Cord was the

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

of an American luxury automobile company from

Connersville, Indiana Connersville is a city in Fayette County, Indiana, Fayette County, east central Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,481 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. The city is the county seat ...

, manufactured by the Auburn Automobile Company from 1929 to 1932 and again in 1936 and 1937. The Cord Corporation was founded and run by E. L. Cord as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

for his many transportation interests, including the Auburn Automobile Company. Cord was noted for its innovative technology and streamlined designs.

Innovations

Cord innovations include

front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and 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 longitu ...

on the L-29 and

hidden headlamps Hidden headlamps, also commonly known as pop-up headlamps, pop-up headlights, flip-eye headlamps, or hideaway headlights, are a form of automotive lighting and an automotive styling feature that conceals an automobile's headlamps when they are not ...

on the 810 and 812. Though DeSoto used them in 1942, hidden headlamps did not reappear as a luxury feature until the 1960s, beginning with the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette. It was followed two years later by another

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

product, the Buick Riviera, whose GM stylists later stated they were trying to capture the "feel" of the Cord's design. "Servo" shifting was accomplished through a Bendix electro-vacuum pre-selector mechanism (a type of electromechanical shifting).

Cord L-29

This was the first American front-wheel drive car to be offered to the public, beating the Ruxton automobile by several months, in 1929. The brainchild of former

Miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...

engineer Cornelius Van Ranst, its drive system borrowed from the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

-dominating racers, using the same de Dion layout and inboard brakes. Built in Auburn, Indiana, the Cord was the first front-wheel-drive car to use

constant-velocity joint Constant-velocity joints (also known as homokinetic or CV joints) are mechanical joints which allow a drive shaft to transmit power through a variable angle, at constant rotational speed, without an appreciable increase in friction or play. The ...

s. While commonly used today in all front-wheel-drive vehicles, their first use was on the 1929 Cord. The lack of rear drivetrain components and straight frame (without rear kick-up to clear up the rear axle) allowed it to be much lower in height than competing cars whose average height was about six feet or almost two metres. 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 temperature gauge, oil pressure gauge, and speedometer on the left with a gas gauge, oil level gauge, and

Ammeter An ammeter (abbreviation of ''Ampere meter'') is an instrument used to measure the current in a circuit. Electric currents are measured in amperes (A), hence the name. For direct measurement, the ammeter is connected in series with the circuit ...

on the right of the steering wheel. It was powered by a Lycoming

L-head A flathead engine, also known as a sidevalve engine''American Rodder'', 6/94, pp.45 & 93. or valve-in-block engine is an internal combustion engine with its poppet valves contained within the engine block, instead of in the cylinder head, as ...

inline 8 from the Auburn 120, with the crankshaft pushed out through the front of the block and the

flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device which uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy; a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, as ...

mounted there, driving a three-speed

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission ** ...

. Gearing in both transmission and front axle was inadequate, and the car was underpowered, limited to a trifle over , inadequate even at the time, and readily exceeded by the less expensive Auburn. Still, the styling was lovely, and despite the

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (fron ...

and steering demanding fully four turns lock-to-lock, handling was reportedly superb. Priced around US$3,000, ($ in dollars ) it was competitive with

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed ...

, Marmon, Lincoln,

Packard Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Th ...

, Franklin, and

Stutz The Stutz Motor Car Company, was an American producer of high-end sports and luxury cars based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Production began in 1911 and ended in 1935. Stutz was known as a producer of fast cars including America's first spo ...

; the 1930

Chrysler Imperial The Chrysler Imperial, introduced in 1926, was Chrysler (division), Chrysler's top-of-the-line vehicle for much of its history. Models were produced with the Chrysler name until 1954, after which it became Imperial (automobile), a standalone bra ...

and Chrysler Eight copied several styling elements. It could not outrun the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, 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 810/812

The Model 810/812 are probably the best-known of the company's products. Styled by Gordon M. Buehrig, they featured front-wheel drive and independent front suspension. Having front drive enabled the model 810 to be built so low, to render

running board A running board or footboard is a narrow step fitted under the side doors of a tram ( cable car, trolley, or streetcar in North America), car, or truck. It aids entry, especially into high vehicles, and is typical of vintage trams and cars, ...

s unnecessary. Powered by a Lycoming V8 of the same as the L-29's straight-8, the 810 had a four-speed electrically selected semi-automatic transmission,(called a pre-selector because you selected the gear and then stepped on the clutch) among other innovative features like roll up headlights. The car caused a sensation at the

New York Auto Show The New York International Auto Show is an annual auto show that is held in Manhattan in late March or early April. It is held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. It usually opens on or just before Easter weekend and closes on the first S ...

in November 1935. Orders were taken at the show with Cord promising Christmas delivery, expecting production of 1,000 per month. Production delays pushed the expected delivery date to February 1936. This still proved optimistic – the first production vehicles were actually delivered in April. In all, Cord managed to sell only 1,174 of the new 810 in its first

model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated "MY") is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...

. The car is well known for its flat front nose with a horizontal louvered grille design instead of the common radiator-style grille, that made its nose resemble a

coffin A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation. Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for j ...

, earning it the nickname of "Coffin Nose".

Demise of the Cord

Early reliability problems, including slipping out of gear and

vapor lock Vapor lock is a problem caused by liquid fuel changing state to gas while still in the fuel delivery system of gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines. This disrupts the operation of the fuel pump, causing loss of feed pressure to the carbure ...

, cooled initial enthusiasm, and the dealer base shrank rapidly. Unsold left-over and in-process 1936 810s were re-numbered and sold as 1937 812s. In 1937, Auburn ceased production of the Cord. A single 1938 Cord prototype with some changes to the grille and transmission cover was built, and it still exists (2015). The Cord empire, amid allegations of financial fraud, was sold to the

Aviation Corporation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ai ...

, and E.L. Cord moved to Nevada where he earned millions in real estate and other enterprises.

Revival

The Cord 812 design was re-marketed almost immediately in 1940, as ailing automakers Hupmobile and Graham-Paige tried to save money, and revive the companies, by using the same body dies. Except for their similarity to the 810, their four-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. While Hupp Motor Company built a few prototypes in 1939 that gained them sales orders for the 1939 model year they did not have the resources to manufacture the car. Graham Paige stepped in offering to build the Hupmobile Skylarks on a per piece contract basis. Graham built a combined 1850 units for sale in the 1940 model year. Hupmobile closed before the 1941 model came around. Of the 1850 cars produced in the 1940 model year by Graham only about 450 were the Hupmobile Skylarks. Graham continued to build the Hollywood late into 1941. They stopped production in November of that year having only built a rumored 400 units. The Hollywood was powered by a supercharged Continental in line six making 124 HP, almost 50 less than the original supercharged Cord.

Trivia

The plot of the

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

movie '' Where the Spies Are'' features a rare Cord convertible as the incentive for the hero to undertake an espionage mission. The movie was based on the

James Leasor James Leasor (20 December 1923 – 10 September 2007) was a prolific British author, who wrote historical books and thrillers. A number of Leasor's works were made into films, including his 1978 book, ''Boarding Party'', about an incident from ...

novel ''Passport to Oblivion'', which is one of a series of suspense/intrigue novels featuring the fictitious Dr. Jason Love, whose "infatuation" with the Cord roadster played a prominent part. In the novel '' Live and Let Die'', Felix Leiter drives a Cord of unspecified model when he and

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

are in Florida. The original design for the

Batmobile The Batmobile is the fictional car driven by the superhero Batman. Housed in the Batcave, which it accesses through a hidden entrance, the Batmobile is both a heavily armored tactical assault vehicle and a personalized custom-built pursuit and ...

was a red convertible based on the Cord 812, which

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

creator Bob Kane considered one of his favorite vehicles and fitting for the millionaire vigilante. The 1965 film ''

What's New Pussycat? ''What's New Pussycat?'' is a 1965 screwball comedy film directed by Clive Donner, written by Woody Allen in his first produced screenplay, and starring Allen in his acting debut, along with Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider, Capuci ...

'' featured a rather battered red Cord 810 convertible with French selective yellow headlights. The car was piloted in several scenes by

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

whose character drove on the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

pavements (sidewalks). A yellow Cord 810 is seen driven by young gangster Bobby Malto in the 1991 TV-Movie "The Return of Eliot Ness", which starred Robert Stack, reprising his title role from "The Untouchables" 1959-1963 TV series. In the 1994 film ''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

'', Moses Shrevnitz (

Peter Boyle Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. Known as a character actor, he played Frank Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'' and the comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof '' Young ...

) drives a 1936 Cord 810 Westchester that was stretched and custom-painted as a taxi cab. "bePUZZLED" brand puzzles is a series of puzzles which feature a short mystery story to go along with the picture in the assembled puzzle. A puzzle and story in the series is called A Classic Case of Murder and features a creme colored 1936 810 Cord in the story and pictured in the puzzle. Copyright 1992. In the 2001 PlayStation exclusive car combat game Twisted Metal: Black. The playable driver No-Face has a car based on the Cord 810, nicknamed "Crazy 8". In the 2002 PC and PlayStation 2 game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven the Cord 810 and 812 are featured under a cover-up names Thor 810 and Thor 812 FWD. The Thor 810 is based on the normally aspirated version with no outside exhaust, while the Thor 812 FWD, available only as a convertible in the game, is based on the supercharged version with the outside exhausts on the side of the engine bay. The played could even feel the car being front wheel drive, as the game featured sophisticated physical model of all cars (and guns for that matter) and so the Thor handled differently than the other rear driven cars. In the 2020 remake of the game, only one version is featured under the name Berkeley 810 and is derived from the two door supercharged version with a solid roof. As part of his series Jay Leno's Garage in 2013, Jay featured his ow
Cord 812
which he had previousl
written about
in Popular Mechanics. The car had been lovingly restored by amateur restorer Arthur Pirre. On

Gram Parsons Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) who was known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, ...

' 1973 album ''GP'', the song "The New Soft Shoe" is written about E.L Cord and his famous automobiles. In classic crime film

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...

, a Cord 810 convertible is briefly seen on the estate of Jack Woltz. Some sung versions of Rodgers and Hart song '' The Lady is a Tramp'' refer to "Lincolns and Cords"

References

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

- Cord History and Photos Albums
CordNet, a site for Cord enthusiasts

History of second generation Cord Automobiles

References

* Malks, Josh B.
Cord 810/812: The Timeless Classic
'. {{Authority control Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana Streamline Moderne cars Defunct manufacturing companies based in Indiana Front-wheel-drive vehicles Defunct brands Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1929 Luxury vehicles

Innovations

Cord L-29

Cord Model 810/812

Demise of the Cord

Revival

Trivia

See also

References

Sources

External links

References