KENDALLVILLE – For one day, there were only Duesenbergs.
The eyes of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club trained on that luxury marque Friday at what was billed as the largest-ever gathering of the iconic cars of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Ab Jenkins Memorial Duesenberg Exhibition of Speed and Stinson Fly-In began early Friday in Auburn, when many of the cars – some of them literally museum pieces – lined up in front of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum. Nearly 50 wound their way from Auburn to Kendallville, where some drivers opened throttle on that city’s airport runway.
A final count of the number of cars and visitors to the event was not available late Friday. Together with Duesenbergs at the local auctions and museums, about 70 were in the area, the club has said.
The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club worked hard to get clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to close the runway most of Friday, in part by including an aviation tie-in. E.L. Cord’s Cord Corp., which held the Auburn Automobile Co. during its heyday, also owned Stinson Aircraft Corp.
But only a 1947 Stinson and a 1948 Luscombe flew in Friday, as the wind held back most of the small vintage aircraft. The wind didn’t hold back the Duesenbergs, but some owners did, concerned about the age or value of their cars.
Konnie Kuiper of Highland peered under the hood of his 1935 Duesenberg as an adviser cautioned him not to rev the car beyond 3,000 rpm.
“I haven’t driven it for four years,” Kuiper said. “You always worry.”
Bill Johnston of Kalamazoo, Mich., had no such qualms. The 1930 Duesenberg Model J convertible Victoria he owns with business partner Ron Elenbaas has won awards at major shows and split its early life between Paris and Chicago.
Sitting still on the runway Friday, the car, customized by coach maker Hibbard and Darrin, was the picture of elegance, down to the tiny crystal perfume bottle nestled in a nook beside the backseat ashtray. But the Duesenberg was engineered to perform flawlessly at highway speed, Johnston said.
“We drive this car all the time,” he said.
Duesenberg production tapered off as the country geared up for World War II, and Friday’s exhibit included a display of the technology that shifted away America’s focus – the B-25 Mitchell bomber.
The bomber was made famous by Gen. James H. Doolittle, who led the first raid on Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Of course, this was not one of Doolittle’s planes – all those were lost in the 1942 raid. But this one, manufactured and delivered in December 1943, flew missions the following spring in Corsica, said Gerald Lester, a Yankee Air Museum volunteer. The non-profit, based in Belleville, Mich., maintains that plane and several other historic airplanes.
Standing between rows of Duesenbergs and the B-25 was John Crane of California – Doolittle’s great-grandson. Crane attended the event Friday with friends without knowing a B-25 would be there until he saw it flying overhead.
Crane gestured first toward the cars, then the shining aluminum plane, marveling at the care that has gone into their restoration and upkeep.
“They’ve become icons in our history,” he said.
