Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum
In the early 1970s, the people of Auburn, Indiana started voicing concerns about the automotive heritage of Auburn and the site of the building that housed the old Auburn Automobile Company that existed. A non-profit organization called Auburn Automotive Heritage, Inc. was formed in 1973 with the goal of preserving Auburn's automotive past and the building that once housed a piece of automotive history.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum was opened on July 6, 1974 in the building once occupied by the Auburn Automobile Company and later the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Company. It was a restoration and parts business for the cars. Based in the original administrative building for the Auburn Automobile Company, the museum shows off what people in the 1920s and the 1930s would have mostly seen when they shopped for an automobile. Parts of the interior of the museum have been made to look close to what it was in the 1930s.
The ACD Museum’s collection of cars contain a number of Auburns, Cords, Duesenbergs, and other automobiles, made in Auburn, Indiana and from around the country. The museum is open to the public to this day throughout the year. The building of over 80,000 square feet has been extensively renovated to house more than 140 different automobiles and exhibits. One can find not just Auburns, Cords, and Duesenburgs, but other domestic and international automobiles from throughout the history of the automobile.
A visitor to the museum can tour the building on their own and speak with volunteers to learn more about the automobiles that sit in the interior. The bottom of the building also houses large meeting rooms where people can request use for various functions, such as wedding receptions. The top floor has exhibits of other Indiana automobiles and companies, as well as showing Auburn’s past, for instance the Auburn Automobile Company under Charles Eckhart and his family. There is also a library and archive, which holds history and artifacts of automotive significance.
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