Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster
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Auburn 851 SC Boattail Speedster from 1935: The brand's swan song

PHOTOS AUBURN 851 SC BOATTAIL SPEEDSTER 1935: WORLDWIDE AUCTIONEERS

The biography of Errett Lobban Cord It perfectly represents the excessive 20s, but also the depressing hangover that followed. This American born in 1894 possessed a natural courage that led him to try to be a racing driver. Seeing that his record did not take off, he decided to retire to the workshops as a mechanic. And well, that's where he discovered that his thing was not to drive or repair cars, but to sell them. Endowed with a sibylline verbiage, Cord came to control more than 150 companies of the transport union, running Auburn since 1928.

However, the year our intrepid businessman founded the Cord Corporation Says it all: 1929. Just the moment the economy woke up from its dreams of constant growth. Executives jumped out of skyscraper windows, companies went bankrupt in a domino effect, and the middle classes returned to the starting box: being a proletariat with the house in tow. A situation that made the survival of such outstanding brands as Auburn, Cord or, above all, very difficult. Duesenberg. All of them symbols of the classic american cars.

Pursued by a state that could no longer be as tolerant of tax crime as in the moments before the Wall Street Crash, Erret Cord put an ocean in the middle by taking refuge in the UK. Of course, by 1931 Auburn - the pearl of its transportation business empire - was still showing muscle as the thirteenth American manufacturer. In fact, just four years later the Auburn 851SC Boattail Speedster. A magnificent example of vintage american cars that, however, could not save the company.

AUBURN 851 SC BOATTAIL SPEEDSTER. END OF ERA

In the early XNUMXs, despite the Great Depression, luxury manufacturers belonging to the Cord Corporation were still in top shape. Duesenberg kept updating his imposing Model J, Cord was developing its futuristic 810 (and pioneer of front-wheel drive) heading into 1936, and Auburn was not a bad seller of its massive 8-125s. All of them spectacular classic American cars that, however, they attended as swan songs to a golden age of motorsport. Too much associated with the financial excesses of the 20s, they were all dinosaurs doomed to extinction.

An extinction that the Auburn 851 SC Boattail Speedster tried to slow down with its presentation in 1935. A futile effort, since just a year later Errett Cord was forced to sell his shares by mandate of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The time before the final closure of Duesenberg, Cord and Auburn itself in 1937. It was at that moment that all these vintage american cars irretrievably went down in history. After all, excesses always pay off, and although they are monuments to engineering, they were also monuments to waste and bad fiscal practices.

Political considerations aside, the truth is that the Auburn 851 SC Boattail Speesdter couldn't be more attractive thanks to the lines signed by Gordon Buehrig. A character in the design of classic American cars, responsible for this two-seater, the Cord 810 or the Lincoln Continental Mark II. And that's not to mention that in 1951 he patented the T roof! Yes, precisely what has become so famous at Porsche under the name Targa.

AT FULL THROTTLE. THE EIGHT CYLINDERS OF THE AUBURN 851

Although these vintage american cars be captivating in sight, the truth is that its greatest value is under the hood. Powered by a Eight cylinders in line water-cooled 4.573cc and 150HP at 4.000 rpm, the Auburn 851 SC Boattail Speedster reaches a peak of 165 km / h. And that its weight is not exactly contained, since even without having a particularly long battle it was weighing 1.702 kilos. A 'sports' vehicle which was piloted in tests by Ab Jenkins for twelve hours straight at 160 km / h on average without any problem.

With these credentials, Auburn sought to position the 851 as a hook with which to attract buyers willing to enter the brand through more accessible models. But nothing. The strategy could not have been more misguided, producing only about 500 units of these cars former Americans before the business closed in 1937. One of the reasons finding a unit available today is logically difficult. Although it just happened in the 13th Auburn Auction last September 5.

Sold for $ 1.072.500, this Auburn 851SC Boattail Speedster of 1935 has multiple verifications of origin, having also won several national previouss such as the CCCA Senior. Awards achieved thanks to being a Category 1 car, in which they only participate classic american cars with an impressive percentage of parts still from the factory. In short, a true museum piece symbolizing the end of an era: that of the great Cord, Auburn and Duesenberg.

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Written by Miguel Sánchez

Through the news from La Escudería, we will travel the winding roads of Maranello listening to the roar of the Italian V12; We will travel Route66 in search of the power of the great American engines; we will get lost in the narrow English lanes tracking the elegance of their sports cars; We will speed up the braking in the curves of the Monte Carlo Rally and we will even get dusty in a garage while rescuing lost jewels.

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