In 1935-36, Auburn did as much as any automaker to introduce the concept of supercharging to the American car-buying public.

In the 1930s, the term “supercharging” took hold in the vernacular of the American motorist, as Duesenberg in 1932, Graham in 1934, and Auburn in 1935 each offered supercharged production vehicles. So while the supercharged Auburn wasn’t the first by any means, it was aggressively marketed and it was produced in significant numbers, and it did as much as any automaker  to promote the concept of supercharging to the USA’s car-buying public.

Auburn’s centifugal supercharger was closely based on the engineering of its sibling make, Duesenberg. (Their allied make Cord, in turn, offered a similar unit.) Designed by Kurt Beir and manufactured by Schwitzer-Cummins of Indianapolis, the blower was adapted to the Auburn’s Lycoming straight 8 engine by Pearl Watson and August Duesenberg, working under contract to Auburn. Driven from the crankshaft by a pair of matched bevel gears and a planetary roller drive, a 12-blade turbine wheel ran at six times engine speed, or at up to 24,000 rpm—an eyebrow-raising number at the time. A Stromberg single-venturi downdraft carburetor bolted directly to the top of the blower housing.

The blower’s boost pressure curve was engineered to kick in by around 2,000 rpm and max out at approximately 4 psi, enabling the 279.9 cubic-inch L-head straight eight to produce 150 hp at 4,000 rpm and 232 lb-ft of torque at 2800 rpm. This was a significant improvement in performance over the normally aspirated version, rated at 115 hp at 3500 rpm and 210 lb-ft at 1800 rpm. The added manifold pressure both increased the output and extended the engine’s torque and hp curves, and allowed Auburn to offer considerable bang for the buck. At the time, Cadillac’s V8 was rated at 125 hp.

The supercharger was available on all straight-8 models and standard on Auburn’s sport model, the rakish Speedster, shown below. Every Speedster was factory-equipped with a dash plaque certifying that the car could exceed 100 mph. The Auburn’s performance, along with its large chrome badges that spelled out “SUPERCHARGED” on both sides of the hood, did much to contribute to the mystique of the supercharger. But once the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg combine folded up, there wouldn’t be another volume-production American car equipped with a supercharger until Kaiser offered a belt-driven McCulloch blower in 1954.