Today I had the pleasure,........no the privilige of visiting the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum in Auburn , IN. It is by far, the best auto museum I have ever seen.
The museum is located in the ACD factory administration building on the old factory sight. It was built in the Art Deco design and is beautifully restored and is now a registered National Historic Landmark.
But how did the company get to this point? Weeeelll, it started in 1874 when Charles Eckhart, of Auburn, IN , started the Eckhart Carriage Co.
Eckhart had two sons who experimented with making cars. They absorbed a couple of local car companies, moved into a larger factory in 1909, and were somewhat successful until material shortages in WW I forced the factory to close.
After the war, the company was sold to a group of investors from Chicago, with no automobile experiance. By 1924, the company was in trouble again and they approached a gentleman named Errett Lobban Cord, a very successful car salesman and offered him the job of running the company. EL Cord accepted the job on the condition that he be paid in stock rather than money, and they agreed. He was successful in turning the company around and the agreement resulted in a leveraged buyout for Cord after a year or so.
That is how EL Cord became the owner of the Auburn Automobile Company!
There is quite a bit more to the story.......
The museum is located in the ACD factory administration building on the old factory sight. It was built in the Art Deco design and is beautifully restored and is now a registered National Historic Landmark.
But how did the company get to this point? Weeeelll, it started in 1874 when Charles Eckhart, of Auburn, IN , started the Eckhart Carriage Co.
Eckhart had two sons who experimented with making cars. They absorbed a couple of local car companies, moved into a larger factory in 1909, and were somewhat successful until material shortages in WW I forced the factory to close.
After the war, the company was sold to a group of investors from Chicago, with no automobile experiance. By 1924, the company was in trouble again and they approached a gentleman named Errett Lobban Cord, a very successful car salesman and offered him the job of running the company. EL Cord accepted the job on the condition that he be paid in stock rather than money, and they agreed. He was successful in turning the company around and the agreement resulted in a leveraged buyout for Cord after a year or so.
That is how EL Cord became the owner of the Auburn Automobile Company!
There is quite a bit more to the story.......
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