Post Cord Street Rod Pictures Here

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Janet Gaynor with the Phantom Corsair

 

One we wrapped up two years ago, been in paint shop hell ever since.

http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb93/ELpolacko/1936 Cord/

 

Here is a Graham Bustle back. I think this was bought by a Graham club member recently. I don't know the serial numbers but if they are very earlier then it is quite possibly a factory car.

There are 2 known Hollywood convertibles and one Hupp. Besides the car owned by Ken Dunshire there is a 2 passenger conv coupe hiding in Massachusetts.

 

Here is another Graham with a full race caddy.

 

Its in hiding 100ft from my computer...I drove it about 5 years ago.
It was Dick Martins. The calif plate was still on it

 

Here is a Cord with some Caddy touches.

 

Lots of Cords were converted to Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Ford, and other in the late '40s and '50s. A lot of these, especially the convertibles have been restored back to original cars in recent years.

I would love to know about this Cad powered Cord. Any chance of getting pictures of it???? Here are some pictures of a Cadillac powered Cord Phaeton that still exists.

 

Brochure for the two models of Graham convertible.

 

Thanks A.J.

 

That's Kool. Thanks for posting it.

 

Sorry to go slightly OT Jim, but here is my favorite Cord. Still with us kind of, in a private museum in the middle east somewhere.

 

The only real Hupp Skylark conv allmost got rodded.It was a mess from VT.The story goes the very nice looking lady that modeled with the car ended up with it till the 60s ?. Still have some of the original parts off it that did not get found till the car was sold.

 

I don't know who owns it, but I know who built it! My buddy Ron built the car for a customer. it is a Cord. It's a nice car, if you can get past the customers choice of wheels/tires...

Brian

 

Do you still have the rest of the ones like that I sent you? I can't find the scans. Feel free to post them if you want. I think there was one modified like an Oldsmobile?

 

Never mind Jim, I found them. Here is a Caddy powered Cord.

 

I think most modified Cords are built from little or nothing and my personal opinion is that it should still look like a Cord. Here's one that Kevin Huff found in a 1944 custom book. Ugliest Cord I've ever seen.

www.huffreport.com

 

I can recall a big block Hollywood Graham that looked bone stock here in NC, I dreamt out loud to the garage owner that I would put a Northstar V8 in it if it was mine! It was burgundy, looked just right for Great American Race by Coker.

 

Here's a reproduction by Duloux Motors Ltd. Not sure how many of these were made. I see the business is now "For Sale"

http://www.duloux.com/links.html

 

There is a Graham being built in Az. (belongs to the owner of Kool Tool) with a NorthStar engine. Very nice looking so far. Sorry I deleted my photos when I changed computers.

 

I had NO idea so many Cords, Grahams, and Hupps had been rodded!...

I HOPE most of them were made from otherwise un-restorable cars....tho' I agree an owner can do whatever he/she wants with his/her car...

 

The one the factory should have built: 2 door sedan with part of rear doors leaded in, B pillar moved back 8 inches and doors sectioned and extended to length of convertible doors - proportions are dead nuts right.

Photos courtesy of Dave Lindsay www.socalcarculture.com

 

Ray Smith's Cord Hot Rod at Food Lion AutoFair

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

(Photo by Brad Bowling)

(Photo by Brad Bowling)

(Photo by Brad Bowling)



It took more than 55 years and some traditional hot rod tricks to make it happen, but Charlotte resident Ray Smith is finally bringing his elegant Cord Westchester sedan to the Sept. 14-17 Food Lion AutoFair at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In 1949, Smith, an auto enthusiast and aspiring racer, was making $50 a week when he located and bought a 1937 Cord 812 Beverly. Smith owned the 12-year-old dream car for less than two years, during which time it became a nightmare. "I sold it after replacing two sets of transmission gears at $285 each time," Smith recalled. "But I always wanted to drive that beautiful car without worrying about mechanical problems. In the early 1990s, I decided to build one with a modern engine, but it took awhile for my wife Linda and me to find a suitable body." Since that first Cord experience in 1949, Smith has learned a great deal about cars and the automobile industry. His career took him to Stewart-Warner in the 1950s where he was an engineer on the B-52 bomber program; then to Bendix Aerospace where he toiled on the Gemini and Mercury space capsules; and finally to General Motors where he eventually worked for Cadillac, Buick and other brands. In 2000, Smith found a 1936 810 Cord body in Massachusetts that turned out to be the 24th one ever built. Starting with a custom frame, Smith's crew of customizers installed a 355-horsepower General Motors crate engine and an automatic transmission. Air conditioning, cruise control, power windows and Buick power bucket seats were skillfully integrated into the Cord's interior, which otherwise looks like the factory intended. The aircraft-inspired dash was painstakingly reproduced, down to the detail of having the lettering painted on the reverse side of the glass instead of on the gauges themselves. To add an extra dose of nostalgia, Smith installed the supercharged engine's external exhaust pipes, which gives his '36 the appearance of a 1937 812. "It took about five years from start to finish, unless you count the 50 years I spent planning it," Smith said about his unique hot rod. While most automotive aficionados are familiar with Cord and the cars it produced, today's motoring public knows very little about the company's unique place in American history. Indiana-based car companies Auburn and Duesenberg produced some of America's most beautiful and powerful automobiles from 1900 through the late 1930s. Known for their advanced engineering, the cars established speed records it took the competition years to match, and the term "It's a Duesie" entered the English language to describe a product or event of unparalleled excellence. By 1929, the two companies-and several other firms such as engine-builder Lycoming-had come together under the management of E.L. Cord, a charismatic and business-savvy former car salesman. Cord introduced his L-29 that year, an elegant series of sedans, cabriolets and town cars that were gorgeous, but did not push the edge of the styling envelope. The L-29 was mechanically innovative, with front-wheel drive and X-shaped bracing for a strong frame, but Wall Street's stock market crash would end all but the strongest companies' chances to sell high-end luxury cars. After only 5,010 L-29s were built, production ended in 1932. In 1936, Cord introduced a new self-named model, built on a front-drive chassis as a way to make the sleek body sit low. Originally designed to be a "baby Duesenberg," the Cord 810 featured such Buck Rogers styling features as concealed headlights, a raked windshield and other aerodynamic tricks. E.L. Cord's ownership of American Airlines was hinted at in the 810's aviation-like body and interior appointments. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the car was its nose, which resembles a polished coffin from the school of art deco design. The futuristic bodywork was incredibly labor intensive; the solid curved roof alone was made from seven metal panels that had to be bolted together without a trace of a seam. Early mechanical problems tainted the car's reputation, so an improved 812 was released for model year 1937-available with the earlier car's 125-horsepower Lycoming flathead V-8 or a supercharged version that produced an impressive 170.Unfortunately, the updates came too late to save the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg trio from extinction and its final product, an 812, was built in August of 1937. Only 3,000 of the 810/812 models were produced. Smith's Cord, which turns heads now as much as it did when new, will be displayed in the Food Lion AutoFair Pavilion.

 

Thanks Weasel. I've never seen that one before. Neat.

 

The owner of the hupp conv(before the resto) had a 2 dr sedan just like that. It was in bare steel and he told me it was a factory job. He only collected only the rare stuff so i had to believe him rest his soul...miss that guy.

 

This one was posted on the ACD Club website in Sept. of 2007 "For Sale" by some one in Connecticut. Where is it now????

 

Here is one for sale in hemmings for 75k Original body with a 350 engine. Depending on how bad it was they cost themselves some money.

 

This is an old Hemi powered Cord custom in a California collection. Most likely built in the '40s or '50s.

 

Here is a barn find Cord with a Hudson straight eight setup done in the 1950s. This was originally a supercharged car.

 

Here is a Hollywood Sedan that has been turned into a convertible. This is not one of the 3 known originals - note the door length and windshield.

 

The other side of the coin is Cord powered hot rods. See Ryan's thread.