Interesting story about Alex Tremulis and Harvey Earls frail ego

Having moved from his role as head designer at Cord, Auburn, Deusenburg upon that company's demise (note the exhausts), Tremulis went to work as part of Harley Earl's design team.

He was shortly thereafter dismissed for embarrassing his boss at the Company's Designers Picnic, by overtaking his Boss's new '38 Olds 8 cylinder; driving this same, antiquated '35 Ford (equipped with a 2 carb set-up from Henry Ford's disgraced 1938 Indy Ford/Miller racing fleet)

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by.428585/page-6325

When Auburn Cord folded I went to the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors. One of the first things they wanted me to do was to buy a new Oldsmobile at special employee rates. I think they offered the car to us for $600. I still couldn’t afford a new car so I kept on driving the same old 1935 Ford Roadster, the first car I owned.

I really liked that Ford, especially after I put on the twin intake manifolds that came off of one of the 10 Ford Indianapolis race cars in 1935. At that time I had the only Ford on the street with dual intake carburetors. And because I couldn’t afford a Duesenberg, I had two exhaust pipes coming out the side. I had a lot of fun with that car. But unfortunately I did a dumb thing which was a stupid mistake on my part.

We had a big styling department picnic for the Oldsmobile Division. All of the stylists had just bought their new $600 1938 Oldsmobiles. All of them had 6 cylinders except the boss’s car which had eight cylinders. On the way to the picnic, the boss went by all the six’s, and then I made the mistake of going out after him, and passing him. I guess he was pretty embarrassed.

The next day I was called in to my supervisor’s office where I was told that what I had done had been in very poor taste. And that I should not have embarrassed the entire styling section with an old 1935 Ford. They even accused me of cheating because my car was practically a race car. I was told I had to give up the car. This I refused to do. In a matter of a month I was laid off.

I guess Roy Faulkner heard about me being out of work so he called and asked me to come back to Auburn. The Auburn Automobile Company had folded up by now, but they still had a subsidiary which was steel kitchens. There was a chap there by the name of Powell Crosley who had just developed a fantastic washing machine... the one with the round window. He made this washer pretty successful and he also wanted to build an automobile. So Roy wanted me to go down there and build the car.

So I went to Auburn...

http://www.gyronautx1.com/live-updates/alex-tremulis-first-car-1935ford-v8with-miller-ford-dual-carbs