1937 Cord 812 Cabriolet

The 'Coffin Nose' car, as it was called, is one of 64 cabriolets built with the supercharged motor and is painted in the corporate advertised color of 'Rich Maroon.' These cars were originally conceived as a baby Duesenberg, and their avant-garde style was built in four different body designs. Produced to bolster the ailing Auburn Motor Company of Indiana, production of the Cord only totaled 2,907 units in two years, 1936 and 1937. The advertised - and underrated - horsepower was 170 horsepower but with the Cummins-Schwitizer-Cummins supercharger atop the Lycoming engine, it consistently produced twenty-five more horsepower. When driven by Ab Jenkins in tests for the Cord Co., he repeatedly drove these cars at the 107 miles per hour mark on distances between 5 to 200 miles per test.

The body, by master artist Gordon Buehrig, was the last vehicle conceived and designed by one person. Hereafter, groups and committees of employees would collectively design new vehicles for their respective automobile nameplates. The metal stamping facility, Central Manufacturing Co., which pressed the exquisite forms of these cars, also stamped kitchen cabinets for Montgomery Ward when automobile orders were slow. Although loved and driven by people such as Tom Mix, Tyrone Power, Amelia Earhart and Ida Lupino, the front-wheel drive concept coupled with an electric shift transmission and higher than anticipated production costs were equal factors in contributing to the demise of Mr. Errett Lobban Cord's automobile empire.

This Cord Cabriolet was purchased from Mark Blaisdell of New York in 1995 by Tom Dudley of Howell, Michigan. I was given a restoration, preserving the 1937 distinctive features such as the notched wheel housings, dashboard defroster plates, and tubular cowl braces. Other distinctive features include the locking glove box, small oval rear window, and the woven wire hood screens.

The engine and its stub frame are not original to the car. It has a replacement factory-supercharged engine and transmission, and a replacement stub frame.

The restored car was finished in Rich Maroon and made its debut at the ACD Club's National Reunion in 2007. There it was awarded the Gordon Buehrig Trophy for Best 810/812 Cord and the Harold Ames Trophy for Best of Show. Several months later, it was approved for the Club's Category One Certification.

A short time later, it came into the care of its current owner. Since then, it has won Best in Class at the Amelia Island Concours in both 2009 and 2015 and at the Ault Park Concours in 2014, as well as the President's Choice Award at the 2015 Lake Mirror Classic.