The next 96th Street corridor car-themed sculpture is set to be installed June 27 to 29, weather permitting. This sculpture is one of the series designed by artist Arlon Bayliss.
The contributions these three car companies made to car design is impossible to overstate. Managed together in their most fruitful years under the creative leadership of E.L. Cord, Auburn and Duesenberg produced their best cars. Cord encouraged the two makers to improve further on their strengths and in 1929 started a third, highly innovative car company, “Cord.”
Auburn
The art deco influenced 851 Boattail Speedster was the first stock American car guaranteed to exceed 100 miles per hour in stock form. Its performance was astonishing, but the car is remembered today for its styling; clearly, one of the most beautiful and unforgettable designs of the 1930s.
Cord
Basking in American prosperity of the late 1920s, entrepreneur, E. L. Cord launched an exciting and innovative high-performance luxury car bearing his name. The Cord 810 caused a sensation at the New York Auto Show in November 1935. Among other advances, Cord pioneered front wheel drive, concealed headlights and the steering mounted horn.
Duesenberg
Quite possibly the most valuable American production cars in history, these powerful prestigious cars were owned by the rich and famous, like Hollywood stars Gary Cooper and Clark Gable. The Duesenberg SSJ was the fastest pre-World War II production road car by a considerable margin and would outrun an Aston Martin DB5 or Mercedes Gullwing produced two decades later. One previously owned by Cooper recently sold for $22 million at public auction.
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For the sculpture, Bayliss discovered that one designer, Gordon Beuhrig, was responsible for developing the most well-known cars for all three companies. Such were his ground-breaking ideas, innovations, and beautiful designs that he later became known as “the dean of classic automobile design.” His Duesenberg Model J, Cord 810 and Auburn Boattail Speedster revolutionized automotive design; the Cord was selected by The Museum of Modern Art as one of the most influential car designs of all time.
Inspired by Beuhrig’s drawings, the sculpture features silhouettes of famous Auburn, Cord, and Duesenbergs arranged on three curved stems and tapering like feathers they ascend towards a star-shaped “star-of achievement.” From the “boat tail” inspired star, mounted on slim stems, burst gears, pistons and wheels, symbols of the companies’ engineering innovations. At night, the 32-foot-high sculpture is illuminated by LED spotlights. Its crown and symbols feature multi-colored sparkling dichroic lighting, similar to the artist’s first commission for Carmel, “Beacon Bloom.”
The next two sculptures to be installed will feature artistic interpretations of the Stutz, to be placed at 96th Street and Gray Road, and the Studebaker, to be placed at 96th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway.