Auburn Automobile Company

The Auburn Automobile Company was an American manufacturer of automobiles from approximately 1903-37, producing vehicles of the Auburn marque until 1936 and the Cord marque from 1929-32 and 1936-37. Headquartered in Auburn, Indiana, United States, the company was founded by brothers Frank and Morris Eckhart of the Eckhart Carriage Company. It was run with modest success until 1919 when the brothers sold its controlling interest to a group of Chicago businessmen, who in time hired automobile salesman Errett Lobban Cord. Cord soon took control of Auburn and increased production dramatically until the early 1930s, when sales began to decline. In August of 1937, Cord sold his holdings of the company, and the Auburn and Cord marques (as well as that of sister company Duesenberg) were discontinued.

The Auburn company is well remembered for its Auburn-branded Speedster variants of 1928-36 and the Cord-branded L-29 and 810/812 models. Some of these models have been reproduced as revivals or replicas by various makers over subsequent decades.

After a 1940 bankruptcy reorganization, the former Auburn Automobile Co. merged with the Central Manufacturing Company into Auburn Central Manufacturing (ACM) Corporation, which received large amounts of World War II production work, so much so, that in 1943, they rebranded ACM as American Central Manufacturing. One of their most notable WW II contributions involved manufacturing the bodies of at least three-quarters, or about half a million, of the World War II Willys and Ford 1/4‑ton jeeps.