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Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show

  • streamliner
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16 May 2012 03:44 #22868 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
This photo came from Gordon's "Rolling Sculpture". Who were Kunkel Motors, and why would they have one of the first supercharged Cords the same week as the New York Auto Show? Not only that, but it's a convertible!?! Alex had identified a photo of a convertible with Faulkner as the one returning triumphantly from the New York show, but that photo was also ID'd as the first production 812SC. Any ideas?

Was this photo mislabeled, or is there any other information as to the date it was actually photographed?


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  • Josh Malks
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16 Jan 2012 03:31 #21930 by Josh Malks
The gist of this thread is planned for publication in issue #2 or #3 of the Newsletter for 2012.

That first photographed Super-charged Cord is almost definitely a re-numbered 810 Beverly. I don't know what happened to it, but I'd buy it in a minute!

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16 Jan 2012 02:54 #21929 by dryesandno
this forum is just so cool.....and this thread so interesting......and the contributors so knowledgable with such a wealth of information.

many thanks for these wonderful insights into the very detailed history of the personalities behind the design of our beloved cars.....

we are priviliged to be members of such an amazing club!!!!

ps. might i suggest that portions of this thread be published in an upcoming newsletter if possible. i am sure those members not regularly using this forum would be very interested in this information and the sort of Ripley's Believe it or Not story behind how and when the pipes first arrived on their cars and the mystery that surrounds their first public display.

that picture of the supercharged armchair beverly at the Chicago auto show......i always wondered if there might be a renumbered armchair car that was supercharged in those first few supercharged cars. does anyone know what ever happened to that car?

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  • Mike Dube
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04 Jan 2012 14:46 #21851 by Mike Dube

alsancle wrote: This is a great thread!


Yes it is! This website and it's contributors have become one of our biggest assets.

My sincere thanks to all involved with its maintenance.

Mike
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04 Jan 2012 13:15 #21849 by alsancle
This is a great thread!

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04 Jan 2012 12:04 #21848 by
Replied by on topic memories
Josh
Boy! Josh I'm with you. I've heard that so much. So in So said So in So said.
K Clark

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  • Josh Malks
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03 Jan 2012 23:53 #21845 by Josh Malks
Memories are fallible. Journalists are fallible. So are historians. So are books and magazines, and threads and word-of-mouth. Gordon's memories of what went on at Auburn in 1935 are contradicted by memos and artifacts. Alex thought that Phil Egan's book on the making of the Tucker was rife with errors. I wrote a second Cord book to correct some of what I wrote in the first book and may have gotten some other things wrong the second time around. Even written historical material can often be interpreted in more than one way because the writer is no longer around to say what he meant exactly.

For this new year, may we accept that history is nuanced, and that all of the ACD pioneers who we revere deserve such reverence. Maybe they did such-and-such, maybe they didn't. But what would we have without them?

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  • Chris Summers
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03 Jan 2012 23:20 #21842 by Chris Summers
Replied by Chris Summers on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
Bill, as I understand it from Steve's comments, yes.

P. 149 shows Don Randall's 1936 Cord 810 Beverly (armchair). P. 213 shows some of Alex Tremulis's Cord front end proposals. It's interesting that Bob would request Alex's signature on the 1936 Cord which was "pure Buehrig." I would suggest that it was intended for Buehrig to sign p. 149 and Tremulis to sign p. 213?

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  • Bill Hummel
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03 Jan 2012 23:16 #21841 by Bill Hummel
Replied by Bill Hummel on topic Cord "Fiction" Book
Which book is Gordon referring to when he says "Cord 'Fiction' Book?"

No book is 100% correct, but there must be some glaring discrepencies in this book for Gordon to refer to it as a "Fiction" book.

Is he referring to Borgeson's book on my grandfather?

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03 Jan 2012 21:43 #21838 by Chris Summers
Replied by Chris Summers on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
Reading his letter of resignation, I like Alex Tremulis more and more. My kinda guy.

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03 Jan 2012 21:15 #21837 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
I?ve gone through some more files to look for the reason behind Gordon?s ?I Beg To Differ? comments, and I think I can provide a little more information, but I never even knew that there was any controversy over the pipes.

As far as Gordon?s frustrations towards Alex, I think they?re totally understandable. You have to look at them from his point of view. The pipes on the 1937 supercharged Cord became a major focal point on the Cord only after Gordon left. It?s like when you?re playing Scrabble and your letters spell out one of the biggest word scores of the game. Then some guy comes along and just adds on an ?S? and gets a triple word score. I?m sure it must have been frustrating.

Both Alex and Gordon had plenty of time to correct any differences they may have had concerning the pipes. They were both at Ford from 1952 to 1963, where Alex even worked in the same Lincoln studio as Gordon for a while. In the late 1960?s, they both publicly shared their recollections with Bill Kinsman on the ?Lost Connersville Photos?. Alex?s memories of the supercharged show cars featured prominently. At that time there was apparently either no dispute or maybe it was just talked about at the cafeteria tables. I?d assume that many of the other players involved were still alive at that time who would have set the record straight, if necessary.

Alex?s resignation letter to Henry Ford II sheds a little more light on the circumstances on his departure from Ford and Alex?s take on the nature of those anti-Tremulis comments. Apparently there was a lot of table-talk going on at Ford:



Throughout the rest of the ?60?s and ?70?s they both attended ACD meets, sometimes together. Alex?s stories at these meets were always a source of entertainment. For three decades, the ACD Newsletter published numerous references to Tremulis? connection with the supercharged Cord?s sidepipes, alongside Gordon?s comments and his own recollections. Still, there was no issue at that time.

When Gordon?s book, ?Rolling Sculpture?, was published, Alex was one of the first to offer his congratulations. Gordon even went so far as to use Alex?s letter as part of his review for the book:



In February, 1988, Alex even apologized directly to Gordon for putting the sidepipes on the supercharged Cord. Apparently Gordon never did like those pipes after all. It?s ironic that of all the cars he designed, he chose the 1937 supercharged Cord for the cover of Rolling Sculpture.



In April of 1988, Gordon?s reply to Alex, although very short, provides a lot of insight to his ?I Beg To Differ? comments. In it he implied that even the ?Errett Lobban Cord? book that they both autographed for Bob McEwan was also a work of ?fiction? and that as far as Tucker goes, Alex was probably the only one left alive who had the story to tell. Very similar parallels to his ?I Beg To Differ? comments:



Then just a few months later, at the exact time Gordon questioned Alex?s accomplishments, one of the biggest Hollywood directors of our day, Francis Ford Coppola, was introducing his movie Tucker, A Man and His Dream, in which Alex Tremulis? character plays a prominent role. With Coppola?s Oscar-winning Godfather movies and the highly publicized and way over-budget Apocalypse Now, anything he did was big news and big bucks. Tucker was no exception. The movie was being pre-reviewed in every publication and especially in automotive journals. If you were a car guy, you couldn?t escape it. And Alex, being someone who was there for it all, was highly sought after for comments on what it really was like. It sounds glamorous but it wasn?t. There were no royalties from the movie and the consulting payment barely covered the costs of having his house turned inside out or the inconvenience, especially with Alex?s health issues accelerating. But that didn?t stop the press from misquoting him. The press doesn?t care about the minor details of exactly which part of which car someone may have done.

Throughout his life, Alex and his wife Chrissie went out of their way to correct the press for giving him any design credit for the Cord 810/812. But nobody cares about the corrections, if they?re ever even published ? it?s old news by then and they just take up advertising space.

Here?s a typical correction Alex made, this one from 1963, along with the correction that was published. He saved both his letter and the published correction. This was obviously very important to him. There are also ones from the Tucker timeframe, but it?s clear this goes back a long, long way.





In any setting, public or private, Alex Tremulis never had an unkind word to say about his mentor, Gordon Buehrig. And Alex?s boyhood hero, Gordon Buehrig, probably never even saw Alex?s corrections or heard the accolades that Alex heaped upon Gordon at every opportunity. I don?t know if Alex or Chrissie did see or hear Gordon?s ?I Beg To Differ? comments, but no matter how you look at it, it?s still a very sad footnote to both men?s storied careers.

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  • balinwire
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18 Dec 2011 20:29 #21659 by balinwire
This clipping during the first half of November mentions Supercharged Cord has especial appeal and how it loafs along.

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  • Josh Malks
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18 Dec 2011 19:36 #21658 by Josh Malks
With all the participants long gone, we will never know the exact truth of what occurred during that interesting fall of 1936. We do know that it was Alex?s inclination (and talent) to turn the mundane into drama, but simply calling his oral history a delusion or a falsehood will not do either. Based on the evidence that we have, I believe it possible to construct a credible scenario.

[i:m6b2d17q]Auburn had worked out all the details of the supercharged engine by mid-1936, and was planning on sending several supercharged cars to the November shows. They were no different in appearance than the unblown cars. In mid-October Alex came to Faulkner with a sketch of a Cord with external exhaust, a fitting ?coat of arms? for the new supercharged models. You can?t get those cars modified in time for the shows, said Faulkner. Yes I can, said Alex. A charming devil, Alex got Augie and his crew interested in the rush project. They came through, and managed to design and fabricate the new exhaust system and fit it to a single left-over renumbered 810 Beverly. It was ready by November 1. Duly photographed and press-kitted by the P.P. Willis Agency, the material was sent off Special Delivery to the New York, Chicago and Los Angeles newspapers.

The photo first appeared in the New York Times?s[/i:m6b2d17q] Automobiles [i:m6b2d17q]section on November 8. The show opened on November 11. But the car with pipes wasn?t there. Nor were there any brochures on the expensive option ? just a footnote in the standard show brochure. Auburn always liked a "blockbuster" for its show exhibit, and needed its New York show space to display its new Custom Series and thereby attract a whole new clientele. Faulkner went, to encourage the salespeople and talk to the press about the forthcoming 1937 Auburns.

The Chicago show began before the New York show ended. The new car with external exhausts would be Auburn's "blockbuster" at the Chicago show. (It had not appeared in New York because it couldn't be in two places at the same time.) In recognition of his accomplishment, Alex was given the honor of driving the be-piped Cord sedan on the six-hour trip from Connersville to Chicago. (Of course, it had to be cleaned and polished upon arrival.) Faulkner came to see the car?s debut. So did E.L. Cord, whose offices were in Chicago. So did Richard Bonelli, who sang for the Chicago Opera. And so, perhaps, did an un-named gentlewoman who did not like the ?entrails?. The new "Super-charged" brochure appeared. Alex was there too, and basked in the attention and compliments.[/i:m6b2d17q]

More than thirty years later Alex?s fertile storyteller mind blended the two interesting tales into a single unforgettable one. So maybe he switched the cities around. And embellished some, as he was wont to do. New York was more glamorous and a last-second rush to get there more exciting. And who knows what was really said at the shows by the parties involved. But it's still a great story and at its core there may well be a signal accomplishment.

The above is, of course, conjecture. But it seems to fit the facts, rumors and stories. Bottom line to me -- Alex Tremulis, rest his soul, was a talented imagineer, stylist and illustrator. He was an equally talented teller of tales. We benefit from all of these legacies.

P.S. As for the bolt-on screens, in a 1968 ACD Newsletter article Alex identified it as "One of the first 10 supercharged Cords."

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  • streamliner
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17 Dec 2011 15:43 #21647 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
Take a closer look at the left rear fender from the Chicago Auto Show:



It appears that there is a buffed-out area (or maybe just a reflection?) in the exact same area as the dent from the Minneapolis Tribune photo. Are there any better, higher-resolution photos of either one available to look at?

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17 Dec 2011 07:14 #21646 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
Hmmmmm?

Just a couple observations:

The photo from 11-8-1936 is altered, probably to make the car stand out clearer, but the same photo from the Minneapolis Tribune two weeks later (thanks to sunroofcord, H.A.M.B. thread and ?The Reunion 2010?, page 139), 11-22-1936, appears to be either more original or more altered. The NYT?s photo had the rear chrome stoneguard removed, what appears to be a dent in the rear fender removed, the shadows under the car removed, and the reflections in the doors smoothed over.





The Minneapolis Tribune apparently also carried the full press release description for the car. But if you look closer at the reflections in the wheels, they seem to bear a strong resemblance to several of the cars from the ?Lost Connersville Photos?:



Of course it?s possible that most reflections in the Cord?s wheels look similar due to the convexity of the hubcap, but it?s still very similar and doesn?t appear to have been taken in a residential area, at least from the low-resolution copy in the newspaper. Could this photo have been altered by taking either a photo of the first one built in Connersville and superimposing it onto the backdrop(s)? Or could it have been a non-functional mockup of what they could do? There must be more photos of this car!!!

Also, since most of the photos I have are from Bill Kinsman?s find, what are the thoughts on the grill on this one where the ?eggcrate? is both a different shape and dimension and is screwed on from the outside?



From Alex?s account, Faulkner knew about the supercharged Cords and was expecting them to be at the show, but would they have just the eggcrate only or include the pipes. I?d interpret Alex?s description to mean that both options were shown and discussed prior to Faulkner leaving for New York.

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16 Dec 2011 00:48 #21641 by Josh Malks
Balin', the top photo is a [i:23x00h3q]year earlier[/i:23x00h3q] -- November 3, 1935. The NY Auto Show had opened the previous day, Saturday, November 2.

But the Times photo of Sunday, November 8, 1936 does give one pause. This shot was used in their special pre-show "Automobiles" section. That means that the Times received the photo well before that date, since special sections are printed in advance because there is no "breaking news" in them.

Neither Alex nor the folks at Auburn sent that photo to the Times. It had to come from P.P. Willis, Auburn's ad agency. That means a posed photo, mailed with a press kit to all the newspapers. And that means even more lead time before the date of the newspaper. So a supercharged Cord with pipes existed in early November or even late October.

Here, possibly, is the smoking gun that I've asked for showing a photo of a Cord with pipes in advance of the New York Auto Show. Problem is, Alex's story now appears to make no sense at all. If one or more cars with pipes was ready a week or more before the show, then none of the machinations Alex has described was necessary -- the race through the night, the frozen engine, the last-second cleanup, the besotted gatekeeper. And certainly the cars were no secret. If Pete Willis was shooting them, then everybody, including Faulkner and Cord, certainly knew about them.

I am pleasantly puzzled, because (for you old-time radio fans) I Love A Mystery.

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15 Dec 2011 22:47 #21640 by balinwire
This is one of the two pages 7-8 mapping the event. Can you imagine seeing the outside pipes on the new sensational front wheel drive car you wish to own. The map has the entrance to the main floor A_LEVEL illustrated. Chevrolet, Dodge, Buick would be on the first floor.
You would walk up a wide set of stairs to B-LEVEL to a mezzanine type balcony with an open ceiling to the next exhibit floor up on the third floor. On this second level in Exhibit B-4 would be Auburn and Cord. Also on this level were Pierce-Arrow and Willys. Cadillac had the opposite corner of the second story. Cord sat over the left front door window and in the center B-3 would have been the glorious Duesenberg.
The layout must have been breathtaking and would have made the common viewer intimated with the power and glory of such massive automobiles. There must have been a freight elevator that would have moved the vehicles in and out so changing the Cord at the last minute would have been a logistic nightmare, but then all of the production design of the pipes were done at this rate at a last ditch to save the company.
After seeing this magnificence we could climb the stairs to C-LEVEL and see the accessory and shop equipment exhibitors, Bendix, Kendall refining, Zenith, Police department, Fisher body, etc, etc. We would again look up to an open forth floor ceiling, D-LEVEL. Here we could find the Trailer exibitors, Kabin Koach, Cozy Coach, Curtis, Red Cap, Silver Dome and many others. All of the Trailers must have been wood and quite streamlined.
Going back down stairs would have been by narrower set of stairs than the first two flights. I know I would have had a wonderful time, and I?ll bet we would have worn a jacket and tie!

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15 Dec 2011 21:40 #21639 by balinwire
Cover of the flyer you could get with admission, picture of standard Cord Sedan, must have been printed before the show by several weeks.


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15 Dec 2011 21:14 #21638 by balinwire
Cord NY Times, 11/3/36



Three days later suddenly external piped Cord dated 11/8/36, in time for NY show, three days later

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  • Tom Georgeson
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15 Dec 2011 21:05 #21637 by Tom Georgeson
Replied by Tom Georgeson on topic Pipes on Cord
I think that Josh has made a lot of sense as it having been Chicago where it was first shown.

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15 Dec 2011 07:48 #21633 by Josh Malks
Wonderful contribution, Steve. The 1936 bubbletop is especially striking, and does clearly presage the Tucker.

Nearly always, the truth lies somewhere between the poles of opinion. In the case of the pipes, we have Alex's stories on the one hand and Gordon's negation on the other. Historians seek accuracy and evidence, but it's often not attainable. So we make the best guesses we can. In the case of this particular story, some inconsistencies and later revisions by its author rendered it suspect.

But wait -- just one change in Alex's story and the basic history may very well hang together. Here's how.

Alex may indeed have worked with Augie to create the be-piped Cord. (As Steve points out, Alex worked in renderings, not in engineering drawings.) And the car(s) may indeed have been driven to the auto show. E.L. Cord and opera singer Richard Bonelli may well have seen the car displayed for the first time at the show. But -- the venue was most likely the Chicago show, not New York. Points:
- The Chicago show opened on November 16, 1936, five days after the New York show.
- A Cord could be driven from Connersville to Chicago in those days in about 6 hours.
- The offices of the Cord Corporation were in Chicago.
- Richard Bonelli performed with the Chicago Opera Company.
- We have a photograph, shown below, of at least one Cord sedan with pipes on display at the Chicago Auto Show. Obviously put together hurriedly -- it's a re-numbered 810 armchair Beverly.

So maybe Alex switched cities. And embellished some, as he was wont to do. New York was more glamorous and a last-second rush to get there more exciting. Certainly there were inconsistencies in the story-telling over the decades. It isn't likely that no-one in Connersville knew about these cars except Augie and Alex. And who knows what was really said at the show by the parties involved. But it's still a great story and at its core there may well be a signal accomplishment.


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15 Dec 2011 00:32 #21631 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
Thank you, Randy, for digging through the files and providing those wonderful comments.

It seems there are a couple issues at play here with no simple black and white answers. I?m no authority on anything Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg, but I can provide some insight on Alex Tremulis and what may or may not turn up with his name on it. So here?s a little more background on the young Tremulis and a few snapshots in time before ACD closed up shop.

First, you won?t find many purely technical engineering drawings from Alex Tremulis. Although he was fully capable of doing engineering drawings and there are some out there, it?s not where his true talents lay. Instead, he had the rare ability to draw a perfectly scaled two dimensional image of what his brain was seeing in three dimensions. The few three-plane views he did produce were more to help him redefine his 3D visions or to render the side view (typically). For instance, in 1935 (just 21 years old) he did a design proposal for a Boyd Convertible/Sedan that was dimensioned to scale so that he could fit the body skin around the occupants. Even on this very rare blueprint you can see where he was headed with the shading to make it appear three dimensional:





More typical of his output was his Tremulis Airflow. Even having just turned 19, his aerodynamic swoops and curves could rival Saoutchik.



For the 1933 Chicago Auto Show, the 19 year-old built a model of a custom body to sit on a Duesenberg-chassis. He called his creation the Black Arrow, most probably in honor of Tommy Milton?s dual-engined Duesenberg record-setter. I haven?t yet found any photos or sketches, but it would have been done about the same time as his Airflow and most probably had similar lines.

At 20 years old, he produced a drawing for Chicago?s sales manager, Donn Hogan, that was made into the 1934 Duesenberg Model J LaGrande Coupe/Convertible by Walker. Of the three examples of this car, J530, J531 and J534, the last one sold at RM Auctions a few years ago for $2.75 million, even without Alex?s external exhausts. RM described these three as having some of the most attractive bodies of any Duesenberg ever produced. No doubt there are other Tremulis-Walker Duesenbergs out there waiting to be discovered, but you probably won?t find his signature on any of the technical drawings for any of these, either. You can?t just view these as the work of a 20 year old. Rather, they?re the work of someone who had been studying and drawing cars for over 14 years.





At 21, Alex illustrated this Auburn drawing that was to later surface at a yard sale in Auburn. This still hangs on a wall in Auburn. Take a look at its hood ornament that very closely resembles the one(s) from the Lost Connerville Photos. But again, you probably won?t be finding a hood ornament drawing with Tremulis? name on it either, although it seems to be widely accepted that it was also Alex?s work.





At 21 years old, he joined up with two ex-Duesenberg designers Herb Newport and Phil Derham in their attempts to build their own Weymann-bodied (fabric skinned) Ford V8 called the ?Aeronaut?. Alex helped out with the repeated doping of the body to get the skin so tight you couldn?t tell it apart from metal. It?s also where he learned the chassis designs for the 1934 and 1935 Fords. He said ?I think I was being paid $35 a week, but the experience was fabulous.?



The first car he owned was a 1935 Ford Roadster. Since essentially everything he had done was hot rodding custom cars, his own personal car was not exempt from the same fate. He was able to get a twin-intake manifold from one of the failed Ford-Miller 1935 Indianapolis 500 race cars and he installed it in his daily driver. As he described it, he couldn?t afford a Duesenberg, so instead he modified the hood and fenders to accept the Duesenberg?s exposed exhaust pipes. This was most probably done between June of 1935 and May of 1936, as it appears Henry Ford was disgusted with the Ford?s 1935 performance where none of the 10 Miller-Fords finished the race. Since Alex didn?t say he used the Cord?s S/C pipes, these were probably done before there was any notion of a supercharged Cord. You won?t find any engineering drawings for this one either, I?m sure, but these identical pipes were added to quite a few of his designs over the next five decades, making the exposed exhausts, as well as the scoops, vents, and fins synonymous with his name. He still had this car after ACD closed its doors, so there may be other photos of it in Connersville. So although it?s not a Cord S/C, it?s pretty close: A Ford S/C perhaps???




By 1936 (just 22 years old) his creativity was just exploding. His bubble-topped, rear-engined design strongly foreshadowed and influenced his Tucker design that was to come over a decade later.



It's pretty clear that before his 23rd birthday, he was well-versed at drawing, designing and building his own models and cars, many with the Duesenberg sidepipes. Specifically in reference to the supercharged Cord?s first pipes, he wrote:

?Without drawings or plans, little more than an idea of what the final product was to look like, the shops went to work under the guidance of Duesenberg and Tremulis.?

In any case, Alex wouldn?t have been the one to either design or draw the supercharger or any engine part for that matter, rather he would have provided to Augie Duesenberg?s experimental studio a rendering of what the final product would look like, most probably as a ? view from the front of the car. That?s the drawing to look for. But again, even these now-legendary illustrations would have a 50/50 chance of being dated.

Throughout most all of Alex?s designs, he was not the one doing the engineering drawings. Instead, he provided the vision of the job through his airbrushed renderings, or alternatively he would work and rework the clay into its final form. The feel from his fingertips over the curves was every bit as important as the view he saw through his eyes.

As Randy so eloquently put it, Alex was an artist in everything he did. Alex was consistent for every recantation spanning at least the last three decades of his life, and probably all the way back to the end of 1936. And he always gave credit to Augie Duesenberg as well as Ab Jenkins for the inspiration and creation of those sidepipes. Those guys were a team, still making the best of the dire situation, much like the band on the Titanic still making beautiful music together even while the ocean floor is calling. To quote Alex: ?But hell, if Gordon had only stayed around long enough, he would have no doubt done the same thing.? At the ACD meets he attended, he was often requested to ?tell the one about?? and just like Jimmy Page playing Stairway to Heaven, each time it?s done, the notes may change a little but the song remains the same.

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13 Dec 2011 01:51 #21619 by RandyEma
Before I start on this thread I must point out that I absolutely love Alex I have spent untold hours listening to his stories and looking at his files and drawings he was a very accomplished artist doing more in his life time than I will ever do in mine. Alex was above all else an artist with everything he did and created and his stories were a part of his creation, and talent. I never felt that Alexs stories were meant to make him look better or more accomplished and in fact in many he down played his roll.Well I love him and long may his memory stay with me as fondly as it is now.All that being said the first S.C. exhaust manifold drawing done by Auburn Auto co not Lycoming is dated 10/19/36 drawn by E.C.A the lower fuel pump drawing is done by Auburn on 10/30/36.It is up to the reader to decide what the facts are. Randy

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10 Dec 2011 16:41 #21605 by memaerobilia
Replied by memaerobilia on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
This is one of my favorite threads. I spend most of my days, reading in my (mostly) aviation library of 42 years, (containing numerous Original archives of major and minor aircraft & a few sections from auto companies, and designers and mfrs) with some rare Auto history in the files, as well.(Original large Company concept dwgs, color artwork, for various models of the early 1950s Curtiss Wright Air-cushion passenger automobiles) I constantly have to refer back to information I read about, years ago, and fit new pieces of info, into long-lost history puzzles and contradicitions. I am glad to see i am not alone...Thanks, so much, to all the contributors of this thread and discussion. FASCINATING :D From this discussion, I have drawn a few "impressions" but I shall keep an open mind as to "conclusions" until more definitive evidence is shared or revealed, dealing with all these various highly talented and visionary personalities. Rumors, legends, egos, history, fictions, facts. Great stuff!

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10 Dec 2011 02:44 #21602 by mdsbob

silverghost wrote: Just Curious~

Who's initials. or name, appears on the engineering/design drawings in question ?

As a Professional Licenced Engineer I always sign, or at the very least initial, all MY design plans & drawings.

Perhapps our friend, & fellow ACD forum member, Randy Ema can answer that question if he has these original supercarged Cord drawings.

Does Alex's name, or initials, appear anywhere on these supercharged Cord design drawings ?


Just Curious~
What state are you licensed in?

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10 Dec 2011 01:08 #21601 by silverghost
Replied by silverghost on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
Just Curious~

Who's initials. or name, appears on the engineering/design drawings in question ?

As a Professional Licensed Engineer I always sign, or at the very least initial, all MY design plans & drawings.

Perhapps our friend, & fellow ACD forum member, Randy Ema can answer that question if he has these original supercarged Cord drawings.

Does Alex's name, or initials, appear anywhere on these supercharged Cord design drawings ?

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. BRAD HUNTER Huntingdon Valley Pa/Ocean City NJ 215 947 4676 Engineer & RE Developer Brass & Classic Auto, Antique Boat, Mechanical Automatic Music Machine, & Jukebox Collector

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09 Dec 2011 23:57 #21600 by Josh Malks
Alex Tremulis was a prodigious talent. His Gyronaut bikes and and his inspired design for the Tucker (All his, except for the front bumper-grille) prove that. In addition to styling, he was an innovative self-taught engineer. He was also a remarkable storyteller. I knew him personally in his later years, and greatly admired his work. And like everyone else, I loved his stories.

But that does not change fiction to fact. I stand by my opinion, based on evidence to date. I will change that opinion when photographs or documents show otherwise.

Here's what Gordon Buehrig wrote on the subject in 1988 --

"The following is a very difficult article for me to write. It is about Alex Tremulis whom many of you know and are aware of the fact that he has lost his eye-sight. . .

. . . The particular piece that prompts this letter is in the September 19 issue of People Magazine. I will repeat the one paragraph in the story that makes this letter necessary: "Alex Tremulis, the man who designed the venerated 812 super-charged Cord, simply walked in the door and offered his services. By working 110 hours a week and by ruthlessly cutting corners, Tremulis and his team knocked off the job in 100 days''.

Alex did not design the 812 super-charged Cord and I am getting tired of hearing this falsehood. When I saw this in the magazine I called Julie Greenwalt in the Detroit office of People magazine. She told me that Kristina Johnson of the Los Angles office had interviewed Alex. She confirmed that she got the false information direct from him.

As you all know the 810 and 812 Cords are identical and the numbers merely tell whether they were sold as 1936 or 1937 models. The super-charged engine was not ready in 1936 and was therefore only sold in 1937.

I have never claimed that I designed these cars without assistance and I have always shared credit with the other four fellows in the design department. When I was moved from Duesenberg in Indianapolis, where I had just designed the proposed "Baby Duesenberg" to Auburn to facelift the 1934 model, creating the 1935 model and the super-charged boat-tail speedster, I inherited two co-workers. One was an illustrator, Paul Lorenzen, and a body draftsman, Dick Robinson. I also hired two model builders, Vince Gardner who had just graduated from high school and Dale Cosper who had just graduated from Tri-State Engineering college.

After doing the 1935 Auburn work, we designed the 810-812 Cord. I believe Alex had taken advantage, over the last few years of the fact that everyone who worked at Auburn at the time and could refute his claim of involvement are dead.

For instance, one of his favorite stories is that he became Director of the Design Department after I left the company. The truth is that there was no design department at the time I left. Dale Cosper had taken a job in Fort Wayne as a body engineer for International Harvester truck division. Paul Lorenzen had taken a job as an illustrator for a steel company in Pittsburg. Dick Robinson went back to body drafting and Vince went with me to the Budd company in Detroit. . .

. . . Another story often repeated by Alex is that he was responsible for putting the outside exhaust pipes on the super-charged Cord. The truth is all the work on the super-charged model was done by Augie Duesenberg, and the drawings for the parts were made by a draftsman in the chassis engineering department. Even if Alex had been available to make such drawings, he did not possess the training to do such work. Actually Alex came to Auburn [in 1934] with no training in engineering or in art. But he was a nice guy with lots of enthusiasm.

As far as the outside pipes are concerned, their first use in the Cord Corporation was on the model SJ Duesenberg in 1931. A super-charged engine produces more heat than a regular engine and the reason for the external pipes was to help keep the underhood temperature lower.

At Duesenberg, the design of the super-charged engine was done by Fred Duesenberg, and the drawings for the external pipes were made by Walter Troemmel and his chassis draftsman. The idea of the flexible insulating tubing was something that had been in use by Mercedes for some time. In 1934 when we did the 1935 Auburn design, Augie Duesenberg was brought up from Indianapolis to do super-charger work. Again the same design of outside exhaust were used and the drawings for the parts were all done by chassis draftsmen.

So in 1936 when Augie did the work on the 1937 Cord he again used the same design of outside exhaust pipes that had been used since 1931 on the SJ Duesenberg and the 1935 Auburn. Again the drawings for the parts were done by the chassis draftsmen. Not Alex!

So the question is, what did Alex do?"

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09 Dec 2011 20:30 #21599 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
Let me try to shed a little more light on Alex?s account of the events that led up to the New York Auto Show. He went into much greater detail in an early 1970?s write up. Here?s a few excerps. I?ll leave it up to the super-sleuths with access to company records and photos to separate fact from fiction?

[i:1hojy21c]?We have decided to build 30[?!?] super-charged models for the upcoming auto show and I show Faulkner a design I have worked up.? Faulkner looked at the design and agrees it?s beautiful but decries the lack of time to come up with the car by show time.

?What we had proposed was, since we knew the super-charged cars ran a little warmer, was to put the famed Auburn egg-crate louvers on the side of the hood to let a little hot air out. We hadn?t sold Faulkner on our ability to do the car we wanted when he had to leave to get to the New York Auto Show before opening to make arrangements for our spot. He left and said he?d see us at the show when we got there with the cars.?

When Faulkner left, that?s when Alex approached Augie with building three super-charged automobiles with the exhaust pipes flaring out the side of the hood, disappearing into the fenders just like Alex?s drawings. Augie said ?We?ll have to work night and day.?

The shops went to work with E.L. Cord in Chicago and Faulkner in New York, both unaware.

The cars were completed three days before the show opening. ?We checked with the railroad office and found we couldn?t get the autos to New York in time for the show and it suddenly occurred to us that we?re going to have to drive them. We take out of the yard in a mad rush but 30 miles out I discover someone has forgotten to put oil in the crankcase ? the engine freezes. We store it in a service station garage, the other two drive on and I catch an express train to New York to ready the show space.?

The auto show opened on time, but without the two special cars ? the Cords are not there. At 9:00 am, the cars are to be in position for the gates to open at 10. No cars. At 9:30, in roll two dirty, dusty, grime-covered Cords looking like nothing anyone at an auto show has ever seen. Show officials say ?Sorry, too late? but while Tremulis is arguing with the gateman, the two drivers have gotten buckets and rags and have cleaned up the late arrivals and the sight of the two unusual cars so impresses the gateman he tells them to get on into position on the second floor. The two far-out models are wheeled into their spots among the several standard Auburn-Cord show cars.[/i:1hojy21c]

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09 Dec 2011 15:17 #21595 by Josh Malks
So 23-year-old Alex arrives at Grand Central Palace in New York with two Cords with pipes. And he announces to the sales folks in the Auburn exhibit that they have to remove the two un-piped Cords from their exhibit and replace them with his. (Not a simple task with all the cars in place and the show ready to open.) And none of these people calls Faulkner or Ames or anyone else at Auburn for instructions? And no photographer takes a picture of these startling vehicles? And the post-show press never mentions them?

Yeah, right.

I repeat -- I stand ready to recant and admit my sins if anyone can show me a photograph or document that verifies that there were ever any Cords with outside pipes at the New York Auto Show in November 1936.

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09 Dec 2011 07:40 #21593 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show

Chris Summers Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:47 pm Post subject:



I always heard E.L. Cord's response to Alex's explanation was, "Damn lucky for you that I like it." Any truth to that?


From Alex's as yet unpublished biography/autobiography:

...Bonnelli still is jumping up and down, clasping his hands and shouting to Faulkner that he wants this car when E. L. Cord arrives on the scene. He has an angry look on his face.

"My name is E. L. Cord, and according to that sign right there it says that this is the Cord Corporation display. Right? Well, how come I'm the last to know that we are showing a car like this?"

It's difficult to determine how much of the anger is real, but it sounds real enough.

"Mr. Cord, this thing all happened so fast. We got carried away with it. You never minded the fires of hell that poured out of the side of the Duesenbergs and we wanted to surprise you, thinking you would like this. We've gone the Duesenberg one better, we've got pipes coming out of both sides."

Cord took one more sweeping look at the unprecedented car that bore his name and said: "You're just goddam lucky this turned out to be a beautiful car. You did a heluva fine job on it, but it would be nice in the future to know what in the hell I'm planning to build." Cord finally smiles...
[/i]

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09 Dec 2011 03:47 #21592 by Chris Summers
Replied by Chris Summers on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
I always heard E.L. Cord's response to Alex's explanation was, "Damn lucky for you that I like it." Any truth to that?

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09 Dec 2011 03:18 #21591 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show

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09 Dec 2011 01:01 #21588 by Josh Malks
Wasn't Alex a wonderful storyteller?

Back in the 1950s Gordon Buehrig was working for Ford. A fellow stylist, Tucker Madawick, told me this story which he heard from others. Seems a new young stylist had recently met Alex Tremulis. He was telling his tablemates in the company lunchroom how awed he was by Alex's wonderful tales. He has such a great memory, gushed the young man. "Alex does have a wonderful memory", Gordon offered. "He even remembers things that didn't happen".

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08 Dec 2011 23:03 #21581 by streamliner
Replied by streamliner on topic Time Magazine coverage of the 1937 Automobile Show
So here's Alex Tremulis' account of the 1937 New York Auto Show. Maybe the cars weren't ready for the pre-show press photos???

From SIA, Tremulis on Tremulis:

About ten days before the 1937 New York auto show, I showed Roy Faulkner, the president of the company a drawing of what the new super-charged Cord would look like. We had no money in those days, so Roy looked at the drawing, said, ?It?s beautiful,? and then left for the New York auto show to apologize for showing virtually the same car as he had shown in 1936.

After he left I hurried in to Augie Duesenberg?s experimental shop and said, ?Why don?t we shake the earth a little bit, why don?t we really shock them at the auto show. We?ve got ten days to build two cars. In ten days we should be able to put pipes on the outside?? Engineering balked at the idea. The main excuse they gave was that the supercharger would be noisy. I told them there was nothing wrong with a super-charger being noisy. ?It should not only be seen,? I told them, ?It should be heard.? So with some frantic work and maneuvering we got the cars finished, but not in time to ship them to the New York Auto Show by train. That would have taken three days, so we drove them in and it took only 14 hours.

They were pretty dirty. We had to wash them. Then they weren?t going to let us in with the Cords because we were late. After we got that matter settled, we waited for the first reaction.

The first person to walk up to the car was a magnificent looking lady. Her loud first reaction was, ?My God, what are those horrible chrome entrails doing on such a beautiful automobile?? I thought, oh boy! This is the death rattle for me because I hadn?t even shown the car to Mr. Faulkner or Mr. E.L. Cord. What a first reaction. Later the crowd heard about the car and ours became the most popular booth.

All of a sudden Roy Faulkner came over with an opera singer by the name of Richard Bonelli. That?s when Faulkner saw the two Cords for the first time. He said, ?How did you do it, how did this ever happen Alex?" And Richard Bonelli took one look at the car and got out his checkbook. ?I?ve got to have this automobile right away,? he said. Roy Faulkner told him, ?We haven?t even built the car yet, we have no idea what it will cost.?

Then E. L.Cord came to look at the Cord. He said, ?My name happens to be on that car, how come I didn?t know about this?? I told him there wasn?t time. And I added, ?I just figured I could do no wrong because you never objected to the ?Wrath of Gods? pouring out the sides of the Duesenbergs, so how could I go wrong with the two pipes on the sides here??

Well, the car turned out to be sensational; we set records in sales, the highest record in sales in its history at the ten day automobile show. We must have sold 35 to 40 cars. Richard Bonelli kissed me on both cheeks, and invited me to my first opera. He really made me feel important when he had me sit in the wings. He thought I was a genius... here I was only 23 years old.

And I?ll never forget that I had to go to a dinner with all the chief stylists... the great Harley Earl from General Motors was there. And there I was from this poor little company. What we did was considered quite an achievement.

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05 Dec 2011 16:06 #21559 by Josh Malks
Tsk, tsk. You gotta read the book :)

Long story, but I believe that one or both of those Cords [i:pg750g36]was[/i:pg750g36] supercharged, but that external exhausts first appeared at the Chicago show a bit later. No pipes in NY. If anyone has a photo or document that says otherwise, I sure would like to see it.

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05 Dec 2011 10:19 #21558 by Emporator
I noticed that too Josh. Were the '37 Super-charged models not ready to show perhaps?

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04 Dec 2011 15:44 #21545 by Josh Malks
Note that neither of the two Cords pictured has pipes.

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04 Dec 2011 03:47 #21544 by Emporator
I scanned these four pages from a copy of Time magazine, November 16, 1936. Quite interesting reading.

For some reason the third page is upside down. Sorry about this folks, but I can't seem to get it right.






Excellent to see A.C.D products being mentioned!

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