Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 13

Friday, October 10, W7S Mattoon (II.) Journal Gazette13 1 'vl A 'doozy' of a weekend 3 1 4 fin 1 -l; i pit. A car could be found to interest almost everyone under the large circus tents at Auburn. Old movie fans could find both a sporty, white 1956 Thunderbird once owned by Clark Gable and a long, black Rolls Royce limousine used by Gloria Swanson. Political historians might be intrigued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1936 Lincoln limousine, Field Marshal Rommel's 1939 Horsh, or King Farouk's 1932 open Packard parade car.

Or just for fun there was an ornate 19S Ford Model popcorn wagon. The Auburn experience is one which cannot easily be duplicated. The awe of seeing the large, but' sleek Auburn silently tooling along the peaceful streets and hearing the throaty murmur of a rakish, supercharged Cord is as exciting today as it must have been 40 years ago. A description of the weekend was epitomized by a dapper elderly gentleman as he watched a low-slung, elegant Duesenberg pass, "It's a doozy!" Rolls Royce to a mundane Mustang 2 plus 2 were included in the 600 entries for the auction. This year, a gold-plated 1931 Fleetwood Cadillac was featured.

Its gaudy display of jewel-encrusted hubcaps and gearshift knob and white mink carpeting failed to arouse the interest of the classic car purists at Auburn. The disappointed owner accepted the single bid of $100,000, even though it failed to meet his advertised expectations of $250,000 previously announced. However, when a rakish brown and tan 1929 Duesenberg pulled into the auction pit the crowd gasped in admiration at the perfection of the restoration. 'As "the bidding began it left no doubt that this was not an ordinary car. When a bid of $200,000 was made even the auctioneer stopped for a moment, telling the crowd that this was the largest bid he had ever received on an automobile.

After an intense 15 minutes, a final bid of $210,000 was refused by the owner, and he withdrew the gleaming car from the admiring throng in the The club is also responsible for establishing the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum in the renovated offices and showroom of the original company. The showroom, one of the finest examples of Art Dece architecture in the United States, is the perfect setting for these classic cars, as no modern building could possibly be. Five years ago the Kruse family of Auburn decided to hold an automobile auction in conjunction with the Labor Day events. They began with just a few cars on an empty lot near the local Dairy Queen. Today that auction is billed as the World's Largest Antique Auto Auction, and the Kruses are world famous.

In spite of the size the auction has grown to, the Kruse family has maintained a personal touch and a great pride in their community. Thousands of people flock to the town to buy, or just to admire these cars which still hold a magic that makes them so desirable even 40 years after they were last produced. Everything from a majestic By Sally and Jim Wlnleld AUBURN, Ind. Auburn, is a quiet little town of 7,000 in the northeastern corner of the state. Its tree-shaded streets and large homes are reminiscent of a more genteel time in our history.

Auburn is the site of what was one of the greatest automobile manufacturing concerns in the world. The Eckhart Carriage established in 1900 by Frank and Morris Eckhart with a modest $2,500 grew into the Auburn Automobile Co. Producers, until its demise in 1936, of the Auburn Motor Car, the Cord, one of the first front-wheel drive cars built, and the most elegant of all, the Duesenberg, a veritable giant in size, reputation and engineering excellence. Labor Day weekend, 1975, the City of Auburn and the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Club held its 75th birthday party to commemorate the beginning of the company. For the past 20 years the ACD Club has returned to Auburn on Labor Day weekend to revisit the site where it all began.

17 In. ---J Original showroom ideal setting for these classic cars Cadillac with its goldleaf glowing 1 Alfa Romeo one of a kind made for pre-war show i few Ml 1933 Auburn boat-tail speedster in sun p- 1931 929 L29 Cord was m.tt Photos and text by Sally and Jim Winfield 1 nr-rji Front of 1932 Stutz an impressive sight I II 1 in the first front-wheel drive automobile 1937 Cord with front-wheel drive.