History Another look at the Cord 810

I like the earlier Auburn Speedsters too, although I wouldn't turn down a later one

 

Interesting stuff about Buehrig, thanks again. From his book, "Rolling Sculpture", I had the impression that he was a designer in the conventional sense of the word -- concerned with, and responsible for, aesthetics more than mechanical design. But I have heard other people dismiss this, saying "Oh, no, he was really more an engineer than a designer."

I never met the man. Perhaps in his earlier positions with A-C-D he WAS completely responsible for the cars' appearance, but later accepted positions which were more heavily engineering-oriented?

 

Thanks for the great discussion about Buehrig, guys. He was indeed an accomplished body engineer as well as a stylist.

Here's a piece on a controversial but undeniably fascinating car by Buehrig, the Tasco. LINK:


http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2012/12/18/a-second-look-at-the-1948-tasco/

 

Apparently Buehrig had mixed emotions about the Tasco. While I'm sure he was proud of parts of the concept, he referred to it in at least one interview as "my personal Edsel".

 

Going back to the coachbuilt.com article, I would say Gordon was more of a designer in the conventional sense as you state. His first designs at A-C-D were Duesenbergs;

He met Harold T. Ames, then sales manager of Duesenberg, and found that they needed a designer. On June 10, 1929, he started the association with them which was to enable him to design some of the most exciting American automobiles ever built. He was 25 years old and chief designer for this country's most expensive, most prestigious motor car.

The Duesenberg Model J chassis had been designed before Buehrig joined the firm, and the artist who translated the wishes of E. L. Cord and Harold Ames into reality is unknown to him. He credits this unnamed artist with doing a superb job on the development of the radiator, fender and cowl ensemble. Initial orders were placed by Duesenberg for a number of bodies by LeBaron, Murphy, Derham, Judkins, Holbrook and Willoughby. These coachbuilders were supported by volume business with larger firms such as Packard, Pierce Arrow, Lincoln, and others. Though the Murphy convertible coupes and LeBaron phaetons were popular, customers viewing Duesenbergs at the salons with Willoughby and Judkins limousines, or Derham sedan bodies, could see the same designs on lesser chassis and Duesenberg could not justify a premium price for them. Had the demand for luxury cars not diminished even before the stock market crash, sales of these bodies would have been a lesser problem. But now Harold Ames saw the need to design more exclusive creations for Duesenberg patrons.

This was the task assigned to Gordon Buehrig in the summer of 1929. Three days after joining Duesenberg he made a tour through the east with Harold Ames to review the coach-builders, thus becoming familiar with their facilities: The large and potent chassis provided an excellent basis for some elegant bodies and Buehrig responded at once to the challenge. Working closely with the sales department, he prepared side-view drawings of proposed designs for presentation to customers. Upon receipt of an order his next job was to draw an eighth-scale body draft, which was turned over to the selected coachbuilder for execution.

The first Buehrig-designed Duesenberg was a close-coupled coupe on the short wheelbase chassis for Schreve Archer, of Minneapolis. It was built by Judkins, as was his second design, a 5-passenger coupe. His first popular model, the Beverly sedan, started as a catalog rendering which was shown at the 1929 Drake Hotel Salon in Chicago. It generated considerable interest and the bodies were built in some quantity by Murphy and Rollston. During 1929 Buehrig made scores of proposals, most of which never came into being. Had the economy remained sound, there is no doubt that he'd be credited with many more designs.

 

Pictured is a Duesenberg J fitted with an exceptionally rare Gordon Buehrig designed, Judkins built coupe body. Only one or two chassis were fitted with this design that stands out because of the small passenger compartment.

Other chassis were fitted with two seater bodies, but none featured such a small greenhouse, which gives the rest of the car a very large appearance. It is pictured here at the 2004 annual Blackhawk display at the Pebble Beach Concours weekend, where it was offered for sale for close to $1 million US.

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/pic/2177/Duesenberg-J-Judkins-Fixed-Top-Coupe_1.html

 

I wouldn't say it's his best work, but for me it's far from his worst-- and it has some interesting qualities. The Corvette-based car he did for Dick Kughn (just visible behind the Tasco in the photo above) is far more ungainly to my eye.

 

While at the NNL West I bought this Cord large scale model. It's not complete and some parts of the front suspension are broken. There is no rear axle no wheels or tires and no windshield.
I'm not sure what I'll do with this "barn find".
I have washed it so far, it was really dirty!
I have one question about the Cord in general; what are the three bars attached to the chassis?

more pics here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/media/set/?set=a.10152586011240263.971904.227127795262&type=1

 

You got me. Maybe one of our model experts will weigh in.

 

It could be an AMT Cord that was originally issued in the '60's. That is the only Cord kit I know of that had a window regulator.

 

In the photos, any idea what the three bars or rails in the center of the undercarriage might be?

 

I'll venture a guess that they may be there to stiffen the chassis.

 

The Tasco is cool.

 

You never know. My Dad traded for this Barn Find. He had a '58 Skyliner that he bought for $700. He bought what he thought was a used 390 for $50 and stuck that in the Ford. It was a decent driver with rusty quarter panels, but it ran awesome and the rectractable top worked great. This was around 1998. The Cord had been sitting in a barn for 50 years.

A couple years ago, Dad was clenaing out the shed and sold my friend the manifold off that FE. Dad put an '58 vintage intake on it so it looked perieod correct for the Skyliner. Turns out, that was a 428 Cobra Jet intake. Dad got an awesome car in trade, but may have let a 428 Cobra Jet get away without even knowing . To this day, there could be a powerhouse sleeping in a '58 Ford that nobody knows about.

 

Wow, awesome barn Cord!

 

After a few years of procrastination (and technophobia) I just this evening uploaded my first photo to the HAMB........following the instructions of a HAMBER on another thread....and was amazed it could be THAT simple. After reading many references to 'photobuckets" and the like.......I found it can be done from one's own computer files.

But, of course, most of you already knew that..........

But since I seem to have learned this simple method, I decided to post a pic of my SAMCO Cord that I discussed in prior posts to this thread as both a means of showing what it looks like and as a mini-celebration of this minor miracle

Ray

 

Nice, thanks for sharing!

 

My Old Man always called them Coffin Nose Cords a local guy drove one around town. He had fit a Mercury backwards. A neighbor has one now along with his 30 Caddy very long wheelbase that was made into a truck and was a MGM camera car, he has buildings of cool cars then goes out and buys a $380,000 Bentley

 

I did some checking on the Antique Automobile Club forum. The Auburn, Cord, Dusenberg forum yielded the response "It's a radio antenna". Seems like I vaguely remember seeing one similar under the running board of another car at a cruise-in deal locally.

 

Bingo, that makes perfect sense.