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by Murray Hall, Maitland Valley Region

The L-29 Cord was built by the Cord Corporation, an automobile company run by E. L. Cord. The factories in Auburn, Connorsville, and Indianapolis, Indiana made the Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg automobiles. L-29 Cords were made from 1929 to early 1932. A total of 5,014 were made in four body styles. Approximately 186 are known to exist in the world today and there are about 8 in Canada. Our sedan is the 475th one built and cost $4510.00 new in Toronto.

The Cord is powered by a 298.6 cubic inch, 125 hp straight 8 flathead Lycoming engine. Cord owned the Lycoming engine company and, also, the Stinson aircraft company that used Lycoming engines. All Cords are front wheel drive cars. The Cord has a 137 1/2" wheelbase and was the first automobile to use an X frame.

From 1980 to 1987, I was restoring a 1932 DeSoto SC deluxe roadster. To aid in the restoration, I purchased a 1932 DeSoto parts car in the Fonthill area. Two other cars were stored in the same building. One was a 1931 Auburn sedan and the other was a 1929 L-29 Cord sedan. I eventually made a deal to buy the Cord and it turned out to be the biggest restoration project of my life.

When I bought the Cord, it came with three truckloads of extra Cord parts. I was able to sell most of these to help pay for parts that were missing. I sold some parts to a man in Paris, France and shipped a pair of headlights and a set of fenders to a car collector in Finland.

The restoration took ten long years. During this time, I sold six antique cars to keep the project going.

The body of the car is constructed of wood framing. I jokingly tell people that there is a 'cord' of wood in the car. While the body shop worked on the car, a mechanic was working on the running gear. Once I retired, I was able to devote more time to this project. I got the idea to paint the car red and maroon with a gold pinstripe from a Duesenberg I saw at the ACD Museum in Auburn, Indiana.

One interesting thing about the car is that it still has the original muffler and exhaust pipe. How many other cars of that age can make that claim? These mufflers all came with built-in cutouts for country driving.

It is an interesting car to drive. It is started by pulling a knob on the end of a cable that runs to a lever on the starter. Since the transmission has square cut gears, it is necessary to double clutch when changing gears. The gear shifter goes through the middle of the dash to the transmission at the front end of the engine. Steering is a little heavy at low speeds because so much weight is over the front wheels, but it is just fine rolling down the highway. It will cruise at 55mph. It has dydraulic brakes which help to stop this 4800 pound car.

We have taken the Cord to the national Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg meet in Auburn, Indiana three times and have won a second place award each time. We won the people's choice award at Pumpkinfest in Port Elgin both times we showed it there. It also won honourable mention at the Willistead show in Windsor. It was on display for a week at the plowing match in Huron country a few years ago.

We are really pleased with how it turned out. We have enjoyed taking it to car shows, but we must decide whether to take it or our newly restored 1935 Auburn.

 

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