Rare automobile glides through city
Houston County Courier -  April 2009

By Daphne Hereford
Managing Editor
news@HoustonCountyCourier.com

Anyone in the area of the Courier office on Friday afternoon April 3 had the opportunity to see an extremely rare Second Generation 1935 Auburn Speedster.
The vehicle’s owner Ron Clay, formerly of Crockett and now of Arlington, parked the car near the Courier while he attended to some business on the square.
Clay’s second generation vehicle was built in 1984 by California Coach Company in California. Clay said at one time three companies built the second generation cars but of those only one remained in Florida.

He said a second generation car sells for about $110,000.
The original classic was developed by A.E. Cord, Cord Corporation at the height of the Great Depression, the speedster set the US speed record averaging over 100 mph for a 12-hour period at the Bonneville Salt Flats,
Gordon Buehrig, chief stylist of Duesenberg, Inc. estimated that approximately 600 of the luxury vehicles were built in the two years of their existence but Auburn historians put the number at 180.
The original speedster sold for $2,245.
Today one of the original classic vehicles could fetch $300,000 - $500,000.