Auburn Speedster History

The Auburn Speedster was the marque's halo car: a low, rakish boat-tail roadster offered across three broad phases — the Alan Leamy–styled boat-tails on the eight- and twelve-cylinder chassis of 1928–1934, and the definitive supercharged straight-eight 851 (1935) and 852 (1936).

The 1935–36 car, restyled by Gordon Buehrig (who went on to design the Cord 810/812), is the model most people picture: sweeping sandwiched fenders, a backswept radiator, and chromed flexible external exhaust pipes exiting the hood. Power came from a 4.6-liter Lycoming straight-eight fitted with a Schweitzer-Cummins centrifugal supercharger rated at 150 bhp, paired with a Columbia dual-ratio rear axle.

Each supercharged Speedster carried a dash plaque, signed by land-speed driver Ab Jenkins, certifying the individual car had exceeded 100 mph before shipment — a nod to Jenkins's 1935 record run averaging over 100 mph for twelve hours in a stock 851 SC. Despite its beauty the Speedster was sold at a loss; only around 143 of the 1935–36 supercharged cars were built before Auburn folded.