Making its debut in 1931, the Alan Leamy-designed Boattail Speedster was by far the most sporting member of Auburn’s new product lineup. Its bold, subtly tapered radiator shell, high hood line, and diminutive, steeply raked V-windscreen atop a rounded cowl flowed perfectly through the cockpit into elegant compound curves to a sharply angled tail. With the Speedster, E.L. Cord gave Auburn a new calling card that, as intended, elevated the popularity of the entire Auburn line, driving traffic to showrooms across the US. The cars were lauded in the press with Business Week declaring that the new Auburns were more car for the money than the public had ever seen.

In response to their impressive speed and style, demand for Auburns grew exponentially, and the company posted robust sales through the early years of the Great Depression. Mr. Cord then outdid his own best efforts when, in 1932, he debuted the new Auburn V-12 with prices starting under $1,000. This is the same category of Auburn that broke every existing stock car speed record from 1 to 500 miles in 1932, becoming the champion Class B production car for that year. Among the impressive numbers it achieved at Muroc Dry Lake during these AAA Contest Board runs was a flying mile at 100.77 mph. The Speedster then continued breaking records by the dozen, including the grueling 500-mile record at an average of 88.95 mph. This was more than an impressive debut for the V-12’s performance and reliability, and many of these records would remain unbroken until after WWII.

According to an Auburn Cord Duesenberg (ACD) historian, this 12-160 Speedster spent many of its early years in California, with ownership as early as 1949 having been traced to C.A. Blue of Baldwin Park. By 1959, the Auburn had been converted from artillery-style wheels with an internal spare configuration to the more commonly seen wire wheels with twin side-mounted spares by its owner, Mel Durham of Long Beach. In short succession in 1970, the Speedster passed between ACD authority Randy Ema of Orange and Mark Shetler of North Tustin before settling the following year with James Brucker, proprietor of the MovieWorld – Cars of the Stars collection. In 1974, successful defense contractor Gifford Oborne of New Jersey acquired the Auburn. During this period, Mr. Oborne assembled a notable collection of American classics, concentrating on multicylinder examples, including Auburn and Cadillac, and a Duesenberg Model J Disappearing-Top Convertible Coupe. After Mr. Oborne’s passing, the Speedster was purchased by Stan Lucas in 1989.

Throughout its known ownership for 40 years prior to Stan Lucas, the Speedster had never been comprehensively restored. After procuring a quote for a restoration in 1992, it appears from the history file that the restoration did not begin until 1997, when Mr. Lucas began work on the rare Auburn with a rebuild of its dual-ratio rear axle. Invoices on file document the in-house restoration spanning the next decade, managed by Mr. Lucas’ top mechanic.

Hundreds of photographs on file document the significant effort that went into the mechanical and cosmetic restoration. Interestingly, upon disassembly, this Speedster’s Union City body number was found to be 101, suggesting that it is a very early – or perhaps the first – such body constructed for the model run.

Once complete, the V-12 Speedster was finished in striking Ivory with Carmine trim, and it made its post-restoration debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance® in 2007, earning a class award. Later in the year, the Auburn was submitted for ACD certification and, following its inspection, was granted certificate no. A-478. That same year, the Speedster was voted Best of Show at the ACD Club West Coast Meet.

A featured member of the Stan Lucas collection for over 35 years, this V-12 Auburn Speedster found particular favor, evidenced by the beautifully detailed, decade-long restoration it received. ACD collectors of all stripes know the difficulty involved in finding a V-12 Speedster with provenance back to the early days, and the ACD certification that this example earned is certainly an uncommon occurrence. Likely among the finest of its kind – and in light of the model’s newsworthy record-breaking performance – this Auburn represents a rare opportunity for the most enlightened collector.