Curt and Janine Schulze did exactly what it took to bring their 1936 Auburn Speedster back to like-new, factory condition. Their only mistake was telling people how they did it.
“I call this car ‘Itsa-Bitsa,’ because it is bits of this and bits of that,” said Curt of their Speedster. “Everybody knows the engine and the frame and the body weren’t all together from the factory and we spliced that cowl onto the car, but it is what it is. It is built with original Auburn Speedster parts.
“I guess my mistake from the get-go was telling everybody what I was doing,” he said. “Some longtime club members say, ‘You should have kept your mouth shut.’”
The world of Classic cars — especially valuable Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg automobiles — holds provenance paramount at trading time. Cars with documented backgrounds fetch the biggest bucks on the auction circuit and the moment when significant parts start getting swapped around — parts such as engines, frames and bodies — buyers get nervous. It’s an ideology that grew out of poor restorations of cars that were crudely pieced together. However, Curt and Janine Schulze doesn’t do anything crudely.
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