Herb Snow

Herb Snow. Vice President of Engineering - Auburn Automobile Company. From 1927 through 1936, Herb Snow was responsible for many of the engineering advancements of the Auburn Automobile Company He was intensely involved in both the Cord L-29 and 810//812 front-wheel-drive projects. Snow is credited with the development of the "X” frame member as a method of adding structural rigidity to a ladder-style automobile frame, a feature later used by nearly every automobile company. Snow held many patents, one of which was an ingenious cable and worm-gear system to open and close the headlamp doors of the Cord 810. Snow led an engineering department of more than 77 employees. , Snow was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1883. He attended the Case Institute of Technology. His entire career involved automotive engineering design. He worked for Peerless, Willys-Overland, Winton and Velie before coming to Auburn as chief engineer in 1927. Snow was appointed vice president of engineering in 1931. He avoided the limelight and freely shared credit with his colleagues. After the demise of Auburn, Snow did consulting work for the Columbia Axle Company.In 1940, Snow was hired as chief engineer at Checker Motors Corporation and was later elected to its board of directors. He held that pósition at Checker, until he died in 1961 at the age of 76.