Hoosier Speedboat – inspired by the Auburn 851 boattail speedster

I heard it before I saw it. It had a great rumble. I can hear it idling towards the awards platform to receive the 2022 Deuce Days, Best in Show Award (non-Deuce). I’m intrigued. Then on seeing it I’m smitten.

The stance, the rumble. The aircraft-carrier long hood. The style-complimenting hardtop. It had it all. I’m assuming I blurted out loud “I should sculpt that car”, as months later I was asked to do just that for the 2025 Event.

Materials were fairly straight forward. Bardiglio marble from Tuscany fit the grey body, with quite limited veining. Thus the black roof called for a visually busier marble, ergo the Tennessee black. I was inspired to play up the “boat” part of the Auburn 851 boattail name, with no visible wheels or tires, and something of a vee prow and front underbody.

Hoosier references the Indiana home of Auburn and other many other car manufactures. Together with Cleveland, Indianapolis rivalled Detroit for a time, as the center of mass for the US car industry. Indeed, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the “Brickyard) was built in 1909 to augment and support that local car industry.