The convertible, supercharged Cords are the top value Cords and are terrific cars. There are actually quite a number of supercharged Cords, both convertibles and sedans, around these days. Attached are pictures of my 1937 supercharged Custom Beverly sedan. This is the long wheelbase model. The Cords had lots of interesting features. Don
Really like the sedans, i seem to remember seeing a blood red one in englad some 15 years ago, but can be wrong. Whats the deal with the front wheel drive? Aint it weird for a car of that era? Why would they do that? and mostly how?
How? Think VW or Corvair style transaxle......moved to the front. The Cord transaxle was ahead of the engine in the same manner. If you look at one, the sheetmetal ahead of the grille is extended. That is the transmission cover. Why? Why not? It had been done before......the L29 Cord for example, and the Ruxton was another. Basically the same reason that rear engine/reardrive cars were made. More compact packaging with less intrusion of the powertrain in the passenger compartment. Flat floor, no tranny or driveshaft hump. Same reasons front wheel drive has become the dominant design in recent decades in the majority of passenger cars. Ray
External-mounted spare? Must be on he rear end? 1937 Cord 812 information Event : The Elegance at Hershey
Okay, here we go. I don't recall seeing an externally carried spare on this series before. <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=4 width=1020 bgColor=#ffffff><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>1937 Cord 812 information</TD><TD>Event : The Elegance at Hershey</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Hi All, There are more Supercharged Cords out there....A little less than 2 years ago, I marketed and sold a SC Cord Phaeton that belonged to a friend's aunt. She had the car many years and it has always been a driver for her and her husband. This was a nice car and it was purchased by a fella near Las Vegas. I did get to ride and drive the Cord......really a once in a lifetime chance...VERY KOOL!! Take a look at the pics here. There is also a rare 1936 Dodge Canopy Express in the background...I have that truck here in the classifieds for sale. Murph
Great thread! Thanks to everyone that has added to it. I'd love to have an L29 Cord, but nothing has a better looking dash than the Coffin Nose. Bob
Think about Harry Miller. Check Miller Indy cars. Start here:https://www.google.com/search?q=mil...F-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADRA_enUS377
Here are a few picks of a 1938 Lincoln Model K V-12 by Lebaron. It's in the collection I manage. It's one of 8 built, and only 2 are known to exist today. It has only 18,900 original miles on it. It's a great car, and the last of the hand built Lincolns. Driving it is a dream, it's gigantic and just floats and the power and torque from the V-12 is very impressive.
What year did they stop making Cords, and was there a cord factory in Ok.? I kind of remember my dad taking me to a cord factory in the early 60's.
This is a 1926 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Pall Mall Phaeton. It's one of the last Ghosts ever built. One of the finest original Springfield ghosts in existance. The car was owned for many years by Homer Fitterling the famous Duesenberg collector. Then the car went to Ben Moser and to the last owner. It's a pleasure to be around it everyday.
The last "true" Cords were made in 1937 and they were produced in Indiana. A great trip is to the Auburn-Cord-Dusenburg (ACD) Museum in Auburn, IN.....a wonderful place to visit. The Oklahoma Cords were a project by Glenn Pray in the 1963/64 era. He did a replica in scale (about 80%) called the 8/10. It was front wheel drive, using a Corvair engine and trans in the front of the car to replicate the spirit, if not the detail, of the original. The bodies were made from U S Royal "Royalite", a composite plastic moldable material with an outer skin and a foam core. A total of 91 or so cars were made before bankruptcy occurred. That was followed up by "SAMCO" (Sports Automobile Manufacturing Company), who obtained some or all of the assets of Glenn Pray's operation. They did a handful of cars based on the Pray body, but with major mods, dropping the Corvair stuff and the drivetrains varied a bit from V6 Buick/Jeep to Ford V8. Maybe a half dozen cars and then the body molds mysteriously burned. (there's always a fire in these kind of stories). The SAMCO chassis was crude, at best. I have one of these cars for which I have built a new chassis. edit: While my current SAMCO Cord is titled as a 1968 model, the data plate says it was manufactured in December 1967. SAMCO retooled the cars and made the bodies from chopper sprayed fiberglass and totally blew the proportions and great detail found in the Pray cars in the retooling process and the chassis were abysmal.....They were offered with both Ford small blocks and Chrysler 440 engines, the latter getting a 5" stretch in the wheelbase. These cars, mostly because of the body, were/are a POS. These cars were produced as 1969/70 models and approximately 400 were produced including both the Ford powered "Warrior" and the Chrysler powered "Royale" I had one of these too, before I found an example of the very limited earlier version. There is a lot more to this story, but that is the essence of it. Ray
Three known of that exact model and configuration. Most of them got the hell run out of them when they were fairly new and didn't survive like the sedans and coupes did.
Boob, Why wouldn't we want to see rare photos of factory performance optioned vehicles. That Chord is beautiful by the way I have always loved them. In my mind they rank right up there with the Stutz Bearcat, a do not mess with it car, but a must drive it car.
Where you got one of three is beyond me. As others on this thread said, there were 195 Cabriolets (Sportsmans) built and only 64 of those were factory S/C. Engine numbers for factory built S/C Cords start with an FC and non S/C Starts with FB. There are a lot of Cords running around today that have pipes that were never originally S/C. Just because a Cord has the pipes on it does not mean it has a S/C or came S/C from the factory. Some guys just like the looks of the pipes. Gordon Buehrig, the original designer of the Cord never liked the pipes. The body plates are another story. There are also a lot of Cords running around today with engines that were not necessarily in that body when the car was new. The S/C was not introduced until 1937, so a lot of 1936 Cords were returned to the factory to have the S/C added and those cars were then renumbered. Also, when a Cord was sent to the factory in the '50s, if they replaced an engine, they just used what they had and the engine that the car came in with did not necessarily end up back in the same car. If anyone can make out the numbers on the body plate, I may be able to come up with the history of this Cord and see if those are the original numbers of the car. There are Cords running around today with made up numbers. For those of you that have never seen a Cord Coupe, you can find pictures of one on this thread; http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=523380
Just visited the Auburn-Cord museum early last month. The L-29 Cords are such an awesome machine. I have a picture of just the chassis which i will post later, pretty interesting to see.The coolest one was the 1931 speedster built for the 1931 New York auto show. The later Cord are pretty neat too. According to the guy at the museum, each Cord was pretty much custom built, so no two would be exactly the same.
New details on the initial post. Out of seven 1937 supercharged V8 rumble seat raoadsters originally built only three are known to currently exist, this being one of the three. I took a few more pics today.
Thanks for the info. I guess I was 7 years old then so I didnt remember much, just that we were at a cord "factory".
Does he know who originally owned this one? Get me the numbers off the body plate if you can. I'd appreciate it. We can trace the history of this car with those numbers. I can't make out the numbers in the picture. One of the other Cords that still exists with a rumble seat was originally owned by Sonya Hjenie the famous Ice Skater and is painted Black.
I'll see if I can get it tomorrow. I believe this one was in Uruaguay and is on it's way to England after repairs.
There will be three numbers on the body plate on the right side firewall, the serial number, engine number and body number. Thanks
I stand corrected. It's a Private Collection! And he has two more Cords as well! (and 124 OTHER rare cars!)
The Jalopy Journal
