My favorite car of all time.

[Helldiver]

Back in the 1930s, people would all heat there homes with coal. Every house was pooping smoke. Every kitchen had a coal or wood burning stove. All pumping a bunch of smoke and gas. Every factory had a steam engine producing power for their machinery. Every town had herds of cows, who gaseous effluence only added to the pollution. Steam trains were plentiful and in those days moved everything that is now hauled by trucks. Their belching smoke only added to the ever expanding gas. The air in towns like Pittsburgh became almost poisonous.
Nobody gave a R.A. about “Greenhouse warming”. This is something that Al Gore and his group of tree huggers dreamed up. The air today is as clean as it has ever been. Believe me, I lived in the thirties and got to enjoy it all.
Now all these folks are running around getting these battery powered cars, trying to save the planet. About every 50,000 miles they junk their batteries and replace them with new. At this rate we'll be knee deep in Lithium and Cadmium batteries.
Now somebody asked what kind of car I would like if I had a unlimited amount of money and I'd pick out an 1936 Auburn Supercharged, 150 HP, Boat-Tailed Speedster. Each one had a placard written by Ab Jenkins that the car had been driven at over 100 MPH at Indianapolis race track. Of course if it was all original and not souped up by some nit-wit, it would sell for $450,000. Thats up somewhat from it's original sales price of $2,500. I think it's just a beautiful work of art and you talk about a babe magnet!

[jhefner]

+1 on what you said about pollution; ask elderly Londoners about the Great Smog of 1952:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog

It would be neat to own a Bugatti Type 57 (as modeled by Lionheart); but would be afraid to drive it outside of Flight Simulator. Would also love a Plymouth Superbird.

[Lionheart]

Nice car HD!

What a beautiful machine. Its great to see one in person. Pictures do them no justice... Well, almost no justice...

A Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantique would indeed be sweet! That one for FS was modelled of Ralph Laurens 57SC. The restoration of that thing was for a book itself. Amazing..

[cheezyflier]

back then those bodies were hand formed.
being a sheetmetal worker i can tell you that the skill involved in the panels and fenders of that car is beyond 99% of us in the craft today.
back then, a man could point to his work and have something to be proud of.
the best i could do is point to some duct.
what a beautiful car, on so many levels.

[Craig Taylor]

Excellent choice - that is one nice set of wheels. :ernae:

[Odie]

Back in the 1930s, people would all heat there homes with coal. Every house was pooping smoke. Every kitchen had a coal or wood burning stove. All pumping a bunch of smoke and gas. Every factory had a steam engine producing power for their machinery. Every town had herds of cows, who gaseous effluence only added to the pollution. Steam trains were plentiful and in those days moved everything that is now hauled by trucks. Their belching smoke only added to the ever expanding gas. The air in towns like Pittsburgh became almost poisonous.
Nobody gave a R.A. about “Greenhouse warming”. This is something that Al Gore and his group of tree huggers dreamed up. The air today is as clean as it has ever been. Believe me, I lived in the thirties and got to enjoy it all.
Now all these folks are running around getting these battery powered cars, trying to save the planet. About every 50,000 miles they junk their batteries and replace them with new. At this rate we'll be knee deep in Lithium and Cadmium batteries.
Now somebody asked what kind of car I would like if I had a unlimited amount of money and I'd pick out an 1936 Auburn Supercharged, 150 HP, Boat-Tailed Speedster. Each one had a placard written by Ab Jenkins that the car had been driven at over 100 MPH at Indianapolis race track. Of course if it was all original and not souped up by some nit-wit, it would sell for $450,000. Thats up somewhat from it's original sales price of $2,500. I think it's just a beautiful work of art and you talk about a babe magnet!

Anyone remember The Man of Bronze, Doc Savage, from the pulp magazines of the 30's? This is one of the cars he'd most likely have in his garage! Nice pics, HD !

[Wing_Z]

That is a piece of automotive art...
So how far have we come?
Picking a 150hp car that will go 100mph (just about everything will) I decided on a hybrid Chev Malibu (since we are staying with a US model)
It will get 26mpg and costs about a quarter of what the Auburn would've in today's terms.
Wonder if it'll fetch 4 or 5 mil in 80 years time? :d

[GT182]

Back in the late 80s I had to deliver a load of orange juice bound for Austrailia to the piers in Long Beach California. While waiting for a spot to back in and unload, a ramp truck pulled in and parked in front of my truck. Guess what was on it. Yep, a flawless green with tan interior 1936 Auburn Boat-tail Speedster just fresh out of restoration and bound for Japan. This car was concours to the Nth degree. Yeah, headed for the lobby of an office building to be out on display. And get this, they paid 1 million for it. No joke.

So HD, you'd be lucky to find one now for $450,000. If you do, grab it as fast as you can.

[TARPSBird]

HD, that is a beautiful car. Reminds me of Manoil toy cars from the 1930's, I can see where they got their designs.

[brad kaste]

Helldiver,....here's a 1929 Auburn Boat-tailed Speedster. I've been keeping it in my picture folder for years just because of it's knockout looks. If I'm not mistaken there was some sort of connection between the Duesenberg and Auburn. Because they were both built in Indiana or Duesenberg owned Auburn? I don't remember.