Back-to-back Auburn Speedster or Isotta Fraschini Roadster?

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When your arms are strong and your pockets are deep, you may well fall for the charms of a big 1930s American roadster or tourer. Worldwide Auctioneers is your partner as they will have lots of them for sale on 3-4 September in Auburn, Indiana. Think Packard Twelves, Lincoln Dual Cowl Phaetons, Cadillac V12s and V16s, Cord Phaetons and Duesenberg Model Js.

1932 Auburn 8-100A Boattail Speedster

This 1932 Auburn 8-100A definitely ticks all the boxes, with its ultra-flamboyant boattail speedster design, white walls over black wire wheels, big inline-eight engine, brightwork wherever the eye falls and striking colours of black over turquoise — The Great Gatsby indeed! This car is said to be highly original but had been fully restored before being locked away in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, Indiana about 20 years ago. Remarkably, there’s not a word about its early history in the seller’s blurb and we can only assume that it’s a bit of a mystery.

1929 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Roadster

Just as remarkable, perhaps, is that the same goes for its opponent in this little comparison: a stunning 1929 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Roadster that hails from Europe. Also a two-seater, it's a good match for the Auburn, with its inline-eight and three-speed gearbox, and is at least as outrageous. Its roadster body is painted in a lovely blue, while the chassis comes in a more purplish hue. And the blue leather interior is piped in a pink sunbeam design. How daring! With these colours you’d expect the original owner to be a film star or wealthy socialite in the vein of Rudolph Valentino (who actually was a Tipo 8A owner), but Worldwide Auctioneers leaves us guessing. They write: “While the early history of this car was not found to be recorded, the trail picks up when Dr. William Donze of Strongsville, Ohio acquired chassis 1462 in the mid-1960s.”

The car needed restoration at the time and the first thing that Dr. Donze did was to get rid of its roadster body. Donze sold the car in 1979 to an Italo-American tenor and actor who had three more Isotta-Fraschinis. The car’s story gets interesting after that and includes anything from destruction by fire to travels to Italy to find the right men to restore it to the manicured lawns of Pebble Beach. Still, we wonder who bought it first.

Words by Jeroen Booij. Pictures courtesy of Worldwide Auctioneers.

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