Auburns, Cords, Duesenbergs...Oh My!

Hagerty and the Auto Clubs Council of Indiana (ACCI) took to Auburn yesterday, the city that is inidated with automotive history. At one point, Auburn was on the fast track to becoming the next Detroit. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but what is left now is a city that is rich with museums celebrating automotive heritage. We toured the NATMUS (National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United State) and ACD (Auburn Cord Duesenberg) Automobile Museums. The places may have big names, but they have an even bigger history! I'm not an expert on the history, but strongly urge you to check out these historic landpieces in Auburn, IN. If you can't get there soon, go to their websites: http://www.natmus.org/ and http://www.automobilemuseum.org/Pages/default.aspx.

A quick picture from inside NATMUS, it's not classified, so get down there and check it out!
A picture from NATMUS of an old Essex race car.


The staircase above is part of the original Auburn Automobile Company building. The museum sits in the original showroom today. It's amazing to vision yourself stepping back in time and wondering what it must have felt like to walk into such a great facility and pick out your first Auburn. I tried to picture myself walking down the staircase like a 'big wig' back in the day, but couldn't get over the visual image of me falling gracefully to the floor.......

I beleive this is a 1929 Auburn, but could be mistaken. Whatever it was, this vehicle was a masterpiece for it's time.

From left to right:Laura Brinkman, Executive Director of the ACD Automobile Museum; Senator Kruse; Bill Sanders, President of Indy GTO club and chairman of ACCI; and Gary Loveless, President of ACCI.

A big thanks to Don Grogg, Executive Director of NATMUS, and Laura Brinkman, Executive Director and CEO of the ACD Museum, for hosting us yesterday! They shared a great deal of knowledge and history with us. It's also great to hear these museums are strongly invovled in getting kids interested in Automotive Heritage. The ACD Automotive Museum said they have over 5,000-7,000 students tour their facility each year. Can you imagine that?!?