Hi Gang…

From the start, we’ve always been focused on hand-built American cars.  While mostly defined by the “sports car” genre, we’ve been intrigued by other hand-built cars, trucks, transporters and more.  So when we came across a craigslist ad about two years ago for a “long-wheelbase” Cord Phaeton, we were intrigued to learn more.  But as I always say….be careful what you research – and what you wish for.

Sports Cars, Sporty Cars and Sport Customs

It’s interesting researching handbuilt postwar sports cars – and they didn’t suddenly “appear.”  Just after World War II ended, there was great interest in creating something small and sporty in line with some of the European sports cars seen both pre and early postwar times.

American sports cars started out different than their sporty European counterparts.  Typically they were larger in size and greater in power.  And many of these early American sports cars shared characteristics of larger cars in size with an emphasis on improved power and performance.   Both then and now, we call these early sports cars “sport customs.”

Sometimes “sport customs” were created using an original body design and other times they were created from existing cars and modified in stylish ways.  The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance showcased a class of these sports customs on their field in August, 2012.  Click here to learn more.

And it was in those early postwar “sport custom” years that it appears that this long-wheelbase Cord may have been created.

The Postwar Cord “Customs”

In reviewing magazines from the 1950s, several Cord 810 and 812 models were modified and built by creative and talented artisans across America.  Some changed out just the drivetrain making the Cord a rear-wheel drive car – and that’s not as easy as it sounds.  The Cord was a front wheel drive car with unibody and subframe construction.  This means that the body itself had to be modified to either accept a rear-wheel drive configuration or a different frame would have to be fitted to the body.  In either event, not an easy task to do.

Several modified Cords were built some on different chassis, others with modified bodies and some using just the Cord drivetrain.  It was an interesting and creative time in building and customizing your own car and we’ll feature some of the vintage photos and stories of these modified Cords in the future.  From what we know now, the modified Cord Phaeton we found is one of the few surviving postwar modified Cords with research still to follow.  An exciting find indeed.

We’re Off To Pick up The Cord

So Craig Johnson and I headed out to check out the Cord on one of our visits in late 2017, and boy was that car long!  All modifications to length appear to have been forward of the windshield and the Cord was fitted to a Chrysler frame of unknown vintage.  The only date we could find on the car was an oil change sticker from 1962 in Lowell, Massachusetts.  Not a lot to go on, but research is never easy and at least we had a place to start.

We waited out the winter and by April, 2018 we had made our way back to New England and arranged to pick up the car.   Friends from Connecticut accompanied us this time – Pete and Nick Bujnowski – and were there to help load, transport and store the Cord for us for a bit.  All went well, we transported the Cord back to their home in western Connecticut, and parked until later when we could pick it up.

Bringing The Cord Home To Tampa, Florida

Our travels brought us back to Connecticut with an empty trailer in late 2018 and we made arrangements to bring the Cord home – just in the nick of time.  While we were staying in Connecticut for a few days, the weather turned from “nice” to “winter” in an instant.  Florida weather is so much more predictable – Connecticut weather not as much.  So we waited a few days for the weather to clear and headed home.

Summary:

We arrived home in just before Christmas in 2018 and with the help of more friends off-loaded the Cord and put it into storage.  But what did we find and acquire?  That’s for the next part of this story.  In the meantime, check out some of the additional photos we posted below.

Hope you enjoyed the story, and remember…

The adventure continues here at Undiscovered Classics.

Geoff