I did a cursory search of the HAMB and didn't see anything, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been talked about, just that I might be lazier than I thought... Anyway, I'm sitting here at work, bored, and my fevered mind is of course thinking of all the cars that would be fun to build but that I obviously can't afford to do because, I mean, shit, I can't even afford to put new shocks on my daily driver corvette. But I digress... Does anyone know what the front axle (transaxle?) setup looks like on old front-drive cord? Pics? I was just thinking how cool it would be to make a front-drive, fenderless, race-car type driver. Like an old miller for the street! Oh hell, I'd love to see how the whole drivetrain hooks up. Obviously, this is all pie-in-the-sky dreaming stuff, so we don't have to keep it reality based in terms of what is realistically possible, just what could be...
Good Lord, Man, where in the world are you going to find a Cord drivetrain? If you wanna get nutty with a front-drive V-8, why not start with a Toronado or El Dorado donor, and go from there? Big block V-8, auto transaxle, and the factory wheels even look a little like Cords if you chrome them.
A friend of mine has a Cord. He says that the first gear in the tranny is very weak. So much for smokin the front tires.
I hear Leno may have a Toro front drive that he's not using. Uhhhhh, I don't have his number on me tho'. JayD
We've been thru the front drive ''Miller-look'' thing before. Do a search....... good reading if your bored I do have Leno's number but I can safely say he if you don't it's cause he doesn't wanna hear from you
Awesome pic. Thanks. Obviously, I'm not going to build anything with Cord parts. A. I'm not stupid. B. I'm not rich. I'm just more curious what the set-up looks like--you know, the mechanical bits. I'm just interested in bench-racing the ideas more than any real build. I remember reading about some of those Miller front-drive threads not too long ago. I may have even posted in one or two. I don't remember. But I also seem to remember that most of the pics are of the whole cars. I'd love to see pics, drawings or diagrams (whatever), of the way these front drives were set up. Maybe I should have further mentioned how I was thinking it would be cool to run the car as a 4 wheel drive with a Cord-like front end and a normal rear... the reason I'm asking about Cords in particular is just the trad aspect. Yeah a Toro drivetrain would be better, but I'm thinking about looks too. The reason I'm interested is because I've been reading Gordon White's book about Offenhauser recently, and of course if you want to talk about Offie, you've got to talk about Miller, so it got me thinking about his old racers. And in my mind, I was just thinking how cool it would be to set up a front (or all wheel) driver but with more mundane parts while still maintaining the look. In short, I'd still love to see more pics if you got them. Thanks for indulging me guys and gals.
You could build a four wheel drive using solid axles, set it low. Check out some of the bonneville racercars, There was one a few years back set up that way. The front differential would need to be offset more to one side to get a driveshaft to it. A traditional looking machine could be built with some planning and the right combo of parts.
That Cord being built in Toronto looks pretty awesome. Honestly, I'm not cazy about the slant to the front end, but that's just me. On the other hand, I do like the fastback look. Have you got any bigger pics? And 31Apickup, do you know where I can find some of the Bonneville racers you speak of. I'd love to see them. So far so good. Lots of thanks.
I love Cords ( and Grahams ) The canadian car looks waay cool so far But I still would love to see someone make this one become a reality :
Neat idea! Take a Toro/Eldo front drive setup, (66 to 78), attach the balljoints to a De Dion tube instead of their control arms and mount the final drive to the chassis (might have to be upside down if you didn't use the Turbo 425). If you did use it, might have to build an intermediate case and extended main shaft, and run different length driveshafts to accomodate the offset differential. The driveshaft on these front drivers ran under the #2 sparkplug so something would be needed to move the axle in front of the engine. These transmissions had the B O P C bellhousing and used a bellhousing mounted starter, lots of possibilities to adapt a Pontiac or Buick motor. Running the motor backward in the frame and adapting a conventional transmission might work, too. Thinking outside the box a little more, the 8.8 independent pumpkin from a MN 12 (Mark VIII or T-bird/Cougar) might work the same way. Just a thought.
Read the recent thread "Miller-Ford Indy Replica (Fantasy)" -- it had a lot of ideas for building a front drive car from readily available/modern components, and some of them were surprisingly good ideas. This doesn't help you with drawings or cutaways. While I'm not sure that either contains what you're looking for, I'd look in Mark Dees' (The Miller Dynasty) and Griff Borgeson's (The Golden Age of the American Racing Car) books on Miller. I'm pretty sure that one or the other should have useful details.
Wow. Look at the size of the frame, and where it ends. Looks like the tranaxle deal is hanging from the engine with no frame support. Check out the double set of springs, that is just cool imo...
Hey, Didn't the Tucker use the transmission outa the Cord , when at the last minute, Tucker couldn't make their design fly, and needed to get the car into production. I recall readin' that Tucker hunted the bone yards of america for old Cord tranies ta pull this off.......Than again, it could just be the fumes talkin'
I love all of this Cord Talk, To me & this is my opinion only-I feel that 36-7 Cord 810-12's are the hot ticket!!!!! My grandfather on mom's side had 3 over the course of 5yrs during & after WW-2. He'd buy em off people who didn't know how to work on them & do a restoration mechanically & cosmetically & trade them off for whatever tools that he may need. 2 of them were supercharged!!!! I'd love to own one someday. He said if he'd know that they would have been worth what they are today he would have ratholed one away for a rainy day. Lol.!!!!!! THe rebody job of the sedan as well as the chopped concept are tits!!!!!
Griff Borgeson's (The Golden Age of the American Racing Car) books on Miller. Also Borgeson's "Miller" - has lots of detailed pictures and the story of Harry Miller. I ground the crank and repaired some trans and front-end parts for the restoration featured in the book. Some incredible engineering for the time. Also look here for lotsa pictures. www.milleroffy.com
Enjenjo: Gotta tell us more on that picture. What type of Cord is that stuff from? I think Cord 810-812 are among the most beautiful cars ever.
Well, the one in the picture is an L29 I believe there is at least one more chassis there, and another transaxle out of an 810. These are the leftovers after a collection was broken up. There's some other stuff there too, T chassis and parts, and some T speed equipment, trans and so forth. I know it's laying in the woods, but it can be bought, not cheap.
Consider a VW, Porsche, or Corvair transaxle. On all three, you'd have to reverse the rotation of the motor if you ran an american V-8. Not much of a different setup than if you had a chevy V-8 hanging out the rear of a porsche or vair. DeDion tubes are neat, I really like them, even though it's a compromise. If its a light car, like bucket, I imagine a VW transaxle would hold up fine.
Another source worth looking in is MILLER by Griffith Borgeson, 1993 Motorbooks International. Has a chapter on the FWD and has photos of the actual patent drawings of the Miller and the Cord 1932. I got some patent drawings 20 years ago from or thru the US Patent office-wasn't too bad -probably alot easier today with the web. Can give you the patent #s if you want. Cords sure do look great but in my opinion I think they lean on the front tires a bit heavy (maybe its the big Lycoming). My dad had a 36 Sportman and my grandfather a 30 L-29 Cabriolet. The designer of the coffin nose Gordon Buhrig was the most unassuming man-made himself accessible at Classic car stuff around Michigan- saw him twice and walked up to him and told him how great his stuff was, he didn't know me from Adam and he was as nice as could be. Let me know if you need the #s. Jim
I'll have to do some thumbing through some magazines, The most recent was a roadster featured several years ago I in think Rod & Custom. It was a 27-32 Roadster (don't remember exactly at this time) It used GM axles, the front ones they welded Jeep ends on it and the axle set out front. To go the other route and use a late model transaxle, I don't think you'd get the look you'd want since on most the engine and drive axles are too close together. I'll post it when I find it.
These Cord trannies are weak; the weakest part of the car. They had oiling problems; the oil pump (yes, for the gearbox!) didn't do the trick. Check an ACD newsletter and see how many transmissions are available for under $2500. The motors were <300 inches; flathead Lycomings with exhaust and intake ports all going up like a flathead cad. Here's a thought: Beefy Porsche gearbox; flathead Cad. If you could use the original funky electric 'pre-selector' shifter I'd think you were a hero! European Cord owners have retrofitted the 6 cyl Citroen Traction Avant running gear; probably due to availability of Cord stuff there. But, what's the availability of Citroen stuff here?
Back in 2002 there were about 30 Citroen Traction Avants in the parking lot of the Petersen Museun in LA for the start of a cross counrty tour. They drive these 1933 Ford lookalikes all over the world on tour, must be a website out there somewere on them.
The cheapest easiest thing to build FWD outta is A Corvair trans But all this Cord talk is messing with my head again. I had a wonderful 812 Sportsman for a few years. The front drive was fragile CV joints were not high angle and the transmission's oil pump only worked when the wheels were turning. We did a bunch of mods to the box and it worked well. But like many things you could hear the bomb ticking..... I don't think the box is a 25,000 mile item. Even with modern oils it's an iffy thing. The car was wonderful to drive. Had lottsa power and a wonderful exhaust note. But It was a 'Guy's car' very heavy handed. I never put the top up.Drove it on the freeway everywhere! Took it out on road trips to San Diego several times. The open road,engine's sound at speed,and dashlights soft glow..... I'll have to buy another sooner than later
I had a similar Idea for a project a while back. Here are some pics of a 67 Eldo or Toronado tranny. Hope this helps.
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