Car of the Week: 1935 J-Powered Auburn Speedster

Photos: Al Rogers; Story: Angelo Van Bogart

Even into the 1950s, one of the raciest-looking cars built in any reasonable quantity was the 1935 and ’36 Auburn Speedster. And until that time, the most powerful engine in a street car remained the 265-hp Duesenberg Model J straight-eight, unveiled to the public in late 1928. While the Auburn Speedster and the Duesenberg Model J were both products of the Cord Corp., one couldn’t get a Model J engine in an Auburn Speedster. But one man changed that before the horsepower output of passenger cars finally matched the power of the decades-old Model J engine.

At some point before 1956, Joe Gertler, Sr. of Raceway Garage in The Bronx, N.Y., mated Auburn Speedster serial number 33736E with Model J engine J-434 to add performance that matched the Speedster’s looks. With the J engine replacing the Auburn’s original 150-hp supercharged 279.9-cubic-inch straight-eight, Gertler’s Speedster gained an additional 115 hp. It wasn’t a simple drivetrain swap, however, and several modifications had to be made to the original Speedster in order to fit the longer 420-cubic-inch Duesenberg engine and its transmission. And oh, what a combination it was­ — and is.

Another swing at a Speedster

The earliest Auburn Speedsters dated to 1928, when the taper-tailed two-seater inspired by the one-off Duesenberg Model X speedster bowed as the raciest model in the Auburn Automobile Co.’s 88 and 115 lines. The Auburn Speedster continued into 1929, was halted for 1930, then a second generation, designed by Alan Leamy, appeared alongside the newly restyled 1931 Auburns during late 1931. Although all other Auburns were redesigned in 1934, the 1931-style Speedster continued into 1934 in order to use up Auburn’s inventory of unfinished bodies. While the Great Depression had not been kind to the sale of racy cars such as the Auburn Speedster, the leftover bodies provided Auburn with yet another opportunity to produce a sports model.

Although the Auburn body design was very different between 1931 and 1934, and then to 1935, in-house designer Gordon Buehrig was able to create a new Speedster design for ’35 based on the leftover Speedster bodies dating to 1931. Only the earlier passenger compartment part of the 1931 body was used on the last-generation Speedsters of 1935 and ’36, with modifications to the beltline molding in order to match the 1935-’36 hood lines. The 1935 851 and 1936 852 Auburn Speedster front ends were all 1935-’36 Auburn, but the fenders were modified production parts, and a different Speedster tail — inspired by a 1933 Duesenberg Model J speedster (also of Buehrig’s design — was retrofitted to the leftover bodies. The grille shell and headlamps were standard 1935-’36 Auburn production parts,

Speedster chassis were likewise modified versions of the standard 1935-’36 Auburn frame with changes to fit the older bodies was undertaken by factory workmen. There was a 5-inch extension at the back of the frame to accommodate the longer Speedster body, and there were additional holes in the Speedster chassis to fasten down the unique body. Special braces for the narrower Speedster body were crudely welded to the frame, and on the left side, where the exhaust came off the muffler, an area of the frame was hacked away to make room. However, all the mechanical components were the same between Speedsters and other supercharged Auburn models from 1935 and ’36, from the exhaust to the suspension to the springs to the Schwitzer-Cummins-built supercharger on the Lycoming-sourced straight-eight engine.

Auburn built more 1935 Model 851 and 1936 Model 852 Speedsters than it had leftover 1931 bodies, so the last of the 146 or so 851 and 852 Speedsters built by Auburn actually received all-new bodies.

Auburn certainly planned to sell Speedsters, but management knew it would have limited sales appeal. Their intent for the Speedster was to create a halo car that would draw people into showrooms to buy its bread-and-butter Auburn sedans, coupes and convertibles. With their racy looks and promise of speed­ — “certified 100 mph or more” touted ads ­— the Speedsters didn’t draw enough showroom traffic to save Auburn, and the company ceased building cars after 1936.

Mating Cord Corp. products

The Auburn Automobile Co. may not have survived into the 1950s, but its Speedster burned such a lasting memory into the minds and hearts of enthusiasts that, unlike other ’30s cars at the time, Speedsters transcended used car status. Among those Speedster fans was Joe Gertler, Sr., who planted the Model J engine in the featured Speedster. Exactly how and why Gertler’s swap came to be weren’t documented by him, but presumably the combination of Duesenberg power in a sporty Speedster was tantalizing. There certainly were Duesenbergs bodied with Speedster coachwork, but they numbered fewer than a dozen cars. In fact, one of those Duesenberg Speedsters was the Gordon Buehrig-designed Weymann speedster that Buehrig rehashed for the 1935 Auburn Speedster. However, finding that Duesenberg Speedster, or any of the others, without today’s easy internet search capabilities would have made such a search nearly impossible in the 1950s.

According to his son, who in 2010 posted about the car on the Antique Automobile Club of America’s online forum (aaca.org), Gertler was a seasoned pro at building and modifying cars. Apparently his full-time business was building race cars and custom sports cars, some for famous customers, and many of the cars he touched became award-winning show cars at major auto shows of the time. Among Gertler’s clients was the famous Hoffman Motors, the early U.S. distributor for Porsche and Volkswagen, among other makes, and race car driver Luigi Chinetti, for whom Gertler repaired his Ferrari 375MM following the Carrera Panamericana IV.

Period photos show Gertler’s Speedster to have been a light color (perhaps Cigarette Cream or white) and in good shape before the engine transplant. To fit the longer Duesenberg straight-eight in the Auburn, Gertler lengthened the Auburn chassis approximately l1 inches in front of the firewall. The added length required a longer hood and side panels, so Gertler modified the originals or built them new. Into the front fenders, he faired what appear to be 1940 Chevrolet headlamps into the tops, discarding the free-standing Auburn headlamps. At rear, the top of the Speedster body was made to open, giving the Speedster body an official — and useful ­ —trunk space.

The earliest photos of Gertler’s finished Speedster show it maintained the Auburn’s original external exhaust pipes sprouting from the driver side of the hood. However, it currently has larger-diameter Duesenberg Model J external exhaust pipes on the passenger side, as on a so-equipped Model J. Also like a Model J with external exhaust pipes, the driver’s side hood panel has a screen without additional pipes.

Inside the cockpit, the Auburn Speedster received a Duesenberg Model J instrument panel and its gauges, which were mounted to the Auburn firewall using Model J brackets.

In his post to the AACA online forum, Gertler’s son reported that his father found the car to be a “bear to steer,” likely from the lengthened front end and heavier engine, but it must have been a screamer rolling down the road!

According to Randy Ema, present owner of Duesenberg, Inc., and an Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg historian, David F. Miller, of Cleveland, Ohio, bought the J-powered Auburn Speedster from Gertler in 1956. By 1959, Miller had brought the car to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club Reunion in Auburn, Ind., and led the famous Parade of Classics with the car. It is also known to have been shown again there in 1971.

Miller was friends with fellow ACD collector Melvin Clemans, who was known for buying, selling and swapping Duesenberg cars and parts. At some point while Miller owned the car, he and Clemans swapped engines and engine J-209 was substituted from a Murphy convertible sedan that had likely been scrapped some time earlier. In August 1961, Harlan Fry of Texas bought the Speedster in this form and kept it for decades. When he passed away, it went to his grandson, who stored it with agricultural equipment in a barn in Grand Rapids, Minn., until the early 2000s. When Ema inspected it there about 20 years ago, he found the car was in good overall shape, but the paint had become weak.

Fry’s grandson offered the Speedster for sale about 20 years ago and found a buyer in Germany. The car was restored there to its current black-and-red paint scheme and retains the Duesenberg-style external exhaust pipe treatment incorporated after Gertler’s initial build.

In 2024, car collectors Ted and Mary Stahl of Chesterfield, Mich., brought the unique Speedster back to American shores. By then, the car’s 20-year restoration had been completed.

“Ed Lucas found it… he had worked in Europe and he heard about it,” Ted recalled.

Although he didn’t see the car in person before buying it, Ted says its purchase was a no-brainer.

“We collect Duesenbergs and boattails, and wow ­— buying that didn’t take any thinking.”

Having been restored in Germany, the Duesenberg-powered Speedster required very little to join the Stahls’ collection.

“All we did was detail it,” Ted said of the Speedster upon acquiring it. “Ed Linn (of EDL Services), who used to be at Brian Joseph’s (Classic and Exotic Service), took the engine out and polished up all the things that were supposed to be polished. Now it’s just a sweet running car.”

Having owned the Duesenberg-powered Auburn Speedster for such a short time, Ted and Mary haven’t yet had a chance to experience the wind in their hair while driving it. Since returning to the United States, it’s been on the show circuit, having re-appeared at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club Reunion last fall, and at press time, it was scheduled to appear at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. When it’s not hitting car shows, the Speedster can be seen among the impressive musical machine and vehicle collection at the Stahls Motors and Music Experience (formerly the Stahls Automotive Foundation). However, Ted and Mary love to drive their cars, having been on many Great Race events, and Ted says they have plans to get the Speedster on the open road.

“Mary loves driving cars, especially if they are convertibles,” Ted says. “All of our cars are drivable, and it’s not going to be stowed away in some garage. This won’t be a trailer queen.”

Stahls Motors and Music Experience

The Stahls’ Automotive Foundation is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that exists in order to preserve, restore and exhibit specific vintage vehicles of the 20th century for educational purposes. The museum, based in Chesterfield, Mich., features continually changing exhibitions of historically significant cars from the Depression and Art Deco eras, along with mechanical music machines and automobile memorabilia. It also hosts many community events open to the public, including an annual fundraising event honoring and benefiting veterans.

Stahls Motors and Music Experience
www.stahlsauto.com
586-749-1078

Love classic ACD cars? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment

Related: Car of the Week: 1934 Auburn Salon Speedster

Related: Leno Rebuilds Duesenberg Model J LaGrande Coupe

Related: Car of the Week: 1934 Auburn 652Y sedan

SHOW US YOUR WHEELS!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine. CLICK HERE to subscribe.

Want a taste of Old Cars magazine first? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter and get a FREE complimentary digital issue download of our print magazine.

Old Cars Weekly