machine shops, and other storage mala-
dies had damaged the interior of the main
building, while the older structures had
been altered to varying degrees.
Simmering in the undertow of disre-
gard for Auburn’s automotive past, a group
of local citizens and community leaders
nurtured the vision of a permanent institu-
tion dedicated to its automotive legacy.
Formed in 1973, the not-for-profit Auburn
Automotive Heritage set into motion a
plan to preserve its past. The timing was
fortuitous.
The annual Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg
festival had welcomed a dramatic increase
in profit and attendance with the addi-
tion of Kruse collector-car auctions in- Mindful of Jacobs’ offer to sell the
property for $130,000, the Heritage group
began to aggressively raise funds. In May
1973, a fire decimated a wooden addi-
tion—fitted to the main building after
Auburn went out of business—which led
to a reduced $105,000 purchase price.
Architectural historians were on site in
January 1974 to assess the buildings and
formulateprojectedrestorationcosts;the
samemonth,thecampuswaspurchased,
ledbyHeritagemembersDennisKruse
andMikeWagner.Another$108,000
wasquicklyraisedtorestorethemain
showroomusingasmanyoftheoriginal
materialsandfixturesaspossible.OnJuly
6,1974,thedoorstoAuburn’srestored
showcasebuildingformallyopenedtothe
public,nowastheAuburnCordDuesen-
bergAutomobileMuseum.
Today,theServiceandNewParts
Departmentbuilding,alongwiththe
CordL-29building,whilestillpartofthe
A-C-DMuseumcomplex,arehometothe
NationalAutomotiveandTruckMuseum
oftheUnitedStates.AlvinStrauss’Art
Decoshowroomandofficebuildingis
asmuchacenterpieceofthemuseumas
thecarsandhistoryitconveysthrough
bothpermanentandrotatingdisplays,
educationalseminars,andotherevents
hostedonaregularbasis.Morethanjust
theproductsofA-C-D,themuseumdips
intotherealmofIndiana’sheritage,and
theindustrythatsurroundedit.
AcrowningachievementfortheHeri-
tage’stirelessworkcamein 1992 whenit
wasdesignatedanIndianaStateHistoric
Site,andthenasaNationalHistoric
LandmarkbytheNationalParksService
in 2005. It has been visited by millions
since opening its doors. To this day, its
vision has stayed true to its founding: “To
preserve for centuries the Auburn Auto-
mobile Company headquarters building,
Auburns, Cords, Duesenbergs and other
fine automobiles and artifacts relevant to
documenting and sharing their historical
significance.”One of the more
striking cars on
display is this
bright blue 1927
Duesenberg Model X
boattail speedster.
The clay buck
model is of a Cord,
surrounded with
personal notes by
designer Gordon
Buehrig describing
the model.
With its two-tone green coachwork and white top this handsome coupe is a V-12-powered 1932 Auburn 12-160A, one of four known to exist.
ContaCt:
auburnCordDuesenberg
automobile Museum
260-925-1444
http://www.automobilemuseum.org