Customized Cords- or when things go wrong !

Philipp, thanks. Neat to see the car in all its forms.

Cool ketchup truck, too!

Chris, here is one answer to satifiye you for the question what Rust Heinz would have penned other than the Phantom Corsair.
Above you see the Cord 810 that became the corsair with Rust Heinz, on the right is the Rust Heinz' " Comet " and below the customized Phantom Corsair.

By the way, according to the artikle in the " special -interest Cars " mag. of 1973 the headlights look like Woodlands but aren't !

If you'd like to know more about the Comet or the Phantom, here are the links :

blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008 ... m-corsair/

blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009 ... ck-around/

Have fun <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->

That is one sorry-looking replica. Wonder if it was pink originally or just deeply faded red?

Custom Auburn, nice continental spare tire carrier, 4 sale.
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0385089438

For that missing body panel or fender this metal craftsman may be helpful in creating that custom.
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... K:MEWAX:IT

"People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened."

1935 Duesenberg JN Roadster, formerly owned by Clark Gable will be on exibit in Atlanta,
www.high.org/main.taf?p=3,2,1,14,5#list

Here is a custom gone wrong,

"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity."

Steve, that would be grate if you get the possability to take some detailshots.
Since i'm in Switzerland it's not very likley that i pass by in Reno soon.
I would aprisiate your effort very much.
Best regards Philipp

I do some volunteer work at the NAM in Reno. I "might" be able to get an engine bay photo of the Corsair. The car was in the shop out back for some freshening before going out on tour this year but I didn't have a camera with me when I saw it there.

Steve

This one might in fact be a factory job. The first half a dozen or so Hollywoods were cobbled together by hand using left over Cord parts. That includes the two known convertibles. I like it.

I would liked to have seen what Rust Heinz could have done with it had he been given the time.

Chris Summers wrote: I don't really like hulking automobiles. Large cars are great, but I like balance. The Phantom Corsair looks like a Hershey kiss that sat in the sun. It's a cool car, just not my favorite.

The Exelero's nice but as modern luxury goes I think the Mercedes CLS is the best-looking thing on the road.

As far as styling purity goes there are certainly some issues with the Corsair. For me, those get overlooked but it's sheer radical over the top looks. I'm a bit of a sucker for on-offs with real history.

I don't really like hulking automobiles. Large cars are great, but I like balance. The Phantom Corsair looks like a Hershey kiss that sat in the sun. It's a cool car, just not my favorite.

The Exelero's nice but as modern luxury goes I think the Mercedes CLS is the best-looking thing on the road.

Chris, If you don't find the Phantom Corsair isn't what you would call attractive, check out the Exelero. It takes a styling cue's from the Corsair or at least the Corsair may have looked similar if it was being built today.







" Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else."

So that's the Ab Jenkins cabriolet in Josh's book that I've been hearing about. Not my cup of tea but interesting.

I never realized it but you're right, those DO look like Woodlites...

By the look at the Phantom Corsair you can see that cross spring set up is there, most certainley they have used the standard stubframe of the 810.
Likewise they used the complete steeringassembley with steeringwheel and all gauges of the 810 and the shifting.
The Phantom Corsair was originaly :
Cord 810 1486 A, engine FB 729 standard, Westchester with benchseat.
If you look at the headlights, you must admit that they have much in common with the Woodlands Lights used on some Murphy Auburns.









If you like more pic's go to :

www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z143 ... rsair.aspx

and if you like a short film :

In case someone is going to view the Phantom Corsair up in Reno, please ask them if you can take a good pic of the enginebay and underneath of the front.
Once i find the artikle about this car in the Classic and Sportscar magazine,
I'll post more news and details.

About my previous post : dont' get me wrong ; i like manny customized cars and hot Rods and that shows allredy with the fact that i own that Custom Cars magazine of 1951, but up to now, i never came a cross a good restyle or customizing job other than the personal AB Jenkins Cord :



I hope we are not to much off topic, but i feel this is also a part of Cord-history.

I don't think any of the designs pictured are as bad as they could be. The Phantom Corsair isn't what I'd call attractive, but I like a car that looks like nothing else, even now.

Does the Lee Richardson car with its Plexiglas roof panels still exist in some form? I've seen photos of that car many times but never anything more current than the 1950s.

Hi,

Here are a couple of somewhat more complimentary pix of the 1938 Phantom Corsair. There's an article about the car on Wikipedia as well at

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Corsair .





The car featured an 810 drive platform. It's not clear that much of anything else was Cord.

--Tom

--Tom

These post war customs like the Hollywood and the Cord were very popular and many succumbed to the knife. They are interesting some of the ideas made good sense. The cut down doors Darrin style so you could jump in without opening them, the 39 Ford enclosed lighting (I always thought that was a Cord rip-off), frenched headlamps and taillights, opening the rear windows larger, the skylights, and the bumpers off other models.
The guys had come home from the war and old cars were filling the junkyards so there were lots and lots of scrap parts. These cars were not so special as they are now and everyone wanted to have a jazzy rod. Remember there was not even air-conditioning and power assisted anything.
It was quite magical what could be done with a torch and some lead. The clear plexi-glas was wonderful as the guys had seen it on aircraft during the war and it was quite a touch back in the day.
I fell victim to the craze back in the early seventies. There were acrylic popup sunroofs that were the rage and I can remember climbing on the roof of a fifty seven and using a jigsaw to cut a hole in it. It was nice for a few days till I realized I threw out the contoured metal roof I had cut out as I realized I wanted to weld it back in.
It would be interesting to know the Corsair's VIN# to see if it was a four door sedan body that they started out with.
I may be one of the few that prefers the exhaust plumbing to be concealed under the hood.

?The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a flat tire.?

Hi.

I agree, with the comment that the only change to the 810/812 I find actually to "work" is the addition of the exterior exhaust pipes on the S/C models.

--Tom

It's difficult to customize one of the best cardesign, on these pages of the Custom Cars magazine of 1951 things went realy wrong !



I guess that even more horrible things have happend to Graham Hollywood's and Hupmobile Skylarke's when they where " restyled " by hobbydesigners with bad taste and too much money !

[/img]




Very seldom it happens that a equal good design is made, or at least we have accpted the Phantom Corsair as a nice and unusual design on a Cord platform with Cord mechanics. The pic's are from the same Custom Car magazine 1951, where i found the Cords above.



Does somebody know the VIN of the Phantom Corsair when it was a Cord?
Does somebody knows what happend to the customized Cords above ?
Take also a look in the Cord 810/812 archiev of Jim Brockman, there are also strange looking customized Cords to see.
I'm sure you will come to the same conclusion as i did : There is hardley a better looking car than a original Cord 810/812 ! <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->
This is only my 2 Cents.