I am rebuilding this 1937 Cord that was customized some time before 1948. I have been researching the history of this car and have not been able to discover any information about the car before 1948. Does anyone have any ideas who owned or did the customization? The rear seat was removed and covered with a deck lid to create a two-seat roadster. Suspension was lowered. A "Darrin dip" was put in the top of the doors and the door handles were shaved. License plate was recessed in the trunk. The original seat backs were reworked to create bucket seats. Fender skirts were fitted. Dual exhausts were installed. The drive train was stock with the supercharged Lycoming 289 cu. in. flathead V-8. The attached photo shows the car when Bill Brehaut owned the car in early 1948 in Burbank, CA. All the custom work was performed most likely before Bill owned it. I believe this car was originally sold in California because there is evidence that it was fitted with a continental spare. Only a few Cords were fitted with continental spares and most were done by dealers in California. Bill Brehaut moved to California in the last half of 1947 and I suspect that he purchased the car there, but I have no evidence. The car color was cream when he owned it. I have a couple of pictures that lead me to believe he owned it for a couple of years, maybe until 1949-50. The next time I have information on the car it was purchased from the Empire auto lot in Burbank in 1956. By that time the car was painted a medium green. A few years later the car was painted black and remained with the same owner until a few years ago. This particular car is somewhat unique in that it has some after-market vents cut into the nose of the hood to increase air flow to the radiator. Any help with this search is much appreciated.
I have “The Cord Complete” book that lists most of the serial numbers and car info. If you message me the serial numbers or photo of the data plates I can look it up. Would be interested to sone photos of how the car currently looks.
I have "The Cord Complete" book also. It has been a good reference as I work on this car. The serial number is 31868H. The engine number is FC2596. The body number is C-91 518. The car was originally a phaeton. Attached are three pictures of the car when I purchased it. The center section of the rear bumper is not stock. Someone fabricated that section when the continental spare was removed. Also, the tail lights were originally in the trunk lid, but were welded shut. The tail lights were moved out into the body as part of the continental spare modification. The body is currently stripped. The plan is to have it in primer in about 8 weeks. My plan is to return the car to the custom configuration in the 1948 photo in my previous post.
That is a cool car, look forward to the resto. I have several books from the 50’s that has some custom Cords in it, I’ll have a look there this week.
This may jog some people's memory: https://www.customcarchronicle.com/custom-history/37-cord-mystery-custom/
Wow, that Cord is incredible, love it. They were almost factory customs with teardrop fenders, dual cowl vents, split screen and an awesome dash. I have seen pictures of the front hood inlets on another Cord so possibly a Cord option or period accessory. A Supercharged Cord is very rare and even more interesting with its custom history, looking forward to the build. I would drive it.
It's actually the other way around. Guys would try to make cheap cars have styling features like expensive cars, such as the Cord.
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