1934 Auburn 1250 Salon Speedster
Only nine Auburn Twelve Salon Speedsters are believed to have been built during the model’s 1933–1934 production run, with just a handful of known survivors.
Alan Leamy’s boattail body was fitted with Salon-exclusive details: chrome fender edges, the now-iconic “ribbon” bumpers, unique headlamps, a purpose-designed dashboard, and additional brightwork that differentiated the car from Auburn’s standard and Custom lines.
Power came from a 391.2 ci Lycoming V-12 rated at 160 hp (output that matched the much costlier Packard and Pierce-Arrow Twelves of the period). The engine’s unusual architecture featured a 45-degree bank angle, horizontal semi-overhead valves operated by a single camshaft, and a separate carburetor for each cylinder bank.
Drive went through a three-speed manual transmission with a Columbia electric two-speed rear axle (often referred to as overdrive), with four-wheel vacuum-assisted hydraulic drum brakes on a 127-inch wheelbase.
The Salon 1250 was Auburn’s top-of-the-line designation, introduced in 1933 to stimulate lagging V-12 sales. Auburn positioned the Twelve as the lowest-priced car in its class, a strategy that reportedly consumed over a million Depression-era dollars in development and was never recouped. Production of the V-12 in all body styles ended after 1934.
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