And now for something completely different. Here’s the latest beautiful cutaway from Tony Matthews at Motor City Garage: a supercharged Auburn 851 Speedster.
Tony brought out this great illustration to mesh with MCG’s coverage of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival last weekend. And a wonderful complement it makes: Check out all the amazing details in the rendering, including the lever-action shock absorbers and Columbia two-speed rear axle. We’re seeing the classic Auburn from a whole new perspective. Here’s Tony:
Auburn 851
by Tony Matthews
This cutaway, the Auburn 851, was done quite early in my freelance career, 1979, for On Four Wheels, a UK version of a very successful Italian part-work, Quattroruote. Whatever happened to part-works? They were everywhere in those days. Perhaps it dawned on the public that it was a very expensive way of buying a book.
This example was in the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire, not far from the South Coast of England, and I called in to see it on the way home from holiday with my young family. A pleasant way of working when everything falls into place.
Unless you have stood close to an Auburn, it is difficult to appreciate how big they are, especially when you are brought up surrounded by relatively tiny British automobiles. It certainly impressed me. It was just slightly disappointing to discover that under the sexy body was… not a lot. An intriguing engine, but otherwise mostly air. However, On Four Wheels didn’t pay a lot, so from the professional point of view it helped to have a subject that didn’t take too long to illustrate.
Yes, it could have been more detailed, but my philosophy has always been that detailing engine, gearbox and back axle internals on a cutaway that is going to be reproduced across two pages of a magazine—sometimes only one page—is rather pointless. I would rather do the engine and drive train separately and give them the effort they deserve.
Years earlier, when I was at secondary school (11 to 17 years) I used to walk past a classic and vintage car dealer, C.J.Bendall. Motto: “C.J. Bendall for Interesting Automobiles.” I would occasionally worm my way into one of the dark, cobwebby Victorian buildings where a variety of vehicles were stored, crammed in so that working one’s way in between was quite difficult. The one car that really impressed me was a huge, matte green Cord, with the unmistakable horizontal grille extending the length of the hood. It was this vehicle, I think, that made me realise that the world of the automobile was a bit bigger and more interesting than just the UK.
I checked C.J. Bendall on the internet upon writing this, mainly to make sure of the spelling, and to my surprise they are still in my home town, and still trading. However, the original buildings were razed to the ground many years ago to allow some tedious, boring apartments to be built, and the business operates from Cecil Bendall’s home.
(click on image below to open high-resolution version; click on image again to enlarge it to full size)
Text and images copyright Tony Matthews, all rights reserved. Used by permission. Be sure to see Tony’s other great cutaways at Mac’s Motor City Garage. Links open in new windows:
Very pretty cars, simple and understessed.
Having once been an Auburn owner [as a kids cubbyhouse. in 1960. Oh sacrilege!!] I still have an appreciation of the quality of the build. And a nice cutaway by Tony.