If any of you find yourself in the southern Michigan, northwest Ohio, northern Indiana area, I highly recommend visiting the
Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana.
A small part of the large facility is devoted to the Auburn styling section. One display is devoted to
Alan Leamy, a talented stylist who designed the distinctive 1929 L-29 Cord front end as well as many Auburns. He also might have had a hand in designing the Duesenberg J, though the detailed link states that this is uncertain.
Another room shows the clay modeling technique promoted by famed stylist
Gordon Buehrig, best known for designing the classic 1936 Cord 810 series. Included is his drafting set.
Below are some photos I took in September 2019: click on them to enlarge.
Gallery
Photo of Al Leamy at his drafting board.
Scanning to the left of the recreated Leamy studio. Assistants would work here.
Peering past his name.
Drawing board to the right, desk to the left. Not the same board as in the photo, but perhaps from his era. Examples of his work are on the foreground display table. Elsewhere are some of his drawings.
Gordon Buehrig.
Clay scale model 810 Cords. These are probably recreations for display purposes -- correct me if I'm wrong.
Buehrig was an early proponent of the styling bridge that allowed surface measurements to be taken. This setup, including the clay-on-armature model, is almost surely a reconstruction of an original.
However, I'll admit that the platform and bridge do look old and might have been preserved by Buehrig for later, personal use.
More models in display cases. The setup in the foreground is of a Cord 810 Westchester sedan.
We had an overnight stop in Auburn during the Hemmings Great Race two years ago, with dinner at the museum and about 3 hours to wander around. It was tremendous. And I had never heard of the National Automotive and Truck Museum, which is right next door. It also has a very impressive collection.
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