Cord – an automobile ahead of it’s time

E.L. Cord built cars that looked like nothing else on American roads — no running boards, hidden headlights, front-wheel drive borrowed straight from Indianapolis race cars. Twice, in 1929 and again in 1935, his innovations wowed showrooms and auto show crowds before mechanical problems and bad timing cut production short. The 810/812’s “coffin nose” styling is now considered decades ahead of its time. Read on to see how ambition outran what Cord’s factory could actually deliver.

Most car companies play it safe. E.L. Cord did not, and the automobile that carried his name nearly broke every convention Detroit held sacred in the process — no running boards, no driveshaft hump, headlights that vanished into the fenders. It looked like nothing else on the road in 1929, and for a few golden months in 1935 it looked like nothing else on the road again. Both times, the engineering ambition outran what the factory could actually deliver, and both times the company paid for it. What exactly went wrong — twice — with a car this far ahead of its time?

The L-29’s Radical First Move

Cord’s L-29, introduced for 1929, used front-wheel drive engineered by Carl Van Ranst and borrowed from Indianapolis racing practice, paired with de Dion-style outboard construction and inboard brakes mounted to the frame rather than the wheel hubs. Dropping the driveshaft let engineers lower the whole car, and without a hump running down the floor, Cord could skip running boards entirely — a genuinely rare look for 1929. The L-29’s inline eight, a 301-cubic-inch Lycoming unit, made 125 horsepower, respectable output for the era. But the differential gearing couldn’t cope with a 4,700-pound curb weight, and even with a top speed near 80 mph, the L-29 struggled to outrun cheaper Auburns riding down the same assembly line. Innovation had outpaced execution.

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Beautiful, Broke, and Gone by 1932

The L-29 won styling honors around the world for a shape unlike anything else on American roads, but looks couldn’t offset the timing. The car launched into the teeth of the Great Depression, and by 1932 Cord had pulled the plug on the model entirely, unable to sustain the losses on a car few could still afford. It would be four years before the Cord name returned to showrooms — and this time with an entirely different engine layout.

The 810 and 812 Steal the 1935 Auto Show

When the 810 debuted at the November 1935 New York Auto Show, it stopped traffic. A 289-cubic-inch Lycoming V8 producing 125 horsepower drove the front wheels through a four-speed, electrically selected semi-automatic transmission, while the body dropped running boards again, hid the headlights, and wore a flat, louvered grille that earned it the nickname “coffin nose.” E.L. Cord’s team booked Christmas-delivery orders on the spot, with Mr. Cord planning to build 1,000 cars a month.

When Ambition Outran the Assembly Line

Reality landed hard. Only a handful of the prepaid Christmas orders shipped by February; most buyers didn’t see their cars until April. Total first-year production reached just 1,174 units against Cord’s ambitious monthly target, and early cars developed a habit of slipping out of gear along with carburetors prone to vapor lock. Dealers who’d been thrilled at the auto show started dropping the Cord line before the first model year even ended.

A Single 1938 Prototype and a Quiet Exit

Leftover 1936 stock was retitled and sold as 1937 models, and Cord built exactly one more example in 1938 — a prototype with a revised grille and transmission covers, reportedly still in existence as of 2009. E.L. Cord then sold the company to the Aviation Corporation amid rumors of fraud, and walked away to build a second fortune in Nevada real estate, leaving the Cord nameplate behind for good.

Why Collectors Still Chase the Coffin Nose

Despite, or because of, its short and troubled production run, the 810/812 is now considered one of the most influential American designs of the 1930s, cited by design historians for pushing hidden headlights and streamlined, unibody-adjacent styling years before the rest of the industry caught up. Rarity only sharpens the appeal — with barely over a thousand 810/812s built across two model years, surviving examples in good order command serious money at auction today.

Front-Wheel Drive’s Forgotten Pioneer

It’s easy to forget, looking at a modern front-drive sedan, that Cord got there first among American manufacturers, more than two decades before the layout became common. The L-29’s inboard brakes and low stance previewed engineering ideas that wouldn’t fully mature until well after Cord itself had disappeared, and the man behind it, Carl Van Ranst, drew directly from Indianapolis 500 race-car practice to make it work on a street car.

The Man Who Built the Company

E.L. Cord didn’t start out as a manufacturer. He made his first real money as a car salesman with a gift for reviving failing dealerships, and he used that success to take control of the struggling Auburn Automobile Company in the 1920s, turning it profitable before layering the Cord and Duesenberg nameplates on top of it as engineering-forward companion brands. Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg together formed one of the most ambitious independent automotive groups of the era, built almost entirely on Cord’s willingness to bet on ideas that bigger manufacturers in Detroit considered too risky to put into production. That same appetite for risk explains both why the 810 and 812 looked decades ahead of anything else on the road in 1935 and why the parent company ultimately couldn’t survive the bet it had made on them.

What Survivors Are Worth Today

Because so few 810s and 812s left the factory to begin with, and fewer still survive in well-documented, unrestored or properly restored condition, good examples routinely draw strong six-figure interest at major collector auctions, with the rarer cabriolet body style commanding a premium over the sedans. The L-29, despite outselling its successor by a wide margin during its own production run, is arguably scarcer today in comparable condition — many were scrapped or heavily modified once cheaper, faster postwar cars made an underpowered, gear-slipping front-driver look like a poor daily driver rather than a design landmark worth preserving.

A Design Language That Outlived the Company

Later postwar American cars, from finned Cadillacs to the low-slung customs of the 1950s, borrowed visual cues directly from what Cord’s stylists had done a decade earlier — integrated fenders, a low beltline, and a face built around a single strong horizontal element instead of a traditional upright grille. Design historians regularly point to the 810/812 as a bridge between prewar Art Deco automotive styling and the more aerodynamic, integrated shapes that would define American cars after the Second World War, giving Cord’s brief, failed production run an influence that outlasted the company itself by decades.

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