1936 Auburn Cybele Special

[Peter Lombardo]

1936 Auburn Cybele Special

If any of you guys have seen my posts before, you know I am very long winded. This is no exception… but please read as much of this as you can. It all works as part of the build. This is more than just a model car. This is a concept…a creation and a tribute. I honestly think this art. This is a performance piece.

In 1925 Errett Lobban Cord took control of the Auburn Automobile Company in a leveraged buyout maneuver. Soon there after Cord partnered with the Duesenberg Corporation which was famous for producing racing cars and the rest they say is “historyâ€. But there is a little untold saga that culminated in the production a “one of a kind†special automobile…. Until now, this story has not been shared with the public…but now, here is that story and here is that spectacular automobile.

During the early thirties, Errett Cord was struggling with his wild, rebellious and stunningly tall and beautiful daughter named Cybele (pronounced Sib-ill) Divina Augusta Cord who was in her early twenties. She had quite the reputation as a “play girl†and in fact, Cybele was a fixture in the high society gatherings through out Newport, Rhode Island, and Long Island’s “Hampton’sâ€.

It was well known, in those circles, that Cybele had very little love for rural Auburn Indiana. Cybele was often heard remarking that “My flower will die if it is planted in Indianaâ€. All could see that she wanted nothing to do with the Midwest and her fathers “boring†automobile company. Even though many around her were suffering the effects of the great depression, Cybele showed little concern for the terrible state of the economy in the early 30’s. Despite her fathers numerous futile attempts to rein her in and control her wild spending and all night partying, Cybele only grew more rebellious. There was hardly a tabloid that did not contain wild and sordid accounts of private all night drunken parties and debauchery. In fact, the only things in this world, other than partying, that Cybele showed any love for were her 3 stately and blindingly fast Greyhounds and her Auburn Boattail Speedster.

In one last ditch effort to control Cybele’s wild ways, Errett offered her his two famous auto designers, Alan Leamy and Gordon Buehrig to design a spectacular “one of a kind†speedster for her, if she would settle down and stop embarrassing him and the family. Reluctantly, Cybele agreed to the offer, but that was a roux as it was later learned that she had already decided to settle down with Jean Armando Lebrun, the affluent son of Albert Lebrun, President of France, who had captured her heart. The two met months earlier at “The Elms†mansion, the summer home of Mr. and Mrs. Berwind of Philadelphia in Newport.

In the next few weeks, the designers came to her with many ideas and concepts. Cybele settled on one that was unbelievably long, voluptuous and beautiful. The “Cybele†as it would come to be known, was remarkably long, at just slightly under 18 feet in length with an exaggerated hood to house the one of a kind powerful V16 engine. The dramatically large curvaceous fenders concealing huge 30 inch tires with massive disk wheels painted to accent the body colors. The smooth body sat so low to the ground that the rear wheel skirts were just inches off the ground. Cybele loved to fly around the estates in Newport in her one off “specialâ€, her long and full head of gorgeous brunette hair flowing behind her with her 3 beloved Greyhounds running alongside her. Just about everything in this beautiful roadster was custom made for this one and only car. The designers began with a stretched out Auburn Speedster frame and fabricated a hand formed aluminum body, panel by panel. The only parts, beside the stretched out Auburn Speedster frame, to come from production vehicles were the grill housing, headlights and doors. Everything else was custom built for this “one of a kind†roadster. Today, the whereabouts of this “one of a kind†roadster is unknown. Some think it was taken to France after Cybele and Jean Armando were married in The Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, France in a fairy tale wedding. Many think that it was later sold into a private collection when the marriage ended in a bitter divorce. Some think it was taken back to America to be driven by Cybele’s father. No one is sure.

But either way, no one in this century has seen this car in public until I am presenting it to you here and now. So without further delay, here is the 1936 Auburn Cybele Special with Cybele driving and her three Greyhounds running alongside.

[Peter Lombardo]

Fabrication of this car began with the Lindberg 1935 Auburn Boattail Speedster kit. I stretched the chassis about 3 scale feet just behind the front wheel wells. The main body area was moved back on the chassis to give it the long hood that I wanted. Obviously, the fender “pods†were increased in size with the front fenders being extended all the way back to the beginning of the rear fenders.

The rear of the body and the front flowing fenders were filled in with a “ton†of Bondo and the rear deck and rear fender teardrop design was sculpted by hand. I was very careful to create a raised edge along the top surface of the fenders running from under the front grill to the trailing tip of the rear fender pod. This was a key element of the design incorporating a muted edge along the large round voluptuous fenders.

The taillights were cut into the fender topsides both inside and outside of the fender edge with a round dremel tool cutting bit. A new hood was fabricated from sheet styrene and two sets of HO scale staircases were inserted to form the louvers on the sides. The doors were cut open and hinged with “Piano†style hinges, although because the car is displayed as if in motion, they really did not need to open, but I could not help myself…I see a door and I want it to open or was it “I see a red door and I want it painted black.â€

Oh well, anyway, the headlight pods were molded into the front fenders, then I used HO MU jewel lens for the light itself and the “stock†Auburn grill surround was used. I opened up the grill front and filled it with a wire mesh Bentley style grill.

The one of a kind V16 motor was created from two Plymouth 440 V8 blocks Siamesed together. The “new†engine has six 2 barrel carburetors and one large air cleaner box. As a side note, here is a neat little tip for making the filament for an air cleaner…maybe you’ve seen this, maybe not. I cut an extra long length of strong paper the height of the opening on the air cleaner, then I ran it through a couple of gears. I used the gear box from a Tamiya motor kit used to motorize various projects. The paper, as you can see from the photo comes out perfect for the air cleaner filament. I just glued it in the air cleaner and set the top on it.

The tires came from one of the AMT “Rides Magazine†Edition kits, I think it was the reissue of the 1949 Mercury, but I am not completely sure. The wheels were made from a couple of buttons that I picked up in Wal-Mart. The large disk was adjusted to fit the tire opening and then painted to match the main body color. The smaller button, inner cap was painted to contrast with the trim color and a small center cap to create the hub was then installed, and the whole thing is held together with epoxy…I like how they work here, very “period†correct, I think.

The seats are narrowed Chrysler 300 rear seat units and the steering wheel was lifted from a Revell Cuda kit. The side moldings were made from strip styrene softened with glue and applied to the body, after painting they were bare metal foiled, as were the taillight cavities, which were later filled with a mixture of 5 minute epoxy and clear red paint to create custom taillight lenses.

The windshield was stolen from the AMT 32 Ford Phantom Roadster kit and the door handles were liffed from the 1941 Revell Chevy pickup truckThe “trimâ€, or top color is plasti-kote GM 7202 (Cream White) and the main body color is Mopar Chili Pepper red pearl coat, after sanding, they were covered with gloss clear coat and rubbed out with wax.

But that was the easy part….the hard part was creating the Cybele figure and the three Greyhounds. The Cybele figure started out as, I think, as “Fast Women†figure. I don’t recall where I got her from, but she was sitting with her arms resting on her knees crossed in front of her. I cut her apart at most joints, drilled holes and super glued wire between the joints so they could be moved where I wanted them and then used putty to fill in the joint and reposed her as sitting in a car driving.

Because the figure was wearing some style of Hot Pants, I needed to create a dress out of masking tape. I mixed up a blue to match the shoes and top for the dress and matched up a flesh tone for the limbs that I rebuilt. All easy enough, but then came the challenge, Cybele’s hair.

Cybele had wild full hair that was to be flowing behind her as if the car was moving. I mixed up a small batch of Tamiya Epoxy Putty, quick type. This comes in two “sticks†kind of like chewing gum sticks. One white and one golden yellow. You cut equal size pieces of each and mix them together to form a small ball of light tan colored putty. This stuff likes to stick to your fingers so if you use this stuff, have a small bowl of water handy to help keep your fingers wet so the putty will stick to you less. By working small bits of the putty between my fingers, I was able to roll out small thin strands of putty for the hair. I carefully pulled and stretched small strands and with the aid of a knife, stuck them to her head. I continued to build up her hair until I had the look I was trying to achieve. I painted her hair with a red brown mix and then threw on a few light colored highlights to help with the contrast. She was then epoxyed into the drivers seat and the steering wheel was attached.

Now for the Greyhounds (My favorite part of the build)

Please allow me to give you a small history of the Greyhounds in this build. About three and a half years ago my daughter and son-in-law, rescued a greyhound.

Greyhounds are raced in a number of states here in America. The way these majestically beautiful and gentle animals are treated is a huge national disgrace. Kept in small cages, feed slop, they are only kept around if they win. Once a dog stops winning, they are literally taken out back and disposed of. The dog owners and the tracks are ruthless and in it for the money only. Fortunately, there are a number of organizations around the country that rescue these wonderful dogs and keep them in foster homes until a permanent home can be found.

Locally, they schedule periodic “Meet and greet†picnics where people can see the dogs and perhaps adopt one. I have NEVER met a person who has adopted a Greyhound and not been totally thrilled with the experience. They are kind, gentle, loving and great with children.

My daughter and son-in-law went to a “meet and greet†with the express intention of getting a young (under 4 years old) dog, but at the event, my son-in-law saw Jay. Jay was an old timer. He was an 11 year old brindle (brown, black and tan spot mix) with a light grey face. He was very thin, scared, shaky and looking very dejected. Jay was a champion racer until the age of 5 (old for a Greyhound to still be winning) when he was retired and rescued. He spent the next 5 ½ years with a man who, unfortunately became terminally ill, so Jay was returned to the adoption group who placed him in a foster home where he spent the next few months. But he was not very happy there and didn’t eat very well. Immediately, my son-in-law felt bad for Jay and thought, even if he did not have long to live, at least they could make his last few years happy ones. Jay was adopted and came home with my Daughter and Son-in-law. Jay quickly settled in to the new house and was very happy.

When my daughter and son-in-law would go away for a weekend, Jay would come and visit with us. I would take Jay, along with our dog, Molly on long walks in the woods where the two were taken off their leashes. The two of them would run around, chase each other and sometimes the local deer that would come through that wooded area by our house. You could see that he was enjoying himself so much. Sadly, last year, Jay was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor (not too uncommon for a Greyhound) and earlier this year Jay left us but not before fulfilling my son-in-laws wish of making Jays last few years happy ones.

As a small tribute to Jay, I modeled him as one of the three Greyhounds with the Cybele Special. Jay is the male Brindle closest to the car, the next one out is a female Fawn colored adult and the outside Greyhound is a young male white with dark brown spots. I did a fair amount of research on Greyhounds as I really only knew Jay, a red brindle and have seen many others, but I wanted to understand the normal colors of these dogs.

To create these dogs, I drew out the basic body shape (without the legs and tail) to scale, then cut out the shape on a piece of sheet styrene which would form the “backbone†if you will. I then mixed up a batch of the Tamiya Epoxy Putty, as mentioned before. I applied this to both sides of the styrene to form the body and the head of each dog. Once dry, I drilled holes to insert wire which would form the leg and tail bones. The wire was super glued into the holes, then bent to the shape I wanted for the limbs and tails. I then mixed up a new batch of the putty and formed the limbs and tail.

Once this was all dry, I used various bits and my dremel tool to carve the muscles and overall shape. The ears were cut from masking tap, glued on and then shaped the way I wanted them. Once I was happy with the shapes, I painted each dog to represent the color of the type of Greyhound I was looking for. Jay, the inside dog and the fawn colored female have extended wire from one of their legs. These wires are inserted into two receptacles attached under the running boards on the drivers side so that the dogs can be attached to the car. The outside dog is epoxyed to the fawn middle dog. My desire was to create the look of the three dogs, off the ground, running alongside the car with the driver, Cybele’s hair blowing in the breeze. Obviously I am thrilled with the result. I was able to bring life to my vision. Not only is this a car I wanted to build, I got to create an ever lasting tribute to Jay, a very special dog that my daughter and son-in-law miss very much.

[HotRodaSaurus]

Looks like a Figoni & Filaschi Delahaye driven by some mysterious heiress in a 1930s Batman comic. I love it Just a shame it's not possible to fabricate some speed lines into the diorama somehow!

A superb improvement on a kit I would not consider building staright out of the box.

Wow.

John

[RadRidesByDan]

Nic build.....resembles the style of car out of the movie League of Extraordinary Men with Sean Connery

[Raul_Perez]

Very cool!!

I like the dogs running along beside the car!! Nice touch!!

Thanks for sharing,

[chebbysteve]

Great story, classy looking car, great design idea with the girl, the car and the dogs! A lot of motion to this mini-dio! And cleverly done too! Thanks for showing us...

Edited November 10, 2008 by chebbysteve

[Bernard Kron]

A Tour de Force M. Lombardo! I can't help but think that the ghosts of the Bugattis, freres et fils, are looking down on your work with approval - Ettore for its Royale like scale, Jean for its elegant proportions and lines, and Rembrandt for the greyhounds. Simply superbe!

[cobrit]

Great work...nice touch with the figures, as it adds life and motion to this truely inspiring model.

[bsoder]

WOW!!quite a story ...and yea I'd call it a work of art...very cool

[Paul Payne]

I would love to see it- but all the pix came out as the dreaded red x!

[Zoom Zoom]

That's really cool! Nice to see this kind of creativity

[Harold]

Killer stuff- the Contessa's out for a drive in one sweet Auburn. You've nailed the art-deco styling perfectly.

[Peter Lombardo]

To all the guys that responded to my posting, thanks…I am glad you appreciated my concept. I really enjoyed this build, especially because the Greyhound models meant so much to me. Thanks.

[Paul Payne]

Peter, thanks so much for the pm with the link to your photos! As luck would have it, the dreaded red x's disappeared and the photos appeared in your post! Computer magic! The concept, the car, the greyhounds, and wayward Cybele are all just great! Congrats for one of the most imaginative builds and stories in a loooooong time! I will take time to go back to your site and check out your other builds.

Edited November 11, 2008 by Paul Payne

[Tony T]

All I can say is...Wow!!!

Magnificent build!

[John Goschke]

Amazing piece of work!

[juergen]

hi !

absolutly great idea !!! very nice and clean built and the dogs looks great !

i love it

greets jürgen

[Slim Louis]

A great story and fantastic build! I love it!