1937 Cord 812 Cabriolet What if you discovered that there was a vehicle that debuted in the 1960s with front-wheel drive, a supercharged V-8, chrome-plated side-exhaust pipes, hidden headlights, and a disappearing convertible best?
And what if you then learned that this auto in fact was introduced not in the 1960s, but a complete 3 decades earlier, in the 1930s? We’re referring here to the revolutionary Cord. No, not a Ford—or an Accord—but a Cord: very possibly the coolest automobile you’ve in no way heard of. And it all started 85 years ago, in the town of Auburn, Indiana, about 140 miles northeast of Indianapolis…
As 1929 approached, things were hunting good for Errett Lobban Cord and the empire he had designed. The portfolio of his Cord Corporation incorporated flashy Auburn automobiles, Lycoming engines, Stinson aircraft, Checker taxicabs, and even the mighty Duesenberg among its offerings, but Cord was an auto manufacturer with no a namesake marque.
He rectified the circumstance in June 1929 with the introduction of the Cord L-29—the 1st front-wheel-drive automobile sold in the American market—and a single that presented significantly various styling. A Lycoming straight-8 engine, modified to drive a front-mounted transaxle assembly, supplied energy. This radically diverse layout offered unprecedented lowness and a lengthy hood, both of which enabled designer Alan H. Leamy to create one particular of the loveliest automobiles of the day.
1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet
The price tag for the L-29 was $ 3000 (about $ 42,000 in today’s dollars)—more costly than pricing for the Auburn lineup but far less than the lofty Duesenberg J the operating chassis of the J alone (bodywork was sold separately) retailed for $ 8500 (about $ 118,250 nowadays). The L-29 was offered in 4 physique types: sedan, brougham (a formal sedan with a padded prime, often driven by a chauffeur), convertible sedan, and convertible coupe.
Though praised for its handling qualities, the L-29’s engine was positioned so far behind the driven front wheels that it suffered from poor traction. In addition, it wasn’t all that rapidly: The Lycoming straight-8 made 125 horsepower, but the leading speed was in the vicinity of just 80 mph.
Initial sales had been brisk as the summer time of 1929 turned to fall, but in the end, timing played a cruel hand: The stock-market place crash in late October poured cold water on sales of the sporty L-29 in all, Cord sold roughly 5000 examples ahead of production ended on December 31, 1931. The numbers weren’t disastrous—especially for a pricey auto launched on the eve of the Excellent Depression—but in the end, sales volume was insufficient to justify keeping the L-29 in production.
1937 Cord 812 Cabriolet
About the exact same time that the L-29 saga was taking place, the subsequent chapter of Cord’s history was germinating at Common Motors. Gordon Buehrig had been the chief physique designer for Duesenberg because 1929, but by 1933, declining sales triggered him to move on to Common Motors. There, for an internal design and style competitors, he designed a streamlined sedan featuring a blunt nose, externally mounted radiators, and concealed headlamps. The design placed last with styling boss Harley Earl and other GM executives but completed initial amongst Buehrig’s fellow competing designers.
Quickly following that, Duesenberg president Harold Ames lured Buehrig back to the firm to have him develop a reduced-priced companion to the Duesenberg J. In brief order, nonetheless, the Duesenberg thought was out and Buehrig’s futuristic model became the Cord 810 of 1936, one of the really outstanding classics of the era.
Extended and low, the front-wheel-drive Cord 810 had a conventional radiator but retained Buehrig’s concealed headlamps and blunt “coffin nose” front end with wraparound vertical bars. Below the hood was a 125-horsepower Lycoming V-8 mated to a 4-speed gearbox actuated by a Bendix Electric Hand shifter.
The interior of the 810 was equally as daring as its exterior, with an aircraft-inspired instrument panel that featured an engine-turned aluminum fascia and introduced edge-lit instrumentation, which used a luminous dye applied to the edges of the glass of the dials to illuminate them. There had been cranks for the headlamps at every single finish of the instrument panel, with the Bendix electric gear selector situated on the steering column.
1936 Cord 810 Westchester Sedan
Cord supplied the 810 as a sedan as effectively as 2- and 4-place convertibles. As beautiful and innovative as the vehicles have been, the business lacked the necessary capital to effectively create them and bring them to marketplace the goal of generating 1000 vehicles per month by no means materialized. The 1937 model, renamed the 812 but practically identical to the 810, added 2 extended-wheelbase sedans and an optional supercharger with chrome-plated side exhausts snaking out of the hood.
While the style would prove timeless, time had run out for Cord. Some 3000 of the 810/812 series were produced before production came to a halt in August 1937. By then, Cord himself had cashed out his ownership of the firm and retired to California.
Before the end of December, the company was in bankruptcy and the revolutionary Cord automobile became a fascinating footnote in automotive history. The style and engineering would resonate and inspire for decades, even so, and to this day Cord automobiles take pleasure in an enthusiastic following of both owners and admirers.
A Brief History of the Cord Automobile: The Coolest Car You Never Knew Existed
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