You Can Still Touch Amelia's Soul
After it was split apart in the 1950s, Amelia Earhart's personal Cord 812 is back together again and looks as good as new. On September 20, 1936, record-setting aviator Amelia Earhart posed for a picture in front of her Cord convertible and Lockheed Electra airplane. All three eventually vanished. Although Earhart and her Lockheed are still missing, her Cord has since resurfaced.
The Cord 810 (later known as the 812) debuted in late 1935. Whereas most cars of this era were of the body-on-frame type and relied on a front-mounted engine to power their rear wheels, the front-engine Cord broke the mold by adopting unibody construction and a front-wheel-drive setup. This combination netted the 810 a head-turning low-slung look.
Cord complemented this with other state-of-the-art features such as forward-opening doors with hidden hinges (exposed hinges were then the norm). Instead of a chrome-laden grille, the 810 featured subtle horizontal louvers. It also introduced hidden headlights to the automotive industry. When not in use, the Cord's headlights folded into the front fenders, a design cribbed from the retractable landing lights of Stinson airplanes.
Stylist Gordon Buehrig had previously designed Stutz cars that raced at Le Mans and the Duesenberg Model J, but the Cord was his most daring work.
"Even beyond the styling, a well-restored Cord is just a really fun car to drive," said Travis LaVine of LaVine Restorations, the shop that restored Earhart's Cord. "People see these cars as art, but they're functional, very stable for highway cruising, and [have] lots of V-8 power."
LaVine grew up with Cords, as both of his parents were involved with the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club (ACD). To put into perspective how thoroughly LaVine Restorations restored Earhart's Cord, consider the fact the car received a seemingly mathematically impossible score of 1002 out of 1000 points at the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Festival. Expert ACD judges went over the car's every microscopic detail. Credit a handful of rare accessories for the extra points received.
Having been the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air (and only the second person to do so—she was also the first person to cross it twice), Earhart set her sights on circumnavigating the globe. On May 21, 1937, she and navigator Fred Noonan left Oakland, California, and headed east.
After covering 22,000 miles over several weeks, they touched down in New Guinea for fuel, departing on July 2, 1937. No one ever saw them again.
Earhart's husband, George Putnam, commissioned several expensive searches, but nothing turned up. In 1939, he had her officially declared dead and liquidated parts of her estate, including the Cord.
The Earhart Cord was quite rare, being one of the last 200 cars built in 1936. It was thus a mix of Cord 810 and 812 parts, though it was officially listed as a 1937 Cord 812.
This rarity didn't translate to its preservation, as like many Cords in the postwar period, the 812 formerly owned by Earhart was neglected. The fact that few mechanics knew how to work on these front-drive American machines certainly didn't make maintaining one any easier.
Article edited from Car and Driver Magazine
Inset Photo: Hagerty Drivers Foundation
You Can Still Touch Amelia's Soul
After it was split apart in the 1950s, Amelia Earhart's personal Cord 812 is back together again and looks as good as new. On September 20, 1936, record-setting aviator Amelia Earhart posed for a picture in front of her Cord convertible and Lockheed Electra airplane. All three eventually vanished. Although Earhart and her Lockheed are still missing, her Cord has since resurfaced.
The Cord 810 (later known as the 812) debuted in late 1935. Whereas most cars of this era were of the body-on-frame type and relied on a front-mounted engine to power their rear wheels, the front-engine Cord broke the mold by adopting unibody construction and a front-wheel-drive setup. This combination netted the 810 a head-turning low-slung look.
Cord complemented this with other state-of-the-art features such as forward-opening doors with hidden hinges (exposed hinges were then the norm). Instead of a chrome-laden grille, the 810 featured subtle horizontal louvers. It also introduced hidden headlights to the automotive industry. When not in use, the Cord's headlights folded into the front fenders, a design cribbed from the retractable landing lights of Stinson airplanes.
Stylist Gordon Buehrig had previously designed Stutz cars that raced at Le Mans and the Duesenberg Model J, but the Cord was his most daring work.
"Even beyond the styling, a well-restored Cord is just a really fun car to drive," said Travis LaVine of LaVine Restorations, the shop that restored Earhart's Cord. "People see these cars as art, but they're functional, very stable for highway cruising, and [have] lots of V-8 power."
LaVine grew up with Cords, as both of his parents were involved with the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Club (ACD). To put into perspective how thoroughly LaVine Restorations restored Earhart's Cord, consider the fact the car received a seemingly mathematically impossible score of 1002 out of 1000 points at the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Festival. Expert ACD judges went over the car's every microscopic detail. Credit a handful of rare accessories for the extra points received.
Having been the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air (and only the second person to do so—she was also the first person to cross it twice), Earhart set her sights on circumnavigating the globe. On May 21, 1937, she and navigator Fred Noonan left Oakland, California, and headed east.
After covering 22,000 miles over several weeks, they touched down in New Guinea for fuel, departing on July 2, 1937. No one ever saw them again.
Earhart's husband, George Putnam, commissioned several expensive searches, but nothing turned up. In 1939, he had her officially declared dead and liquidated parts of her estate, including the Cord.
The Earhart Cord was quite rare, being one of the last 200 cars built in 1936. It was thus a mix of Cord 810 and 812 parts, though it was officially listed as a 1937 Cord 812.
This rarity didn't translate to its preservation, as like many Cords in the postwar period, the 812 formerly owned by Earhart was neglected. The fact that few mechanics knew how to work on these front-drive American machines certainly didn't make maintaining one any easier.
Article edited from Car and Driver Magazine
Inset Photo: Hagerty Drivers Foundation