One of our favorite old car events of the year is the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival on Labor Day weekend in Auburn, Indiana. Here’s our report on this year’s gathering with a big photo gallery.
Dating back to the earliest days of the hobby in 1954, the annual Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival in Auburn, Indiana is one of the oldest events on the classic car scene. It’s also among the biggest around, featuring a sprawling swap meet, multiple car auctions, a parade of classic cars through downtown Auburn, and a full slate of activities all focused on Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg, the city’s hometown marques.
Festival activities center around the museum district just south of downtown, which was formerly the Auburn auto factory complex, and the sprawling Auctions America facility one exit south of town on Interstate 69. For a detailed list of all the attractions around Auburn including a schedule, map, travel and lodging info, and so on, visit the official ACD Festival website. Info on the auction, swap meet, and happenings around the auction complex can be found at the Auctions America website.
As we often note here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, our favorite events of the weekend include the Festival Parade through downtown Auburn on Saturday, along with the mustering of vehicles for the parade on Saturday morning in Eckhart Park, just a short walk east of the museums. This year’s event was billed as The Year of the Cord, and there were an impressive number of Cord 810 and 812 models on hand, as large as we’ve seen at Eckhart Park. And as usual, there were plenty of Auburns and Duesenbergs to feast our eyes upon, too. Gallery below. Click on any image to start a slide show.
Thanks for the great photo gallery. What’s the difference between a Cord 810 cabriolet and Phaeton?
An 810 or 812 Cabriolet is a 2-passenger Convertible Coupe. An 810 or 812 Phaeton is a 4 Passenger Convertible with a Back Seat.
The Cord 810/812 two passenger convertible coupe was called a Sportsman.
The 4-5 passenger “soft top” car was called a Convertible Phaeton Sedan (Cord’s terminology). A roadster was usually a 2 passenger open car (possibly with a rumble seat for two more passengers), but with minimal creature comforts in foul weather; i.e., there were no side windows. “Side curtains” were snapped into place, did not fit tight, allowed drafts, etc. A phaeton was similar, but with a rear seat for 2-3 passengers. A convertible coupe/cabriolet/convertible sedan had a tight fitting top with roll up door windows, offering the benefits of an open car with the top down, and the comfort of a closed car with the top and windows up.
I’ve been going to the festival for 26 years. Started going with my dad.
IMHO, some of the most beautiful autos ever built were from ACD. Too bad they aren’t still around, if they had of stayed in business autos of today would probably have much more class and stying instead of looking like a half used bar of soap.
I’ve had a soft spot for those “coffin nosed” Cord’s since I was a kid. Above my pay grade, even the reproduction fiberglass ones that were out a few years back. Can still dream of owning one, though!