AUBURN — Keith Brown of Fort Wayne likes to quote a fellow Duesenberg owner.
“If the Lord had a car, it would have been a Torpedo Phaeton” Duesenberg, the late Al Ferrara, owner of several Duesenbergs, used to tell Brown.
“It’s America at its pinnacle in the automobile business,” Charles Goodman of California said about the Duesenbergs. He brought his 1931 Duesenberg to Auburn for Saturday’s Parade of Classics at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival.
An unusually large contingent of about two dozen Duesenbergs came for the festival’s ¥ear of the Duesenberg, marking the 90th anniversary of the mighty Model J and Model SJ, built under the ownership of Auburn Automobile Co. In all, some 200 classic Auburns, Cords and Duesenbergs rolled through the streets of Auburn to the courthouse square as spectators admired them.
“There was never anything like them,” Brown said Saturday in Auburn’s Eckhart Park, where Duesenbergs and other classics were displayed before the parade.
The sound of a Duesenberg engine in full roar “raises the hair on your back,” Brown said. “One with the cutout open really talks to you,” Brown said about bypassing the Duesenberg’s muffler.
“It’s got a deep groan to it,” said Doug Cadman, of Ontario, Canada, who knows something about loud engines.
Cadman raced funny-car-style dragsters for 15 years. Saturday, he came to Auburn as a first-time Duesenberg owner.
“It’s kind of an odd thing to go from that to this,” Cadman observed.
Cadman came to the ACD Festival last year and bought a 1929 Auburn Speedster in an auction.
“I fell in love with that, and next thing you know, came up to a Duesenberg,” Cadman said. He bought his 1930 Duesenberg Torpedo Phaeton in January at a Florida auction.
“They’re just the most finely engineered and elegant cars ever built,” Cadman said about Duesenbergs. “It’s got a sexy look, even though it’s big and classy. I love the lines and the sportiness to it.”
Cadman’s car comes with rich history. It once was owned by E.L. Cord, president of Auburn Automobile Co., who used it for his wife’s daily transportation.
The car appeared in the movie “Some Like it Hot,” starring Marilyn Monroe, and in several other films.
“There were lots of neat people in the back seats of these things,” Cadman said.
Charles Goodman of California said his 1931 Duesenberg has a movie heritage, too. Its original owner was the cinematographer for “The Wizard of Oz.” Actor Buster Keaton’s son owned it later.
Movie stars and moguls owning Duesenbergs was common, Goodman said.
“That’s where the money was in those days,” he said. If the cars could talk, they could tell stories of the special people who owned them, he added.
Goodman owns several Duesenbergs. He came to Auburn this year with the 1931 model he recently bought from the estate of a friend, Tom Armstrong of Seattle, who owned it for more than 40 years.
“I just bought this, and I wanted to have it back here,” he said. “The car is really dialed in” for driving, he added.
“People say, ‘Aren’t you afraid to drive it?’ I’ll drive it in the rain,” Goodman said, explaining that cars are made to be driven.
Goodman serves on the board of directors for the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum and is a 40-year member of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club, which has been gathering in Auburn and staging the Parade of Classics since 1956.
Goodman worries that younger people will not continue the interest in classic cars, many of which are nearing 100 years old.
He doesn’t have to worry about Jason Schneck of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, one of the youngest Duesenberg owners at this weekend’s club reunion.
Schneck proudly pointed out the special, hand-turned aluminum on the engine block of his 1934 Model J, which was displayed at the New York Auto Show that year.
“I love bringing it here to Auburn,” Schneck said about the car. Only the worn upholstery gives away the fact that the car is in completely original, unrestored condition.
“We drive the car. We really enjoy it. … We put 60 miles on the car yesterday — wonderful driver,” Schneck said.
“My father was a collector of ACD cars, and he always wanted a Duesenberg.” Schneck said. His father bought his Duesenberg about 20 years ago to join his Auburns and Cords. He passed away in 2018.
“He was very wise,” Schneck said about his father, “by bringing me here 15 years ago for the first time.”
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