1936 Auburn 852 Phaeton

Seen out on the street with more pedestrian automobiles around for scale, this classic Auburn is quite a sight.

This Cadet Gray and Rich Maroon 1936 852 Phaeton was from the final full year of production for Auburn (and its Cord and Duesenberg stablemates). With the Great Depression crippling the market for ultrapremium luxury cars, they ceased production in mid-1937.

The 852 came in normally-aspirated and supercharged versions. This is one of the former, and it's powered by an iron block 280 cubic inch flathead Lycoming straight-8 with a 2-barrel carburetor and aluminum alloy cylinder head, rated at 115 SAE gross horsepower. Power is fed through a three-speed manual transmission to a dual ratio rear end. The driver can select between final drive ratios via a lever on the steering wheel hub.

I'm fortunate to have a classic car broker in the neighborhood, so you never know what might come tooling out of the mist on a foggy January morning, like this one in 2023.

It was snapped with a Nikon D800 and my trusty 24-120mm f/4G VR zoom lens.