At a time when most car companies considered body design to be unimportant, E.L.

Cord’s Auburn Automobile Company was setting new standards.

With talented designers like Gordon Buehrig and Alan Leamy, the company was able to hold its own in an otherwise disastrous Depression-era market, proving once and for all that a great design sells cars.

Auburn’s role was to provide a mid-range car with innovative engineering and impressive styling at an affordable price, and by all measures the company succeeded.

With all new styling by Leamy for 1931, the new Auburns were a big hit and more than 4,000 orders were taken at the New York Auto Show alone.

Few changes were made for 1932, although the most important was the adoption of the Columbia two-speed rear axle as standard equipment on all models.

Auburns offered exceptional value and an article in Fortune Magazine proclaimed “the biggest package in the world for the price.” Shown at the famed Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2009, thi...