Auburn Automobile - Extinct Autos
The Eckhart Carriage Company of Auburn Indiana , was founded by Charles Eckhart in 1875 . His sons Morris and Frank , took over the Carriage company and as they had an interest in automobiles by 1900 they had built automobiles as experiments , they decided to start their own automobile company . They began the Auburn Automobile Company , with a one cylinder automobile , which they sold in the local area . In 1903 the Eckhart brothers entered a car in the Chicago Auto Show and the publicity increased their sales and their market area . In 1905 Auburn introduced models with 2 cylinders engines . In 1909 a 4 cylinder engine was available .
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In 1909 the Auburn Automobile Company bought out two other local auto makers and became a full scale automobile manufacturer . In 1912 they brought out a 6 cylinder engine . Auburn Sales were only moderate and eventually financial difficulty arose for Auburn .
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In 1919 the Eckhart brothers sold the Auburn Automobile Company to a group of investors , led by Ralph A Bard and the group included William Wrigley (of Wrigley’s Gum) . This group was unable to show any profit from the company and a salesman named Errett L Cord was hired to run the company . Cord had the 200 plus unsold automobiles , repainted very bright colors and dressed up with Chrome , and all were sold very quickly .
In 1925 Errett Cord bought the Auburn Automobile Company and Cord acquired Duesenberg Motor Company , that same year . Cord also bought Lycoming Manufacturing and Columbia Axle Company . Lycoming engines and Columbia axles were used in Auburn automobiles along with Duesenberg design and technology .
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In 1928 Auburn had success in Auto Racing and hit 108 miles per hour at Daytona Beach and averaged almost 85 miles per hour for 24 hours at Atlanta speedway . Auburn also won the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in the same year . Through the depression of the early 1930’s sales steadily declined and in 1936 Auburn production ended .
