Bad News to report. Glenn Pray passed away last night March 23rd. Services will be held at Christ United Methodist Church, 3515 S Harvard, Tulsa OKlahoma on Monday March 28th at 11 AM. Fitzgerald Funeral Home, 3612 E 91st, Tulsa Okla, 918 291 3500 is handling the services. Glenn always said he wanted to go to sleep and not wake up, and that is what he did. He had a major stroke. Felix De Geyter
Never got to meet him, but am fully aware of his legacy. A great loss for the Tulsa automotive family.
May we all lead a life so very creative and may we all pass on so peacefully. My thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family. -Mark
An inspiration to many and a man with great vision. A sad loss to the automotive community. RIP Mr Pray....
Growing up in Tulsa, I still remember the excitement of the Cord 810 replica's introduction. My parents took me to see it. I was all over that car. Later, as a teenager, I used to go check out all the old Cords he had in Broken Arrow, too, just south of the railroad tracks! RIP Mr. Pray
I can't say it better than Weaverville Studios did. We all must pass on; the real blessing is to leave a permanent mark, making the world better in some way. RIP
I posted this a couple of years ago: Here's a quick history of the replica Cords from the Encyclopedia of American Cars: "Cord (1964-66;1968-70) This mid-60s replicar revived one of the all-time greats: the 1936-37 Cord 810/812. It was built by the Cord Automobile Co. of Tulsa, Oklahoma (registered as a Delaware corporation) under the aegis of Glenn Pray, a former school teacher. Gordon Buehrig, who had designed the original, styled the revival too, and kept its lines faithful to the original's. Pray's car was about 80 percent of the 1936-37 model in size, so it was designated the Cord 8/10. "U.S. Rubber, now Uniroyal, had developed a plastic material in the early '60s called Royalex, and this was chosen for the 8/10 body. Maintaining tradition, the new Cord retained front-wheel drive. Power came from the Chevrolet Corvair air-cooled flat six that developed 110 horsepower from 164 cubic inches. "Available only as a two-passenger convertible, the Cord 8/10 was priced at $4000 in 1964. This rose to nearly $6000 by the time production ended in 1966. A total of 91 Cords were built, excluding prototypes. "Despite several attempts by company president Wayne McKinley to keep the firm solvent, the Cord Automobile Company went into receivership. (Glenn Pray was no longer part of the organization by then.) A bankruptcy sale was held in March 1967. "In 1967-68, the firm was owned by Elfman Motors Inc. of Philadelphia. Exactly what took place during that time is hazy, though it seems certain no cars were produced during the Elfman regime. Then in 1968, the car was taken over by the Sports Automobile Manufacturing company of Mannford, Oklahoma. "SAMCO, as the company was more commonly known, produced a much different car than the previsous version. Since the Corvair was being phased out, a new powerplant was sought and two were finally adopted. The Ford 302-cid V8 was selected as the standard engine and Chrysler's 440 Magnum V8 was offered optionally. SAMCO phased out Royalex and reverted to conventional fiberglass body construction. The styling was also revised. It retractable headlights were now fixed in the open position, and the front-wheel drive gave way to rear drive. "Two models were offered: the Warrior, on a 108-inch wheelbase, and the Royal, on a 113-inch wheelbase. (The original Cord's wheelbase was 125 inches, and that of Pray's revival was 100 inches.) SAMCO prices were $7300 and up. Production end in the spring of 1970." Now, I've seen the Pray replicas and the SAMCO replicas, and to me, the Prays are nice looking cars but the SAMCO cars, with the hideous headlight pods high on the fender in place of the hidden headlamps, are just ugly, IMO.
I always that the Samco Cords looked like some one squashed them. A poor tribute the genuine Cords as well as the Glenn Pray Cords in my opinion. Ugly too!
I have been a very long time fan of the '36/'37 Cords and saddened to hear about Mr. Pray's passing. His efforts to reproduce a credible replica of those cars is certainly well known and, I might add, very much appreciated. I read the above post taken from The Encyclopedia of American Cars, (I also have that book) and feel compelled to often a few corrections to it's description of events. I have a SAMCO Cord (see my avatar) that, according to it's body tag, was produced in December of 1967 and is a modifed version of a Glenn Pray body made of Royalex, powered by a 289 Ford/C4 cruise-o-matic/9" Ford rear axle. Prior to stumbling across this car I did own a 1969 SAMCO Warrior, and I was unhappy with it for all the reasons stated by others. My current car, however, which I have owned for about 7 years or so, is one of only about 4 or 5 that I am aware of derived from Pray bodies. This car has an extended Quarter panel, behind the door, that I think improves the proportions over that of the 8/10 Cord that always looked, to me, a bit short for it's height. One of the others, similar to mine, that I saw advertised many years ago was said to be Buick V6 powered and front wheel drive. That car, I speculate, was produced after the liquidation of the Pray company but also from a Pray body shell. I further speculate that it used Jeep components, the Buick/Jeep V6, GM Automatic and Dana transfer case and front axle, would provide front wheel drive. The rear axle did not need to be a driving style, as the transfer case in 4 Hi would drive the front end and the missing driveshaft/rear diff would be of no consequence. Somewhere after the Dec 1967 production of my car, SAMCO did re-tool the body and used fiberglass for it's construction, as has been noted. I will tell you the chassis' of both my SAMCOs were very, very crudely constructed and did use some Jeep CJ frame sections. I am in the process of building a whole new chassis to improve that situation. My current car had a straight axle (literally straight, not dropped) with leaf springs, and Ford Econoline spindles, brakes and drums. The later car used a complete Econoline front axle assembly and, of course leaf springs. The rear axle in that car was an 8" Ford. I do not know if the engine was a 289 or a 302, but it did have a C-4 Cruise-o-matic. Ray
Sorry to hear that. Glenn always treated me right, and I knew his boys a little. He had some nice aircraft as well, including an awesome Kinner Sportwing I'd have loved to have flown. Godspeed
+1 Definitely an original and a very nice man. One point about the 8/10 cord. Since Glenn owned the auburn cord company he was bringing out a new cord, not a replica per say. The 8/10 had many unique features that make it stand on it's own as a cool car.
Thanks for the info and correction, Ray. Your headlights are not mounted high like the later SAMCOs and you have a separate windshield frame like the Pray-built Cords. I would have guessed yours was a Pray car.
Met him about 10 years ago . I was a total stranger to him . He gave me a tour of the Chicken Cannery made me feel like i had know him forever. A true Gentleman and Craftsman. May he rest in peace .
You sir are absolutely correct. I don't think the negative opinions were directed towards Glen Pray. I think they were directed to the late Samco Cords which does not represent Glenn Prays work in any shape or form. The early Samcos like Ray ( Hnstray) owns however do represent Glenn Prays Work to some extent and I would not mind owning one of those myself. Thanks to every one for posting there memories of Glenn Pray. If you are not familiar with what Glenn did, you need to read the book "Glenn Pray - The Untold Stories". It is a fascinating book. http://www.glennpray.com/About Glenn Pray.html
One hell of a nice fellow, had some really nice airplanes as well as cars and would share his time and tales anytime i would get by. The museum was a treasure trove of all our big boy toy dreams and the setting for it all just perfect. God's speed my friend!
My condolences to the Pray family. I took this picture at the Hot Rod Reunion and I assume this was one of Glen's cars. He was a great asset to Tulsa. We could use more people like Glen Pray. Lost_N_Austin
The Jalopy Journal
