Cord Automobile
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
, manufactured by the Auburn Automobile
Auburn Automobile
Auburn was a brand name of American automobiles produced from 1900 through 1936.-Corporate history:The Auburn Automobile Company grew out of the Eckhart Carriage Company, founded in Auburn, Indiana, in 1875 by Charles Eckhart...
Company from 1929 through 1932 and again in 1936 and 1937.
The Cord Corporation was founded and run by E. L. Cord
Errett Lobban Cord
Errett Lobban "E. L." Cord was a leader in United States transport during the early and middle 20th century.Cord founded the Cord Corporation in 1929 as a holding company for over 150 companies he controlled, mostly in the field of transportation...
as a holding company for his many transportation interests, including Auburn. Cord was noted for its innovative technology and streamlined
Streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...
designs. Cord had a philosophy to build truly different, innovative cars, believing they would also sell well and turn a profit. This did not always work well in practice.
Innovations
Front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...
on the L-29 and hidden headlamps
Hidden headlamps
Hidden headlamps, also commonly known as pop-up headlamps or headlights, are an automotive styling feature that conceals an automobile's headlamps when they are not in use...
on the 810 and 812.
Front-wheel drive became common in the United States only in the 1980s, though Citroën
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
introduced the Traction Avant
Citroën Traction Avant
The Citroën Traction Avant is an automobile which was produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1934 to 1957. About 760,000 units were produced.-Impact on the world:...
in 1934, Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
offered it in certain models of its German-built Taunus, and General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
sold the front wheel drive Oldsmobile Toronado
Oldsmobile Toronado
The original Toronado began as a design painting by Oldsmobile stylist David North in 1962. His design, dubbed the "Flame Red Car," was for a compact sports/personal car never intended for production...
in 1966 and Cadillac Eldorado
Cadillac Eldorado
The 1953 Eldorado was a special-bodied, low-production convertible . It was the production version of the 1952 El Dorado "Golden Anniversary" concept car, and borrowed bumper bullets from the 1951 GM Le Sabre show car...
in 1967. As personal luxury cars, these two GM models, especially the Toronado, were undoubtedly influenced by Cord.
Hidden headlamps did not become common as a standard feature until the 1960s (though DeSoto
DeSoto (automobile)
The DeSoto was a brand of automobile based in the United States, manufactured and marketed by the Chrysler Corporation from 1928 to 1961. The DeSoto logo featured a stylized image of Hernando de Soto...
used them in 1942). The early Oldsmobile Toronado
Oldsmobile Toronado
The original Toronado began as a design painting by Oldsmobile stylist David North in 1962. His design, dubbed the "Flame Red Car," was for a compact sports/personal car never intended for production...
s, whose GM stylists later stated they were trying to capture the "feel" of the Cord's design, also featured hidden headlamps.
Cord L-29
This was the first American front-wheel drive car to be offered to the public, beating the RuxtonRuxton (automobile)
The Ruxton was a front-wheel drive automobile produced by the New Era Motors Company of New York, New York, USA during 1929 and 1930. The car was the brainchild of William Muller and was built in the Moon Motor Car factory in St. Louis, Missouri...
automobile by several months, in 1929. The brainchild of former Miller engineer Carl Van Ranst, its drive system borrowed from the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
-dominating racers, using the same de Dion
De Dion tube
A de Dion tube is an automobile suspension technology. It is a sophisticated form of non-independent suspension and is a considerable improvement over the alternative swing axle and Hotchkiss drive types. A de Dion suspension uses universal joints at both the wheel hubs and differential, and uses a...
layout and inboard brakes. This allowed it to be much lower than competing cars. Both stock cars and special bodies built on the Cord chassis by American and European coachbuilders won prizes in contests worldwide. The L-29 came with full instrumentation, including a temp. gauge, oil pressure gauge, and speedometer on the left with a gas gauge, oil level gauge, and ammeter on the right of the steering wheel.
It was powered by Auburn's 4934 cc 125 hp L-head Lycoming inline 8 from the Auburn 120, with the crankshaft pushed out through the front of the block and the flywheel
Flywheel
A flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to store rotational energy. Flywheels have a significant moment of inertia, and thus resist changes in rotational speed. The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational speed...
mounted there, driving a three-speed transmission
Transmission (mechanics)
A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...
. Gearing in both transmission and front axle was inadequate, and the 42 hundredweight
Hundredweight
The hundredweight or centum weight is a unit of mass defined in terms of the pound . The definition used in Britain differs from that used in North America. The two are distinguished by the terms long hundredweight and short hundredweight:* The long hundredweight is defined as 112 lb, which...
(4700 lb (2,131.9 kg)) car was underpowered, limited to a trifle over 80 mph (128.7 km/h), inadequate even at the time, and readily exceeded by the less expensive Auburn. Still, the styling was lovely, and despite the 137.5 in (3,492.5 mm) wheelbase
Wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels.- Road :In automobiles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the center of the front wheel and the center of the rear wheel...
and steering demanding fully four turns lock-to-lock, handling was reportedly superb. Priced around US$3000, it was competitive with Marmon, Lincoln
Lincoln (automobile)
Lincoln is an American luxury vehicle brand of the Ford Motor Company. Lincoln vehicles are sold mostly in North America.-History:The company was founded in August 1915 by Henry M. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac . During World War I, he left Cadillac which was sold to General Motors...
, Packard
Packard
Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...
, Franklin
Franklin (automobile)
The Franklin Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in the United States between 1902 and 1934 in Syracuse, New York. Herbert H. Franklin, the founder, began his career in the metal die casting business before establishing his automobile enterprise.Franklin founded the H. H. Franklin...
, and Stutz
Stutz Motor Company
The Stutz Motor Company was a producer of luxury cars based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Production began in 1911 and continued through 1935. The marque reappeared in 1968 under the aegis of Stutz Motor Car of America, Inc., and with a newly defined modern retro-look. Although the company is...
; the 1930 Chrysler copied several styling elements. It could not outrun the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and by 1932, it was discontinued, with just 4,400 sold. Wheelbase was 137.5" and the height of the sedan was 61".
Cord Model 810
The body design of the Cord 810 was the work of designer Gordon M. Buehrig and his team of stylists, which included young Vince Gardner. The first American front-wheel drive car with independent front suspension, but an archaic tube rear axle with semi-elliptic rear springs, it used a 4739 cc Lycoming V8V8 engine
A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....
of the same 125 hp as the L-29. The semi-automatic four-speed transmission (three plus overdrive) extended in front of the engine
MF layout
In automotive design, a MF, or Mid-engine, Front-wheel drive layout is one in which the front road wheels are driven by an internal-combustion engine placed just behind them, in front of the passenger compartment. In contrast to the Front-engine, front-wheel drive layout , the center of mass of...
, like a Traction Avant. (This transmission was later modified and used in the rear-engined 1948 Tucker Sedan
1948 Tucker Sedan
The 1948 Tucker Sedan or Tucker '48 Sedan was an advanced automobile conceived by Preston Tucker and briefly produced in Chicago in 1948...
.) This allowed Buehrig to dispense with the driveshaft and transmission tunnel; as a result, the new car was so low it required no running boards. It had a 125" wheelbase.
Reportedly{} conceived as a Duesenberg
Duesenberg
Duesenberg was an Auburn, Indiana based American luxury automobile company active in various forms from 1913 to 1937, most famous for its high-quality passenger cars and record-breaking racing cars.-History:...
and nearly devoid of chrome, the 810 had hidden door hinges and rear-hinged hood, rather than the side-opening type more usual at the time, both new items. It also featured pontoon fenders
Pontoon fenders
Pontoon fenders are a type of automobile fender.Originally the term referred to a design prevalent in the United States in the 1930s where front fenders encased a wheel and terminated in a teardrop point, remaining distinct from the running boards or the body of the car...
with headlamps (modified Stinson
Stinson Aircraft Company
The Stinson Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturing company in the United States between the 1920s and the 1950s.-The Company:The Stinson Aircraft Company was founded in Dayton, Ohio, in 1920 by aviator Edward “Eddie” Stinson, brother to Katherine Stinson. After five years of business...
landing lights
Aircraft landing lights
Landing lights are lights used on aircraft to illuminate the terrain and runway ahead during takeoff and landing.-Overview:Almost all modern aircraft are equipped with landing lights if they are intended and approved for nighttime operations...
) that disappeared into the fenders via dashboard hand cranks, a concealed fuel filler door, variable-speed windshield wipers (at a time when any wipers were rare, and those were likely operated by hand), and the famous louver
Louver
A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...
ed wraparound grill, from which its nickname "coffin-nose" derived. Its engine-turned dashboard included complete instrumentation, a tachometer
Tachometer
A tachometer is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute on a calibrated analogue dial, but digital displays are increasingly common...
, and standard radio (which would not become an industry standard offering until well into the 1950s).
The new car caused a sensation at the New York Auto Show in November 1935. The crowds around the 810 were so dense, attendees stood on the bumpers of nearby cars to get a look. Many orders were taken at the show, but the cars were not ready to deliver until February. Cord had rushed to build the 100 cars needed to qualify for the show, and the transmission was not ready. Even so, Cord took many orders at the show, promising Christmas delivery, expecting production of 1,000 per month. The semi-automatic transmission
Automatic transmission
An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
was more troublesome than expected, and 25 December came and went with no cars built. The first production vehicles were not delivered to New York City until April 1936. In all, Cord managed to sell only 1,174 of the new 810 in its first model year
Model year
The model year of a product is a number used worldwide, but with a high level of prominence in North America, to describe approximately when a product was produced, and indicates the coinciding base specification of that product....
, as the result of mechanical troubles.
Supercharging
Supercharger
A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,...
was made available on the 1937 812 model. Supercharged 812 models were distinguished from the normally aspirated 812s by the brilliant chrome-plated external exhaust pipes mounted on each side of the hood and grill. With supercharging, horsepower was raised to 170.
It was too late to save Cord, but the contraction "Suped" (referring its supercharged engine) lived on in American lexicon as the hot-rodding phrase "Suped-Up" (as opposed to "souped-up", which referred to the drugging of horses).
A Cord Model 810 coupe (pictured) was featured in the 1975 film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze is a 1975 camp action film starring Ron Ely as pulp hero Doc Savage. This was the last film completed by pioneering science-fiction producer George Pal.- Plot :...
.
A Cord 810 convertible is featured in the 2011 video game L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire is a 2011 crime video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows. It was released as a 3-disc game for the Xbox 360 console, which prompts the player to switch to another disc at certain points in the...
, set in 1947, as drivable vehicle.
Demise of the Cord
The design of the Cord 810/812 remains one of the most distinctive of the 20th century. In 1996, American Heritage magazine proclaimed the Cord 810 sedan ‘The Single Most Beautiful American Car’. The ‘Classic Cord’ Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels is a brand of die cast toy car, introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1996, when Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand from Tyco.-Models:...
toy car of the 1960s, a convertible coupé
Coupé
A coupé or coupe is a closed car body style , the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time...
, is one of the most valuable, and commands up to US$800 (2006) if still in an unopened package.
Revival
The sensational Cord 812 design was re-marketed almost immediately in 1940, but as a weakly funded effort by ailing automakers HupmobileHupmobile
The Hupmobile was an automobile built from 1909 through 1940 by the Hupp Motor Company, which was located at 345 Bellevue Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Its first car, the Model 20, was introduced to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in February 1909...
and Graham-Paige
Graham-Paige
Graham-Paige was an American automobile manufacturer founded by brothers Joseph B. Graham and Robert C. Graham , and Canadian Ray Austin in 1927. Automobile production ceased in 1940, and its automotive assets were acquired by Kaiser-Frazer in 1947...
, trying to save money by using the same body dies. Their 4-door sedans, the Hupp Skylark and the Graham Hollywood, were unremarkable. Retractable headlights gave way to plain headlight pods, and power came from a standard front-engine/rear-wheel drive design. Only about 1900 were built before production ceased in the fall of 1940. Between 1964 and 1970, two further attempts were made to replicate the original Buehrig design for limited production. Both Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
-based companies soon halted production amid financial difficulties. The 1966 replica Cord 810 was powered by a Corvair
Chevrolet Corvair
-First generation :The 1960 Corvair 500 and 700 series four-door sedans were conceived as economy cars offering few amenities in order to keep the price competitive, with the 500 selling for under $2,000...
drivetrain, while the 1968 thru 1970 models were Ford and Chrysler powered.
Sources
- Wise, David Burgess. "Cord: The Apex of a Triangle", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles, Vol. 4, pp. 435–7. London: Orbis, 1974.
External links
- Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club
- Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg Museum
- Auburn-Cord-Dusenberg Flickr Group
- Automotive History Online - Cord History and Photos Albums
- CordNet, a site for Cord enthusiasts
- History of second generation Cord Automobiles
See also
- List of automobile manufacturers
- List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers