1936 Cord restoration project

[Guest martylum]

Hi-I'm just beginning to restore a 1936 Cord sedan and am looking for new or good used mechanical parts and some body parts including front or rear fenders.

Thanks

Martin Lum

Central PA area near Hershey

marty@oldercar.com

717-749-3383

[Guest PowerDr.]

With or without side mounts?

[keiser31]

Mmmmm....1936 Cord with sidemounts? Never heard of that one before.

[Guest ChrisSummers]

Actually, such a beast does exist. Five 812s were built with specially-ordered sidemounts. At least one still exists and is pictured in Griffith Borgeson's book on E.L. Cord.

It isn't as bad-looking as it sounds, but it's not pretty either.

Good luck on your project! I suggest joining the ACD Club, which will give you access to a lot of great parts and technical information, as well as great people.

http://www.acdclub.org

[sunroofcord]

There's actually two Cords with Sidemounts that still exist, a Convertible Phaeton and a Custom Beverly

[West Peterson]

Sorry to continue to hijack this thread, but have either of those been restored?

[sunroofcord]

Sorry to continue to hijack this thread, but have either of those been restored?

No problem Wes. The Phaeton was restored years ago. I took pictures of it at Auburn in 1977 and there was a website with the restoration progress of the Custom Beverly that I'm having trouble finding again.The Custom Beverly had some armor in it as I recall. I will try to find a picture of the finished Phaeton to post.

[unimogjohn]

Just happened on this thread, so thought I had a couple of pics of a Cord convert with side mounts that I took a couple of months ago. I have no idea as to the age of the car, all I know is what you see in the pics. Hope they are interesting to someone. I believe the car is original. It was very impressive.

[keiser31]

The white car with the sidemounts is a Packard. The yellow car with NO sidemounts is a Cord.

[unimogjohn]

Just happened on this thread, so thought I had a couple of pics of a Packard convert and Cord convert with side mounts that I took a couple of months ago. I have no idea as to the age of the cars, all I know is what you see in the pics. Hope they are interesting to someone. I believe the cars are original. Both were equally very impressive.

[trimacar]

That's my garage, by the way. The light cream Packard is a 1938 super 8, restored in 1975, and a CCCA first place winner then. It's still nice, but has been driven and far from perfect. The 37 Cord is unrestored, bad paint job, mostly original interior, everything on it is correct and complete. It runs great, shifting was good up until a few years ago, I need to install wiring harness and do some vacuum work. I put the top on John's Buick touring, so we've become buddies. best David C.

[Seldenguy]

Many years ago there was a side mounted Cord pheaton here in western New York. It was owned by Clarence Stanbury of Bath NY.It came here from Ontario, Canada to be upholstered by a very meticulous trimmer near Bath. He complained to Clarence about the trimmers slowness, Clarence replied " Why don't you sell it to me? Retort, "Okay I will" I am sure when it was seen in Auburn in'77 it was owned by Clarence. A side note, one day a friend of mine wanted to see Clarences collection, I made the arrangments and took my friend, we entered the car storage and a house cat was walking around on the Cord hood and in and around the side mounts. My friend said to Clarence do you let that cat walk on your cars? Clarence said "that cat can do anything it wants to in this house there are nights when I get home late and he's the only friend I have!" Upon Clarences passing a few years ago I understood the car had gone to his daughter in Pennsylvania. Where it is now I don't know. ---Bob

[sunroofcord]

Heres' some pics of the Stanbury Cord Phaeton with sidemounts

1. New

2. Before restoration

3. After Restoration

Edited November 30, 2009 by sunroofcord (see edit history)

[keiser31]

Thanks for posting the photos of the sidemounted Cords. I love it when I learn here.

[alsancle]

The field pic is great!

[sunroofcord]

Thanks to Jim Brockman and his wife who donated there ACD picture collection to the ACD Club and Mike Huffman who did a FANTASTIC job scanning them to the ACD website Home, you can find a couple GREAT pictures of the Cord Phaeton with sidemounts top down here;

http://www.cordhaven.com/acd/brockman/cord%20810-812/JBA1019.jpg

[Guest Garfield]

I know it is an old thread but thought I might cap it off-- I know the Sidemount Custom Beverly--It is in my Garage/workshop having the clutch replaced again. ( I screwed up the first time). The car is in year 22 of an 18 month restoration although it is fully complete and original with 50,000 miles and a lot of storage on the clock. 10182S C220 Cat 1 FB2850

In the three pictures earlier in the thread, my car is the one on the trailer as it left a shed in Conn. about 1969. When I got it it actually started and ran. In the original strip down I found armour in the rear doors, part of the rear tumble home and across the rear of the back seat. This may explain the need for side mounts. Paper indicates it came from La, but nothing substantial. The original paint was a silvery grey- not the cord grey and one door was originally an olive colour. Hope to have it back on the road with new interior (purchased 10 years ago and still in boxes) within the year.

[alsancle]

Pictures please!

[trp3141592]

Hi,

So what happened to the cat?

--Tom

[Guest PackardV8]

From post #17 above:

"Paper indicates it came from La, but nothing substantial. "

Not sure what that means. What kind of a paper is it?? A newspaper??? a hotel reciept???

Humor me. I'm running on a long shot hunch as to who may have owned such an armoured FWD car with Louisana tracing. Al Capone. It;s a long shot hunch tho.

[Guest Garfield]

Further to sidemount cord

Previous owner claimed it was ordered for Huey Long. Documentation, (1980 letter from Sen. Long on Senate Stationery) states he had no record or recollection of such a car. Timing was off as well- assasination was too early. My last hard trace was a barn in Newton Mass owned by a Rocky Karrerras. I have a photo in the barn and as it was removed.

The armor was 3/8, riveted and bolted, fitted very professionally in doors on wood and fibre rubber blocks- across the trunk was much cruder installation but still no shade tree project. Armor was extremely corroded with virtually no corrosion in surrounding car- metallurgy problem perhaps? I have removed all the armor- about 400 lbs including rust [iles and fixed the sagging around the doors.

Garry M

[Guest PackardV8]

Google one Joe Bergl. HE installed some armour plate for various people of the prohibition era. Your statement "Timing was off as well- assasination was too early. " i'm not sure who u are refering to. Capone died late 1940's from consumption and went to prison about 1941 or 42 just before the war.

I mite guess the side mounts could have been a joe bergl too. Are there any other peculurarities about the car????? Any patched bullet holes???

[Guest PackardV8]

No wait a minute. Capone went to prison in 1932 and released about 1942 just before the war. So not likely his car after all. But check the Joe Bergl lead. Got anything else better to go on???

[Guest Garfield]

I was referring to Huey Long "the kingfish'- but the story doesn't hold up because he was killed in Sept '35. I really dont think it was prohibition car- I understand that they preferred running boards and visibility- neither a cord attribute.

We'll probably never know---its fun to speculate but I'm having fun with her regardless.

Only other attribute was a non standard color - a silvery greenish tint grey rather than cadet grey- came with paint chips screwed under dash board.

Im sure the side mounts were factory just like the other four cars--my covers are different than Stanbury's in that my centres are hub caps. but the holes in the fence, the mounting hardware in the wells and the extra supports look original- The car is overall very original right down to the interior and I am sure I am the first serious wrench on it.

[trimacar]

Well, if I were a gangster and wanted to make a quick get-away, a Cord with electro-pneumatic shifting sure would be last on my list.

You'd make an easy target, as you pushed in clutch and gave a little gas, hoping that by some miracle it would make the shift into gear this time.

I just got mine back on the road, and every time it goes into the gear I select, it's like a little gift......

Somehow I can't see the Kingfish being interested in such a car, he was too busy keeping his politics as crooked as possible. Yes, I'm from Louisiana, in case you don't know, that's the state that's half under water and half under indictment......