L29 CORD CRASH == Frank Lloyd Wright?

[1937hd45]

I start my day looking at Photos From Days Gone By on the HAMB, there is a series of crash photos that were claimed to be the Frank Lloyd Wright L29 Cord, with a request for more info. I know he had a L29 Cord Cabriolet. 

 

Bob 

[oldford]

That might be the ugliest L29 I've ever seen... And I'm on record saying that it's my opinion that the L29 was just about the prettiest car ever built.

 

Frank

[keiser31]

Well, it certainly isn't very pretty after the wreck....

[mike6024]

 

Frank Lloyd Wright, who owned a Mercedes 300 SL, was commissioned to design the Max Hoffman Mercedes dealership showroom on Park Avenue in New York City. Photo courtesy Cooper Weeks.

Wright, who owned an L29, described his interest and ownership experience as follows: “I believe the principle of the front drive to be logical and scientific, therefore, inevitable for all cars. The proportion and lines of the Cord come nearer to expressing the beauty of both science and logic than any car I have ever seen.” Photo courtesy Nancy Friday.

http://www.hemmings.com/blog/2010/08/04/salisbury-concours-to-feature-the-cars-of-frank-lloyd-wright/

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by mike6024 (see edit history)

[keiser31]

I think it was a VERY stunning (as in good looking) car.

[oldford]

It certainly looks better in color....

[1937hd45]

I'd like to have an L29, and any body style would be fine if all the cabriolets are taken. Bob 

[mike6024]

 

Steve Brown 
Frank Lloyd Wright's 1929 Cord L-29 
Return visit to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, Indiana, March 11, 2011.
 
Wright purchased this Cord in the 1950's, not long before his death in 1959. He had the car painted in
this color, which he called "Taliesin Orange". It was the second Cord that he had owned. He bought
his first, a 1929 Cord Phaeton, new.

 

 

[mike6024]

This is a really funny quote, from the New York Times no less.

 

http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/08/09/automobiles/0809-wright_2.html

 

In the early 1920s, Wright bought a 1929 Cord L-29, which he praised for its front-wheel-drive. Besides, "It looked becoming to my houses," he wrote in his book "An Autobiography." He seemed to have a special bond with the Cord. "The feeling comes to me that the Cord should be heroic in this autobiography somewhere," he wrote.

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Well, needless to say, there's a whopping big typo in that quote. Surely his '29 Cord was bought in the early thirties.

[mercer09]

cmon Hudsy, Frank was way ahead of his time........................!

[8E45E]

And there was Tom Mix's Cord and his accident: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?60147-Tom-Mix-s-Cord

 

Craig

[46 woodie]

Well if it was Frank Lloyd Wrong's car the roof probably leaked. Wright's major flaw was that he refused to listen to his help and had an ego as big as a barn. Some of his designs were failures from the start. Falling Water needed millions in "fixes" that could have been avoided if he just listened. The cantilevered patio was in imminent danger of collapse and needed a total rebuild. His junior architects told him that it wouldn't work but he built it anyways. Many of his buildings are ahead of their time but have many leaks and other issues requiring millions of repairs. In fact there is a book about his failures. 

[8E45E]

Some of Frank Lloyd Wright's engineering, including building on seismically active locations, such as in Japan were successful.

 

Craig  

[cahartley]

13 hours ago, 46 woodie said:

Some of his designs were failures from the start. Falling Water needed millions in "fixes" that could have been avoided if he just listened. The cantilevered patio was in imminent danger of collapse and needed a total rebuild. His junior architects told him that it wouldn't work but he built it anyways. Many of his buildings are ahead of their time but have many leaks and other issues requiring millions of repairs. In fact there is a book about his failures. 

 

I've said similarly for years.

A SUCCESSFUL architect designs buildings that withstand the test of time.

Wright failed that test.

I've visited Taliesin.

"They" threw over $15 MILLION at it to save it......... 

 

There are more stories about other failures are the article >>> https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-03-31-0203310479-story.html

[mike6024]

 

This municipal building is still standing. The roof is cast concrete panels with a rubberized waterproof coating, or some such type coating. The roof leaked, and had to be re-done, but the concrete roof remained. It's just the coatings were all removed and a more modern type of coating used. It's a spectacular building. Has a library at the top I've been in. Library was put at the top to symbolize knowledge being of the highest importance.

 

http://www.marinij.com/2016/11/21/marin-hires-firm-for-21m-civic-center-roof-project/

 

Wright is reputed to have said, “If the roof doesn’t leak, the architect hasn’t been creative enough.”

 

 

There is a separate building behind the Civic Center that is round. The Marin (convention) Center I think it's called.

[mike6024]

I have a book on his "Usonian" houses. Small, affordable, concrete slab with radiant in floor heating, mostly flat roof. Large living area with fireplace and kitchen/dining area is one big open area. Other side of the house is a couple bathrooms and the bedrooms.

[mercer09]

Well if it was Frank Lloyd Wrong's car the roof probably leaked. Wright's major flaw was that he refused to listen to his help and had an ego as big as a barn. Some of his designs were failures from the start. Falling Water needed millions in "fixes" that could have been avoided if he just listened. The cantilevered patio was in imminent danger of collapse and needed a total rebuild. His junior architects told him that it wouldn't work but he built it anyways. Many of his buildings are ahead of their time but have many leaks and other issues requiring millions of repairs. In fact there is a book about his failures. 

 

and yet Fallingwaters still stands when he was told it wouldnt last a year. It is a Masterpiece and if youve never been, you should go.

 

Thank God he didnt listen to the naysayers!

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[mercer09]

ps regarding millions in repairs, that always happens when the government is involved, no matter how simple the problem.

[Hudsy Wudsy]

It's profoundly ironic that his artistic vision blinded him to important details.

[Gunsmoke]

As a young architect influenced by FLW's "way ahead of his time" mastery in the 1960's, I encourage critics to look at the influence he had on generations of architects to come. While many of his "monuments to modern architecture" like "Falling Water" may cost money to keep, they are precious creations of a genius. Many lesser architect's  contemporary houses have been bulldozed long ago. Like E L Cord, this man was way ahead of his time, saw a new and better way of doing things, and although his work may have had some technical flaws, much like E L Cord, we still talk about and admire their unique creations 100 years later! Or at least some of us do.

[46 woodie]

Genius? What kind of "genius" puts large opening trap doors as in Falling Water, over a creek. The dark, wet forrest breeds mosquitos. Once they opened the trap doors the building was inundated with mosquitos and other bugs and even a bird. The tour guide told us that when they suggested screens, Wright went ballistic and wouldn't allow it. He told us that the trap doors were never opened from that day on. Only after his death were screens added. The man didn't believe in insulation, his remark was "install bigger boilers". Take a tour of the Guggenheim in NYC the amount of "waisted unusable space" is greater then what is usable. Sure it's futuristic, but something like that could never be built like that in NYC in this day of energy conservation regulations. One thing I have learned in building design is, just because you dream it doesn't mean it can be built. 

[mercer09]

just because you dream it doesnt mean it can be built...............

 

 

 

and yet the greatest icons were built.

 

Bugatti Royal comes to mind..............................

[Gunsmoke]

The Best Architecture, much like the Best Automotive Design, involves 3 principle objectives, beauty (does it make you go Wow), utility (does it function better than you expect) and durability (does it last well and is it easy to maintain).  The designers who can achieve all 3 with an exceptional level of skill usually get widely recognized, for example in the 30's to 60's, Ettore Bugatti, Ferdinand Porsche, and Enzo Ferrari are universally recognized as among the best. In the World of Architecture in that period, the widely acclaimed equivalents are Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, Phillip Johnson, and Eero Saarinen. Among modern architects, Frank Gehry is considered perhaps the most eminent today. But since good design is a subjective subject, there is always room for dissenting views. Some consider construction that is well built and durable does not achieve the status of "Architecture" unless it makes you stop and go WOW. Same goes with cars!

[Steve9]

Well....some swear by him, some swear at him!

[mercer09]

 

It's profoundly ironic that his artistic vision blinded him to important details.

 

Hudsy, he was always way over budget............ money wasnt one of Franks strong points. He was broke often.

 

The Kaufmanns, whom he built Falling Waters for, werent all too keen on his spending. They used a diff architect for another project of theirs and Frank was pissed.

[8E45E]

4 minutes ago, mercer09 said:

The Kaufmanns, whom he built Falling Waters for, werent all too keen on his spending. They used a diff architect for another project of theirs and Frank was pissed.

The same scenario happened to Jorn Utzon over the construction of the Sydney Opera House, with cost overruns.  Jorn was pissed and would not attend the grand opening of it when it was completed.

 

Craig