Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum

Auburn grew into an unlikely center of the luxury car trade in the early twentieth century, one of dozens of Indiana towns that took part in the state's brief but brilliant run as an automaking powerhouse. The Auburn Automobile Company reached its height under the businessman E. L. Cord, who assembled a group of brands, added the front-wheel-drive Cord and acquired the Duesenberg name, and aimed squarely at buyers who wanted the fastest, finest, and most striking cars money could buy.

The Duesenberg Model J, introduced in 1928, was the crown of that effort, a hand-built chassis fitted with custom coachwork and an engine of remarkable power for its day. Owning one was a statement of wealth and taste, and the roster of buyers read like a who's who of the era. The Great Depression eventually undid the company, as it did so many luxury makers, and by the late 1930s production had ended, but the cars had already earned their place in legend.

The museum building is a masterpiece in its own right. Completed in 1930 as the company's administration building and showroom, it is a jewel of Art Deco design, from its stepped facade to its dramatic central hall with terrazzo floors, elegant lighting, and clean geometric lines. It was built to make the act of buying a car feel like an occasion, and it still does.

That the cars are displayed in the very place they were once sold gives the museum a rare authenticity. The building has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark, and its architecture is as much a reason to visit as the automobiles. Standing in the hall, surrounded by gleaming coachwork under the Deco lights, you feel the confidence of an age that believed the machine could be a work of art.

The collection centers on the local marques, the Auburn, the Cord, and the Duesenberg, along with other classics of the era. The Auburn boattail speedsters are all rakish curves and long hoods. The Cord 810 and 812, with their hidden headlights, coffin-nose front, and front-wheel drive, looked like nothing else on the road and are still considered among the most beautiful American cars ever designed. And the Duesenbergs are simply imposing, long and low and built to a standard few makers ever matched.

Beyond the headline cars, the museum traces the broader story of the American automobile and the design and engineering ideas that flowed through it. Displays show how these machines were built, marketed, and dreamed about, and the collection changes over time as vehicles rotate in and out. For anyone who loves cars, or simply loves great design, it rewards a slow, careful look.

Auburn wears its automotive heritage proudly. Just a short walk or drive away sits a companion museum devoted to trucks and military vehicles, and the town's history as a manufacturing center is felt in its brick downtown and its civic pride. Each Labor Day weekend, one of the country's best-known classic-car auctions fills the town, drawing collectors and enthusiasts from across the world.

The setting is small-town northeastern Indiana, gently rolling farm country a short drive from the larger city of Fort Wayne. It makes for an easy, rewarding stop, a place where a modest town's outsized chapter in American history is preserved with real care. Pair the museum with the surrounding sights and it becomes a full and memorable day.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.