There is a lot to see and do in Auburn, Ind., and it may be just the place for a holiday getaway. For collectors looking for a place to spend a day or two during the holidays, this may be your answer. There is the Auburn Cord Duisenberg Museum, the National Military Center, the Early Ford V-8 Foundation and Museum as well as the National Auto and Truck Museum. This museum is located close to the Duisenberg Museum and is part of the former factory buildings of the Auburn Automobile Co. The structures were named by the secretary of the Interior as National Historic Landmarks in 2005. Curator Dave Yarde explained, “Our 1923 service building served as the center for testing and serving the company’s care and for distribution of automotive parts to dealers throughout the world. Our 1928-29 Experimental Building, or the L-29 Experimental Building, was the final assembly plant for the revolutionary L-29 Cord. “In the lower level, designers Alan Leamy and Gordon Buehrig set up satellite offices to supervise the craftsmen who turned their designs into automotive works of art.” The National Auto and Truck museum is expansive and includes a carriage and buggy museum, as well. The Eckhart Carriage Co. incorporated in 1885 and made carriages, buggies and wagons from 1874 until 1918. ECC later started adding the gas engine to its buggies and in 1902 the Auburn Automobile Co. was born. Inside the museum collectors will see everything from a cool collection of Tokheim gasoline pumps to a huge array of cars and trucks. In the main entrance is the gift shop and library archives on car and truck companies, and a big toy section. In this section is also one of the largest scale-model car, truck, equipment and memorabilia collections around, as well as home to a large collection of Auburn Rubber Co. toys and models. There are also more than 4,000 die-cast models on display in lighted cases; models range from 1:8 to 1:72 scale. There are several different types of trucks inside, from Mack to White, and a huge display of International trucks. The IH gallery is located in the former experimental area, and there is a warning posted: “You are entering what was the experimental area for the Auburn Automobile Co. from 1928 until the company closed in 1937. In this room, designers worked with craftsmen in total secrecy to bring to life some of the most iconic automotive designs ever produced by the company … Companies had spies located in the community to try and discover what secret automobiles were being designed.” Among the IH collection there are a few one-of-a-kind items, like the BF Goodrich Off-Road World Championship Scout. Another IH race story is Wild Thing, a converted International 9200. This truck had a top speed of 110 miles per hour. Wild Thing was raced in the Baja 1994 1,000-km off-road in the Peninsula of Mexico. There is also the Endeavor III, the International Model 8300 that reached a world speed record of 226.471 mph. There is also a neat 1927 Klauer SnoGo rotary snow-thrower. These are just a few of the items you can see at the National Auto and Truck Museum. It is open Monday-Sunday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, visit http://natmus.org/visit-us or check out the DeKalb County Visitors Bureau site at http://dekalbcvb.org/things-to-do/category/historical-sights Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com |
