<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Auburn was one of E.L.'s eleven companies and had proven to be quite profitable in the late 1920s. Keeping up with the new V-configuration engine trend, Cord decided to offer an Auburn V12 in 1932. Technically this 12-160A was very interesting, but it was the ridiculously low price of $975 that grabbed people's attention. To this day it' is the cheapest V12 ever offered in an American car and at the time even a Dodge eight cylinder was more expensive. In fact the price was so low that potential customers assumed the build quality was not up to Auburn standards. Instead of attracting more buyers, Cord's scheme had backfired and to add insult to injury he ended the year with a loss of close to 1 million dollars.
The detail that was most often overlooked at the time was that the 12-160A was a very advanced vehicle that offered great acceleration times and comfortable high speed cruising thanks to the ingenious 'Dual Ratio' differential. Operated by a lever on the dashboard, the system offered a low and high ratio for each of the three gears, 4.5 and 3.0 respectively. This improved fuel and oil consumption, therefore decreasing the strain on the Lycoming engine. Displacing just under 6.5 litres this V12 unit produced a hefty 160 bhp and plenty of low-end torque to move a 2 ton machine. A variety of bodies were available from the factory of which the Speedster was the most exclusive.
The low price convinced some to buy the new Auburns in 1932, but by 1933 the production had collapsed by 85% from previous years. In the meantime Cord had run into problems with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which forced him to take off to England. In his absence Harold Ames tried to bring Auburn back to its former glory and one of the first victims was the twelve cylinder model that had been re-baptized as the 12-161A for 1933. Although the result of Ames work, the 851, is the most famous of all Auburn models it was not enough to save the company from a second bankruptcy in twelve years. This time it really was the end. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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12-160A Speedster
Auburn was one of E.L.'s eleven companies and had proven to be quite profitable in the late 1920s. Keeping up with the new V-configuration engine trend, Cord decided to offer an Auburn V12 in 1932. Technically this 12-160A was very interesting, but it was the ridiculously low price of $975 that grabbed people's attention. To this day it' is the cheapest V12 ever offered in an American car and at the time even a Dodge eight cylinder was more expensive. In fact the price was so low that potential customers assumed the build quality was not up to Auburn standards. Instead of attracting more buyers, Cord's scheme had backfired and to add insult to injury he ended the year with a loss of close to 1 million dollars.