Auburn V12, Americas cheapest V12

Today on what it’s like ended episode Wednesday I mean Friday, we take a closer look at a very unusual V12 engine that was only made for a very small window and time. Auburn would produce this engine from 1932 through 1934 it could be had in six different body styles over two different trim levels, with the most popular style being the speedster
Enjoy this episode be sure to stick around for. Would you rather and name that tune we will be back at eight tonight for our regular installment
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[@georgemorfesi8022]

Killer Queen, Queen?

[@What.its.like.]

Yeah buddy congratulations you got it

[@BlaiseMiller-bk7dk]

I like it how all the animations keep getting better and better. Keep up the good work!

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you it means a lot =)

[@JamesAllmond]

That head design basically made the V12 run on anything from 75 Octane up, without premature detonation. Pretty ingenious. Dang depression... 32 2 door 33 32 V12 Convertible 160A I like that grille

[@What.its.like.]

Great choices when I saw pictures of the engine it looked very alien almost as alien as a Cadillac V16 second generation

[@scottymoondogjakubin4766]

If you havnt already you should visit the Auburn Duesenburg Cord museum ! I go there and the auto auction and swap meet at the fairgrounds every labor day weekend ! My fav tho is the 1937 supercharged Cord 812 ! Great video by the way ! 👍

[@What.its.like.]

I need to go/ really want to go Going to try and go to their shindig on Aug Glad you dig this video

[@VintageCarHistory]

I always have loved me some Auburns.

[@What.its.like.]

I want to cover one at least one this year Horch is another car when I saw that car I was thinking, Hispano Suiza

[@VintageCarHistory]

@@What.its.like. Horch's and Hispano Suiza's are hard to find in the US. But I have seen them come up for sale on Ebay before.

[@michaelporter9354]

I'll happy with any of them.

[@edminas3159]

Jay by far this was the most interesting video of yours to date, to me. But honestly I have liked them all. I prefer cars 1940 and earlier. Thank you. 2 door Brougham, 1933 speedster, again the 2 door Brougham.

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you so much happy you dig this episode =) I really tried to cover stuff that nobody else covers. I just wish that there was more information on this engine out there.

[@timothysotelo3868]

Thank you for doing Auburn and Tbirds the same day. My great grand parents sold Eckert carriages in SE Iowa then later sold Auburn cars. They did not sell many of the speedsters. They focused on the Sedans and competed with Buick and Cadillac. They had a branch dealership near Keota Iowa that catered to one prosperous family I would buy an Auburn today if I could find a barn find sedan

[@What.its.like.]

I needed to put up an engine episode on Wednesday but I got preoccupied with other stuff going on my life so I didn’t get a chance to do that. I didn’t get a chance to do it Thursday, so I definitely had to do something today lol. Funny enough this wasn’t supposed to be the episode it was going to be the Ford FT engine family. Unfortunately some of those engines are really hard to find information on like the 330 there’s so much conflicting information on that particular engine I shelved that project, then I started it on the Ford super duty engine, which was found in the medium/heavy duty trucks more towards the heavy duty side. Then I read an article on this and I was like I think this engine would appeal to my audience a whole lot better definitely going to hit the super duty one day, but this was really intriguing to me and I didn’t wanna forget. It also learned about the American LaFrance and horch v12s It’s never too late you’ll be amazed what you can find on Facebook marketplace 1957 Studebaker Goldenhawk came up for sale in my area for about seven grand. It needs everything but you never know keep looking man you’ll find that Auburn.

[@captaccordion]

Thanks Jay - I wasn't familiar with that one. The only Auburn I've ever seen in the flesh was a lesser model with a plain old flathead six. That's a very odd combustion chamber design for sure, and as you noted, 160hp is very good for 1932. And also as you noted, no-one really needs a motor that heavy unless it's in a truck or fire engine!

[@What.its.like.]

Hahaha yeah Happy to dig this episode. I like to cover stuff that doesn’t really get talked about there. Isn’t that much information about this engine out there..

[@mpetersen6]

Very optimistic given the time frame. If the tooling still existed circa 1940 it could have seen use in military vehicles.

[@winstonelston5743]

With the remarks about the weight distribution, I would probably go for one of the eights. The Packard Speedster, or a quarter-century later the Studebaker President Speedster.

[@61rampy65]

Weird, but interesting valve/head layout. Those 'cam followers' were used by Duesenberg race cars in the 20's and were called walking beams. Since E.L.Cord owned Duesenberg, Auburn and Cord, in addition to Lycoming, it makes sense that they have some similarities. I was also wondering about the "Dual Ratio" in the Auburn ads, but I think it just means overdrive. I learned quite a bit today, thank you Jay!

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you so much for adding all of that insight and information. I’m glad you got something out of this video. =) The dual ratio was a two speed rear end it’s a loss technology.. I don’t understand why more automotive companies don’t utilize it now because you could have 373s and 290s or whatever gear ratio would cut engine speed down even more and give you better gas mileage or you could do the opposite and get more acceleration out of it I really want to build a Grand Prix race car on a budget of course but I haven’t had time or money. Frankly, I wanted it to be a six cylinder car with a four speed or five speed gearbox but I want to feed it into a two speed rear end for the same reason That Auburn did it you make the car way faster and have a higher top speed

[@bparksiii6171]

Interesting one very powerful for the time engine, in cross country runs got 15 to 18 mpg and could be optioned with a 2 speed rear axle operated by clutch and vacuum. According to the Auburn book, the 12 costed Lycoming 4 million for development and 6 million for machines and tooling. The tire wear issue reminds me of the first front drive Eldorados and Toronados if the tires was not rotated regularly they would wear front tires out rapid. 1st pick, any of the three, 2nd 33-34 speedsters.

[@What.its.like.]

Awesome thank you so much for sharing that insight and information 1 million seemed light it’s a pity these didn’t have a longer production run but with a weight of 1100 lbs that’s heavy beast

[@middleclassretiree]

Beautiful cars and could you just imagine being able to walk in to a dealer and buy such a beautiful car today for $28,000 . For the would you rather I’ll take the 34 convertible and then the 34 speedster

[@What.its.like.]

Great choices $22,000 grand

[@charlesdalton985]

WYR: 1934 Auburn, 1933 Speedster, from there - nearly all of them. They were rolling works of art. Great work as always, thank you. Chuck

[@What.its.like.]

Totally agree I want to cover one this year so bad among other cars that never get talked about =) Great choices

[@claiborneeastjr4129]

45* is a very narrow engine especially for a V-12. They are usually 60*. Some very talented automotive engineers in 1932!

[@peterlucas2998]

Good stuff. I enjoyed it a lot, looking at your diagram it reminds me of the Duesenberg walking beam engine. The huge difference being the camshaft is above the crank and the walking beams, valve actuators, are very short when compared to the Duesenberg engine. You say the engine was remarkable reliable. Could this be because of what looks like a pre-combustion chamber. The area between the spark plug and valves is much smaller than the area between the top of the piston and the bottom of the head. If it is a pre-combustion chamber then the guys who designed this engine were really way ahead of their time.

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you so much for sharing all that information and insight One day I would love to cover the Duesenberg walking beam engine will St. Clair overhead valve/overhead cam is also on the list to do I need to find more information about that one

[@johnjackson3800]

The 1936 Auburn Speedster.

[@What.its.like.]

Sweet choice =)

[@JefferyHall-ct2tr]

Hi Jay! Auburns! LIKE them! Too bad, it was that the handling of the speedsters was so bad. Would be interesting to see if the other body styles suffered as well. I can see why the engines were adapted for fire engines, would be super for those! Plus, I'm sure it helped Lycoming recoup some of the development costs! WYR#1 Those are ALL nice! I will go with the Conv. Sedan. #2 I kind of like the 1932 a LITTLE better. My favorite Auburns are some of the 851-852 series. They had some really interesting closed body styles. They had a neat two door sedan and probably my favorite would be the little 5 window coupe. The reason I like those, is that all you ever see in photos are the open cars, the speedster and the phaetons, and the Conv. Sedans. You almost never see the closed cars, and I like them just because they are different!

[@What.its.like.]

Great choices I love auburns I really want to cover one this year. I saw one at the Greenfield Village and I didn’t have the guts to ask if I could do that car there gets to be like a certain caliber of car that is kind of unapproachable and that’s kind of where auburn is on the automotive spectrum. And looking back they probably would’ve let me do it. It’s just it’s intimidating I guess.

[@chuckkottke]

1934 convertible sedan Auburn because it just looks the best!🎉. Odd that they hadn't figured out balance and handling issues, but the price of being a smaller car company might be testing and experience. Did they have a test track? 🐎

[@What.its.like.]

I’m not sure if they had a test track the 34 with the wood lites though looks awesome.. I really want a packard with wood lites something about those

[@GeelongVic7140]

V12 45* angle is agreeably unusual, atypical for a V12, but makes sense considering that the initial design by Auburn engineer George Kubin was for a stillborn classic angle 45* V16. This exceptionally narrow angle V12 thus makes use of the design work and tooling for an aborted V16 design, hence it is essentially a shortened V16 design resurrected as a 45* angle V12. The horizontal positioning of the valves with an easily removable cover incorporating the spark plug, and its narrow combusion chamber (known as the "fire slot") allowed for easy servicing of the valve seats, a common service requirement due to the lower quality fuels of the time, something that we never think of with modern fuels and modern engines. The Lycoming Engine plant still exists as a functioning industrial plant in Williamsport, Pennsylvania which has an architecturally interesting "Millionaires Row" of existing houses in the interesting small downtown area. As a sidenote, after being discontinued by Auburn in 1934, this Lycoming BB V12 engine found a new life after its Auburn life when the tooling and production rights were bought by American LaFrance of Elmira, New York, with an enlarged displacement version of this engine being used to power LaFrance fire trucks/fire engines through to the 1950's. So this V12 is a cool design that lived on after E. L. Cord's Auburn Cord Duesenberg Corporation passed out of existence with the recession of 1937-1938. As an automotive side note, the only real production classic era (1920's-1930's) V16's were the two series of Cadillac V16's and the short lived Marmon V16. Both the Peerless V16 and the Auburn V16 never made it to serial production for retail sale.

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share all of this information and insight greatly appreciate it =)

[@geebs76]

I think this is a cool engine design even if it is not the most efficient design. I'd choose the 1933 Auburn V12 Sedan Brougham and the 1933 Auburn Speedster although I don't see a big difference between it and the 1934. I chose the 1933 for the red on saddle colors. My favorite Auburn is the 351 SC Speedster. I fell in love with them when I saw the yellow 351 on the turntable at the Auburn Cord Duesenburg Museum years ago. But the 12-160 Speedster is a close second.

[@What.its.like.]

Great choices I really wanted the engine episode to be the Ford FT engine family and then I wrote another script for the Ford super duty family, but I keep hitting roadblocks with both of those families .. which is kind of the reason why I left the FT out of the FE engine episode because I couldn’t find any information on the 330.. and so much conflicting information is out there. I thought I could tackle it now, but I was wrong. lol This was a really cool design. I wish there was more information about it.

[@johnstauffer9175]

851-852 Auburn Speedster my preference

[@What.its.like.]

Sweet choices

[@scootergeorge7089]

Contrary to the advertising claims made by Auburn, the Duesenberg straight 8 was more powerful.

[@What.its.like.]

Oh yeah no doubt that was the most powerful engine made in the 30s in the USA it would take until the 1950s for the US to make a vehicle that produced more horsepower.. I think the first car to do it was the 55 Chrysler 300 Duesenberg had a 400 hp monster, but they only made two of them mercury marauder match that horsepower 1958, but it took 20 years

[@johnjackson3800]

1934 Auburn V12 convertible sedan.

[@What.its.like.]

Awesome choice.. =)

[@draggonsgate]

it just befuddles me how these monster engines had such little power... but the tech was still evolving I guess. Were there any guesstimates on mileage, or didn't it matter back then? WYR: 1) '33 Brougham 2) '33 Speedster 3) rather wait til '37 and go into a Cord 🙂

[@What.its.like.]

Sweet choices I think low compression and single carb on both sides as well as modified intake design I think you could get more power out of it But it wasn’t about power then it was about smoothness

[@srercrcr]

No close-ups, interior detail? 😞

[@What.its.like.]

I wish there was more diagrams on this engine..

[@marshallcollins3376]

Awe-burn not All-burn

[@What.its.like.]

.

[@keithstudly6071]

This engine's head and valve design appears very much like the Cord V8.

[@What.its.like.]

Awesome information definitely an engine that would love to cover on here one day =)

[@pete1342]

It is also very similar to the Minneapolis Moline model Z and R tractor engines.

[@keithstudly6071]

@@pete1342 Yes, the MM engines seemed to owe their inspiration to the early Dusenberg engines of pre WW1 design. I don't know if it is a fact that Fred Dusenberg had a hand in the design of the Auburn and Cord engines but it would not surprise me if he did. Dusenberg was working for E. L. Cord in the late 1920's. The Cord V8 had the valves in the block like a flat head but inclined valves close to horizontal and operated by a cam in the valley. The V12 had the valves in the head but with a similar cam arrangement and they both produced a combustion chamber shape that was roughly the same though the Cord engine produced a slightly more compact chamber.