Tag: auburn

1929 Duesenberg Model J. By Craig Howell CC BY 2.0 On this day in 1928 Duesenberg unveiled the Model J at the New York Auto Show. The Duesenberg Model J debut marked the first all new car built by the company since E.L. Cord acquired the luxury automaker two years prior. Designed to compete directly with the likes of Rolls-Royce and Hispano-Suiza, the Model J was unlike anything to have ever hit the road before. At the time of the show, only one had been completed, serial number J-101. Finished in silver and black, the impressive automobile attracted quite a crowd, in large part thanks to its giant price tag of $8,500. That's for the chassis alone, mind you, and that sum in 1928 equals around $175,000 in 2022. Duesenberg Model J engine. By Larry Stevens Duesenberg J-101 origina...

E.L. Cord with an Auburn automobile. (Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum) Errett Lobban Cord, better known as E. L., founded the Cord Corporation on this day in 1928. It would become a holding company for his many transportation interests, including Auburn, Duesenberg and his own company, Cord. The car that carried his name is among the most mechanically unique of the era thanks to its front wheel drive layout and other innovations. How he became a transportation baron starts with a career in racing, engineering and even bus driving. The early life of E.L. Cord Born in Missouri in 1894, Cord became a jack of all trades type. Aside from working on, racing and selling cars, he ventured into numerous other areas of business. At one point or another in his early career, Cord hauled ore, ...