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1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND

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30 May 2012 08:01 #22939 by RayCord
Replied by RayCord on topic Restoration
Hi Bill - Thanks for the link.
Great photos of your latest aquisition with plenty attention to detail of the car and parts that came with it. It will be a great historical record in the years to come, especially as you add pics of the restoration and final product. You should publish a book with the story of the car, the trip home, restoration & the pics to go along with it. I look forward to the next "chapter" and the next series of photos. The very best of luck with the project. Regards Ray :D

Cords in South Africa - visit my website: www.cordinsa.visible.co.za

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  • Bill Hummel
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15 May 2012 14:22 #22856 by Bill Hummel
Replied by Bill Hummel on topic Phaeton Pictures
Years ago, in the quest for parts to keep these cars running, owners often made do with the parts they could find. They didn't have the Internet to get instant feedback on parts. Take these bumperettes shown above for example. They were "close-enough" for the front of this Cord. Same for the front bumper. The rear bumper had an extra plate bolted on. A trailer hitch was put on to help Jim as he moved to new locations. These cars were really driven every day!

How lucky we are to have the Internet and global access, especially now that the parts are getting harder and harder to find.

Here's another example of "close-enough": The AA-25 in the front is correct for my S/C Phaeton. Right rear is an EE-15 for a normal engine. The center is an EE-16 (Packard?). Not sure what the one on the left is. EE-1? Both of these are close and I suppose could be used if they had to be put into service.

I am inventorying and photographing thousands of parts this summer as I prepare for the eventual restoration. I am interviewing restorers now. I will not do anything to this car until everyone gets to see it in Auburn.

I have made a web page to display the photos as I add more and more. I'll just post the link to it, so that I do not overwhelm the forums.

www.cordhaven.com/phaeton/page.html


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15 May 2012 12:52 #22851 by oldbanger71
Replied by oldbanger71 on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
Hi Bill, do you know what strange bumpers you have on this car, do you know what they came from ? Is that a sort of hitch on the rear bumper to tow a trailer ? is the whole bumper beefed up to give it strength ? Please post more pic's of it. Best regards Philipp

The more i know, the more i realize that i don't know enough.
812 310 121 S

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25 Apr 2012 13:13 #22684 by acdclubadmin
Replied by acdclubadmin on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND

Chris Summers wrote: One of my good friends had the opportunity to buy a Duesenberg for $1500 in the 1950s. When he is inevitably asked if he regrets not buying it, he says, "No, $1500 was as hard to come by then as the million would be now."


At the Santa Fe Meet, we met Denise McCluggage who was one of the early female racers. (Sebring) She's a Goddess in the car world. She told the story of having to sell her Ferrari for $6000. It later sold for $13.7 million! Timing is everything.

Friends told her she'd have been a millionaire if she'd kept her cars. No, she said, you have to BE a millionaire to keep these cars!

Bill Hummel - Webmaster - ACD Club

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16 Apr 2012 11:55 #22607 by Emporator
Replied by Emporator on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
Score! Well done!

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15 Apr 2012 15:37 #22603 by johnmereness
Replied by johnmereness on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
Please do !

JMM

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  • Bill Hummel
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15 Apr 2012 15:33 #22602 by Bill Hummel
Replied by Bill Hummel on topic Road Trip
Im very late getting my President's Corner out for Issue #3. Maybe I'll write about Barn Finds and Road Trips.

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15 Apr 2012 03:35 #22600 by johnmereness
Replied by johnmereness on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
Congratulations !

JMM

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  • Mike Dube
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14 Apr 2012 15:52 #22591 by Mike Dube
Replied by Mike Dube on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
Thanks for sharing Bill.

It looks like quite a trip and quite a find. Look foward to seeing it in Auburn.

Mike
8-100A

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13 Apr 2012 13:05 #22587 by alsancle
Replied by alsancle on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
The bumper guards are in the accessories catalog I believe.

This is the kind of road trip that you reminisce about for years.

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  • Tom Georgeson
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13 Apr 2012 00:06 #22585 by Tom Georgeson
Replied by Tom Georgeson on topic bumper guards
The bumper guards on the front of Bill's phaeton are the kind that had some comments made a while ago. They only have two ridges unlike the factory ones that have three. In my 54 years in the Club I don't remember ever seeing these for sale. Joe Knapp didn't do them that I can remember. Maybe the factory, though I don't remember them being advertised? As an add note, as I was looking through Josh's books I noticed that some of the cars pictured at the factory have no bumper guards while some do. Could be they were an extra charge item?

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  • Chris Summers
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12 Apr 2012 22:08 #22584 by Chris Summers
Replied by Chris Summers on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
One of my good friends had the opportunity to buy a Duesenberg for $1500 in the 1950s. When he is inevitably asked if he regrets not buying it, he says, "No, $1500 was as hard to come by then as the million would be now."

Chris Summers
ACD Club
CCCA
H.H. Franklin Club

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

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12 Apr 2012 21:24 #22583 by Tom_Parkinson
Replied by Tom_Parkinson on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
Hi Bill,

This car and your retrieval of it spell ADVENTURE all over!!! What a great story for posterity.

BTW--My dad bought my Cord in 1950 for $150.00, whereas the cost of what is now yours was $900.00. Sigh--convertibles ALWAYS cost more than sedans, no matter the brand name.

Please keep us posted on this car.

--Tom

With brakes, two cylinders are better than one.

Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, The Hardtop News Magazine, the Journal of the Michiana Dunes Region, Lambda Car Club International

See pix of 1509A here: mbcurl.me/YCSE

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  • Bill Hummel
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10 Apr 2012 21:40 #22578 by Bill Hummel
Replied by Bill Hummel on topic Route
I had to pick up Brad Waken in Enid, OK.

He was a lifesaver. Not only did he help with the driving, he made sure that I didn't leave any parts there!

To take a week off to help me bring back this Cord went way beyond the call of duty. I rewarded him with all the Beef Jerky and Pretzels that he could eat!

I then put him on Southwest Airlines back up to OKC after we spent an afternoon inventorying parts. I sent him off with some drink coupons. I bet he fell asleep instead of drinking a few beers. We were worn out!

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10 Apr 2012 20:52 #22577 by alsancle
Replied by alsancle on topic 1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND
Wow. It looks great.

Any particular reason you went the northern route on the way there? The trip back looks to be shorter.

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10 Apr 2012 18:06 #22576 by Bill Hummel
1937 CORD 812 S/C PHAETON - BARN FIND was created by Bill Hummel
After a 5-day, 12-state, 4,800-mile road trip, Brad Waken and I brought back my new Phaeton from Mill City, Oregon to my car barn in Boerne, Texas. My butt still hurts!

This car has not moved since 1957. The body is straight and all the chrome parts have been purchased over the years and were included. Lots of 50-year old packages from Stan Gilliland, Glenn Pray, J. K. Howell, and others have been opened just enough to see what is inside. It was like a giant Easter Egg hunt. Every package yielded a surprise! Acorn nuts, cigarette lighters, towel bars, brake and clutch pads, bumpers, hubcaps, a completely rebuilt Schwitzer-Cummins supercharger and on and on ... its all been done.

I am bringing this car to Auburn, "as is". Brad seems to feel that this car will clear up a number of old arguments and mis-conceptions. While the interior was replaced years ago and the bumpers replaced, enough has not been touched to make this car worth studying.

To my knowledge, no club members have seen this car. Jim Wilson, a Charter Club Member and an Honorary Club Member, never brought it to Auburn or the West Coast Meet. He purchased it in 1952 for $900.00. Technically, he was the third owner, as a car dealer had it for a week or two. He drove it for 5 years. I suspect the supercharger failed. He had put a standard manifold on it to drive it a little longer. The last time he ever drove it was 1957. Sadly, he passed away in 2007, never realizing his dream. I've told his widow, Alice and her daughters, that the deal is not done, until they have come to Auburn and ridden in the fully restored car in the parade.

I am very excited, this is an aspect of the club that I have not experienced. That's the excitement of restoring a car correctly, versus glossing over a modified car.




Alice says goodbye to her old Cord. Check out the date on the license plate! And look at that trailer hitch!


Breakfast stop in Phoenix, AZ. Bruce Hanson & Brad Waken like what they see! A rebuilt supercharger!


A stop at the TOM MIX CRASH SITE MEMORIAL near Florence, AZ on the way back home

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