiana. On our recent midwestern trip we stopped by to have a look. The museum houses a nice collection of automobiles, an extensive library of reference materials from the three brands, and a collection of other automotive miscellaneous items.  Correction, it houses a HUGE collection of Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg, and other related cars. I took a ton of photos, because it really is just a huge amount of automotive goodness!

1932 Cord
If you own the company, why not start a brand with your own name like Mr. Cord!

The short version of the company history is that the Auburn car company was started by the Eckhart family, when they added to their carriage business. At some point, the family was bought out by some owners in Chicago, and they brought in E. L. Cord to run things. Before long he added a line of cars using his own name, and bought the Duesenberg brothers company down in Indianapolis. All three brands were on the high end (expensive) side, with Duesenberg being really luxurious! 

The company was doing well, and built a new art deco headquarters in Auburn, and that building is now the museum you see here.

1932 Auburn with Lycoming BB V-12 engine!

Unfortunately, the depression didn't help their business, and the company ceased operations in 1937. I read that out of all the companies that went bankrupt during the depression, this was the only company that was NOT bailed by the government, likely because it would have looked bad to be rescuing such a high end luxury brand as Duesenberg! Mr. Cord was hugely successful in not only the car business, but in many other endeavors, and a chunk of the museum tells his story too. 

1937 Cord 812
Production of the Auburns stopped in 1936, and 1937 was the end of the Cord production. 
Only two were built with two spare tires outside the trunk, making more trunk space. 

Here's two little tidbits about the company that I liked: The Duesenberg brothers made their fame with racing engines and cars, with a Duesenberg winning the 1921 French Grand Prix, as well as winning multiple Indy 500s in the 1920s! Also, even though Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg was out of business, their production facility in Connersville Indiana landed a contract to build Jeep bodies during WWII! In fact, they built the main tub for both Ford and Willys Jeeps, AND built some of the first civilian Jeep bodies AFTER WWII! 

1933 Auburn 8-105

So, let's check out the museum with a few highlights. 

1926 Duesenberg Model A Touring Car
After focusing on racing and engines, Duesenberg started making passenger cars with the Model A. They also were the first company to put hydraulic brakes on all four wheels. This was also the year (1926) that Auburn bought Duesenberg.

I'm a big fan of the Duesenberg Straight 8 logo, and I even bought the t-shirt!

1935 Auburn Speedster Model 851

Here's a hood ornament and brand name that lets you know it's from the 1930s!

April Autocross at Michelin:

 Live from Michelin! Only a few drops of rain before competing. 

On April 19th, NMS was back at the Black Lake of Michelin Proving Grounds SC to compete with the Carolina Region Porsche Club of America, and after nine times on course, walked away (OK, drove away) with the 6th fastest time of the day, the 2nd fastest Porsche time of the day, and 1st place in a class of only two cars. 

How does NMS go so fast with 3 class wins in 3 events so far this year? PBJ baby!
PRO TIP: BRAKING SLOWS YOU DOWN!
PRO TIP #2: Cherry Jelly!

The weather was on the cool and slightly windy side, reaching a high in the 60s, so I even had the seat heater on before driving to keep warm! On the 14 acres of flat pavement, the course was HUGE, and that made it more complicated and hard to remember than normal. This resulted in a higher than normal of Did Not Finish (DNF) runs for a lot of drivers, since it was easy to get lost out there on the sea of orange cones! The challenge of learning a large and tricky course was a lot of fun!

Driver meeting on a chilly day. 

I had 2 of my 9 runs DNF, and unfortunately, one was run #1 when my brake pedal didn't want to depress. It cleared up after that run, so at this time the chief engineer and lead mechanics are analyzing the car to see if we have a sticky piston on a brake caliper on the car. The 2nd DNF was ruled to be caused by "driver error" which was a result of driving "too fast" and "not braking enough" and "pushing the car too hard!" Drivers are dumb!

NMS #77 ready to roll for the afternoon runs!

#117 is Tracy in a Porsche GT4 RS, an awesome car to drive, ask me how I know!

You can even autocross an SUV, like Anthony in this Porsche Cayenne S here!

Anyway, the fastest car of the day was a Tesla, followed by a Porsche 911, Corvette, Toyota GR86, another Corvette, and then me! The other car in my class was a Porsche Boxster, and he was just behind me by only 0.771 seconds, so it was very close in our class. Here's a YOUTUBE link to one of my laps, it was FUN!

NMS MICHELIN APRIL 2026

Thanks for following along here on the blog! NMS will be at CMP this coming weekend to watch the Bunch of Idiots in the Lemons Race, and then more track events and autocross coming up in May. 

The South Carolina Region SCCA is BACK!

NMS in the red Miata and red FIAT, Darlington autocross circa 2013. 

NMS started driving at car events with the South Carolina Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCR SCCA) back around 2013. We began with their autocross events, and eventually started track days and all the other fun driving events that we could find! However, over the last few years the South Carolina Region didn't hold any autocross events, so it is GREAT NEWS that they are back in action for 2026 with multiple events on tap at Darlington Raceway, and one combined event at Michelin Proving Grounds with the slightly-farther-north Central Carolinas Region. NMS plans to be there, and have some more fun with the SCR SCCA. 

You can find out more about the South Carolina Region SCCA on their Facebook page: 

SC SPORTSCAR ON FACEBOOK

Brian in the NMS #86 Miata autocrossing in Myrtle Beach about 2013. 

In the past the region held autocross events at other locations such as Florence, Myrtle Beach, and Charleston SC, so maybe some of those spots will be back in action in future years. For a few years the region also combined with another region and had a friendly battle with the region down in Savannah Georgia too. Probably every autocross club runs into challenges in finding locations for their events, so this is not just a South Carolina thing at all. When I lived in Virginia Beach I competed regularly with two clubs at the former Pungo Airfield, but that location is no longer used, so the clubs drive elsewhere.

I'm all signed up for the first event on May 9th at Darlington, so get ready to start your engines. This will make the 3rd club to compete with this year, and luckily none of their events conflicts with the Porsche Club or the Triad Sports Car Club!