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What if? - The Cord 810

Oct 24 2012 07:22 PM | Drew Dowdell in Old Iron
October 24, 2012
Drew Dowdell
Managing Editor - CheersandGears.com
For the 1936 model year, Cord unveiled its bombshell beauty 810 sedan to great fanfare. Designer Gordon Buehrig conceived of the design from scratch, meaning he didn't have to use any off the shelf parts from elsewhere in the Cord/Auburn/Duesenburg organization. By being allowed such freedom in his design, the result was a car that has frequently been voted one of the most beautiful American cars ever built.

But what if Gordon Buehrig didn't work for Cord? What if instead he was a designer at one of the other American car companies producing vehicles in 1936? Well Frank Peiler over at The Daily Drive blog on Consumer Guide - Automotive wondered just that.  Only, Frank took that wonder and put it on paper.

Frank produced a series of drawing depicting what might have happened if Mr. Buehrig had been employed by Walter P. Chrysler or Harley Earl.. and a few others, four other to be exact.

Below is what Frank imagines the Cord 810 would have looked like had it passed through the design house at General Motors headed by Harley Earl in 1935.

Posted Image

What do you think? Dive in to the article to see what the Cord 810 might have looked like had it been built at Chrysler, Hudson, Studebaker, Ford, or Nash. Which one is your favorite?

What if GM, Hudson, Chrysler, and Others Had Designed the Cord 810?
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21 Comments

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ocnblu
Oct 24 2012 08:21 PM
Always an interesting part of an issue of Collectible Automobile.

A couple of things bother me, though, about the drawrings: the GM one has its nose offcenter, his perspective is skewed wrong, the driver's side of the coffin nose is farther from the fender peak than the passenger side. If the perspective were natural, it would appear opposite. And the Studebaker's headlights? the passenger side is clearly too far back in the sketch.

I am not trying to be a sketch nazi, just saying, it throws me off an otherwise enjoyable conjecture. I do like the GM one the best, however.
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balthazar
Oct 24 2012 10:19 PM
^ I see what you're seeing Bill, but I don't think it's necc. off. I know you'v seen this era cars in person; the distances between forms, such as the bumper to the sheet metal, is often much greater than one would expect. I'm not saying the drawing is spot on; it isn't, but off so much as to effect the viewing? These are tough to illustrate convincingly because they are so many unjoined shapes.
I'm looking at the fog lamps- where are they in relation to the bumper guards, exactly?

I like the Ford, then the Nash versions, but my main question is; why are they all so much taller in the body than the factory Cord??
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Camino LS6
Oct 25 2012 08:14 AM
Perhaps this is a question best left unanswered.

Seems to me that we should be glad that the Cord happened just the way it did.
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ocnblu
Oct 25 2012 08:18 AM
Yeah, this is a long-running series in the magazine. Sometimes the sketches are downright humorous.
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Drew Dowdell
Oct 25 2012 08:32 AM

I like the Ford, then the Nash versions, but my main question is; why are they all so much taller in the body than the factory Cord??


Because they are all built on frames and bodies that had to accommodate a drive shaft to the back.
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GMTruckGuy74
Oct 25 2012 10:41 AM

Perhaps this is a question best left unanswered.

Seems to me that we should be glad that the Cord happened just the way it did.


The '48 Tucker is my absolute favorite vehicle, and the '36 Cord 810 follows.
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dfelt
Oct 25 2012 11:21 AM
GM Nash and then Hudson are my top three picks in that order of what I like in addition to the original beauty.

Posted ImageCamino LS6, on 25 October 2012 - 06:14 AM, said:

Perhaps this is a question best left unanswered. Seems to me that we should be glad that the Cord happened just the way it did.
The '48 Tucker is my absolute favorite vehicle, and the '36 Cord 810 follows.


I agree with you, Tucker first then the Cord. :)
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Drew Dowdell
Oct 25 2012 12:46 PM
I really like the Studebaker.
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balthazar
Oct 25 2012 10:47 PM


I like the Ford, then the Nash versions, but my main question is; why are they all so much taller in the body than the factory Cord??


Because they are all built on frames and bodies that had to accommodate a drive shaft to the back.


Yes but no. Even the driveshaft out of my DuraMax wouldn't necessitate raising the Cord body shell that high.
I know- they're only drawings. :D
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dfelt
Oct 26 2012 08:54 AM



I like the Ford, then the Nash versions, but my main question is; why are they all so much taller in the body than the factory Cord??


Because they are all built on frames and bodies that had to accommodate a drive shaft to the back.


Yes but no. Even the driveshaft out of my DuraMax wouldn't necessitate raising the Cord body shell that high.
I know- they're only drawings. :D


If money was no object and I had unlimited time, would it not be fun to take a donor frame/engine and then build some of these?

You could truly have some special cars then.
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balthazar
Oct 26 2012 09:06 PM
Oh absolutely yes to the concept. I would love to design my own vision of a fat-fendered circa '40 machine.

I've thrown this one up before (the bottom one next to the locomotive), because it's got the presence & proportions right, and the fighter plane cockpit kicks ass. I'd change up the front end some, but this beats down everything in the above piece IMO :

Posted Image
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ocnblu
Oct 27 2012 05:22 AM
wildness. i am guessing, but it appears the three at the mid-left depict a rear end and two fronts. everything was about jet aircraft.
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A Horse With No Name
Oct 27 2012 02:36 PM


Perhaps this is a question best left unanswered.

Seems to me that we should be glad that the Cord happened just the way it did.


The '48 Tucker is my absolute favorite vehicle, and the '36 Cord 810 follows.


they are both fantastic vehicles!

Oh absolutely yes to the concept. I would love to design my own vision of a fat-fendered circa '40 machine.

I've thrown this one up before (the bottom one next to the locomotive), because it's got the presence & proportions right, and the fighter plane cockpit kicks ass. I'd change up the front end some, but this beats down everything in the above piece IMO :

Posted Image


That is a sweet design, and it even has a lot of the same proportional stuf I like about a lot of more modern sports cars.
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balthazar
Oct 27 2012 07:02 PM
^ beyond long hood/short deck, I'm not seeing it.
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A Horse With No Name
Oct 28 2012 07:53 AM

^ beyond long hood/short deck, I'm not seeing it.


IU like it when the cockpit of the car doesn't overwhelm the body....which is what I liked about the original Mustang fastback. Too many cars are dominated by the greenhouse, the car you posted is just the opposite....
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ocnblu
Oct 28 2012 08:09 AM
here's another example...


Posted Image
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A Horse With No Name
Oct 28 2012 10:50 AM
Exactly...a greenhouse should be light and unobtrusive on a car, and not domiante the design....
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balthazar
Oct 28 2012 03:57 PM
gotcha... tho a LOT of it (vs. a Mustang & Pacer), is that the one I posted is full-size.

Posted Image
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ocnblu
Oct 28 2012 04:13 PM
So they've crossed the sweltering, parched desert and what appears before them? That's no Mitsubishi Mirage... it's real, and it's spectacular!
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Drew Dowdell
Oct 29 2012 09:43 AM

Oh absolutely yes to the concept. I would love to design my own vision of a fat-fendered circa '40 machine.

I've thrown this one up before (the bottom one next to the locomotive), because it's got the presence & proportions right, and the fighter plane cockpit kicks ass. I'd change up the front end some, but this beats down everything in the above piece IMO :

Posted Image


Was that an Olds?
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ocnblu
Oct 29 2012 09:51 AM
Well it has Silver Streaks
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