On the National Registry of Historic Places, the Auburn Cord Dusenberg Museum is housed in the original factory showroom building of Auburn Automobile Company. The Museum celebrates it's 100 year anniversary during the year 2000 with festivities and special events throughout the year.
Forged out of a vision and plain hard work, Charles Eckhart founded Eckhart Carriage Company in 1874. When Charles retired his sons Frank and Morris continued to operate the carriage works but also formed their own horseless carriage company, Auburn Automobile Company in 1900. The first Auburn, known for its speedster body design, was sold to the public in 1903. Through a sale to a business group in Chicago in 1919,
Errett Lobban Cord stepped in as plant manager and eventually became the president of the company, selling the Auburn for as much as $1,600 in the 1920s. Soon Cord introduced the first front-wheel drive car built on a production line, the Cord Model L-29, at $3,100. By 1937 due to depression economics and the downturn in luxury car spending, E. L. Cord sold his interest in the company.
Filled with lavish motorcars from the golden age of the automobile, when driving a luxury car was an exultant experience, the museum evokes elegance and grandeur from another era. More than 100 vehicles from carriages to the 1890s to today sleek breeds of sport cars showcase a nostalgic retrospect of the love affair with the car.
The permanent galleries include the following:
Auburn cord Dusenberg Classics: Features motorcars from the classic era displayed in the original 1930s art deco showroom.
The Auburn Foundry Gallery of Auburn Built Automobiles: Shows the design, marketing, manufacturing, and innovative development that fostered manufacturing in the city of Auburn.
Kruse Gallery of Early Auburn Automobiles: Showcase for cars built during 1904 to 1924 and appointed as a dealer's showroom of the early 1920s.
Gallery of Classics: Domestic and foreign classics contemporary cars to the Cord, Auburn, and Dusenberg.
Lincoln National Corporation Gallery, Indiana Automobiles: Highlights rare and unusual cars built in the Hoosier state.
Gallery of Special Impact Cars: Milestones and classics in the automotive world.
The Duesy Shop offers a collectible 2000 ACD Festival Art Deco Poster, bumper stickers, badges and hat/lapel pins along with an array of books, videos, clothing, and models. If you don't live in Indiana and are not driving across the country on your summer vacation, you can order these goodies online.
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