Few cars capture the glamor of the Art Deco era quite like Auburn’s Speedster. With its swept-back lines and iconic “boattail” rear, it stands as a triumph of in-house coachwork. For the third-generation models built from 1935 to 1936, breathtaking looks were only half the story. Under the hood, a Lycoming straight-eight paired with a Schweitzer-Cummins centrifugal supercharger pushed output to an impressive 150 horsepower.

To prove its pedigree, Auburn adorned the dashboard of every supercharged car with a plaque signed by speed-record legend Ab Jenkins, claiming that the vehicle had cleared 100 mph before ever leaving the factory—a fanciful piece of marketing, though one backed up by the model’s very real capability. With beauty that turned heads and supercharged performance that was the envy of enthusiasts, the Auburn Speedster was an unforgettable masterpiece of the period, one still celebrated today.

This Auburn Supercharged Speedster is one of about 150 authentic examples produced, and one of fewer still produced as a 1936 852 model. It was formerly owned by Massachusetts-based restorer Edward “Ted” Billings from 1957 to 1983, and the Auburn Cord Deusenberg Club lists Anthony “Tony” Pascucci of Meriden, Connecticut, as having owned it in the 1980s, likely having purchased the car following Ted’s passing. Mr. Pascucci is noted as having owned several Duesenbergs over the years. Eventually the car joined David Tunick’s collection in Connecticut. Tunick was one half of a pair of brothers who amassed many wonderful automobiles during the early years of the collecting hobby. At various points, the Tunick family owned such legendary motorcars as Bentley “Old Number One,” multiple eight-cylinder Mercedes, and this Auburn, which was a Classic Car Club of America prizewinner.

In June 2005 it was acquired from Tunick’s estate sale by James Foght of Illinois. Mr. Foght commissioned a comprehensive restoration by Jim Stranberg of High Mountain Classics in Denver, Colorado. He later showed the finished two-tone silver and maroon car at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a year in which Auburn was one of the featured marques. Apparently frustrated after not winning an award at Pebble Beach, Mr. Foght ordered a high-quality repaint in black, believed to be the car’s original color, while retaining the red leather interior. Under Mr. Foght’s ownership the car was inspected by the ACD Club for certification in April 2008.

In August 2008 the Auburn was acquired by a private collector based in the United Kingdom. Five months later, in January of 2009, the ACD certification was completed and delivered to the new owner, certifying the Auburn as a Category One Original Car. Documentation notes that it retained its original body, frame, engine, and even the original serial number tag on the firewall. Under UK ownership the Auburn won Best of Class Prewar Sports Cars at the 2009 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, impressively beating out an SS Cars Ltd. 90 Prototype as well as a pair of Alfa Romeos, a 6C and 8C.

In August 2014 the Auburn was acquired by a private collector in Texas. Shortly thereafter they commissioned Jeff’s Resurrections in Taylor, Texas, to repaint the Auburn, and it was stripped to bare metal and refinished in black. Following this, they had the ACD certification updated into their name in the summer of 2015. The collector showed it in February 2016 at the Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance in Florida, winning Best in Class. In April the car was shown in South Carolina at the Kiawah Island Motoring Retreat Concours d'Elegance, achieving Best of Show. Later in April, it was shown at The Pinehurst Concours d’Elegance in North Carolina, where it won Best in Class. Just over a month later the Auburn was shown at the San Marino Motor Classic in California where it won the Garage Style Magazine Award. Two weeks later it was shown at The Art of the Car Concours in Kansas City, where it won the People’s Choice and the Gatsby Award. Its impressive 2016 calendar concluded in August, when it was shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

It was subsequently acquired in 2017 by a private collector in Canada. He would go on to show the car at the 2018 Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance, earning a first place, and later achieving a Best in Class at the 2020 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

In 2020 the Auburn was acquired by The Groendyke Collection, joining some of the finest pre-war automobiles in the United States and completing the collection’s esteemed Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg trifecta. Today it remains ready for an ACD or CCCA tour or display on the concours show field.

Few automobiles capture the romance and thrilling performance of the pre-war era quite like the Auburn Speedster. Certified Category One by the ACD Club, this exceptional Auburn boasts an impressive global resume of concours display—and an equally impressive list of awards—making it the perfect addition to any world-class collection.