“One of a kind”, “Unique” and “Cool” are the first words that come to mind when I laid eyes upon this wild, unfinished custom project. It’s listed as a 1939 Cord here on eBay in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a BIN of $15k(or trade) however the seller says that it’s a Cord front clip mated to a 1939 Hupmobile Skylark frame. It’s definitely a unique design and combination!
Among the laundry list of full-custom work done is the following from the seller: “The FWD sheet metal beneath the hood was replaced with second Cord hood inverted below the front of the fence for a “mirror image” nose look. Bottoms of the Cord front fenders were trimmed off and replaced with the top half of the Skylark fenders turned upside down and swapped left to right before being welded to Cord fenders. Three of the four steel fender skirts have been made to produce a stylish custom four “pontoon fender” Cord. Car has linear actuators in the rear to raise and lower it at the touch of a switch. No front suspension. Narrowed rear housing and axles with coil over suspension. Except for top, most of the body and fender work is done”
The seller also tells us that Ed Newton, designer of most of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s creations, helped on the artwork and famed “Cadzilla” designer Larry Erickson submitted several interior design proposals for this car. Obviously, we here have no way to prove that, however the seller includes some of the design artwork in the listing.
I can’t find the proper words to describe this car. It looks, to my untrained eye, like something that the late Boyd Coddington started but didn’t finish.
Looking at it now, and looking at the concept art, do you think they were on the right track before the project stopped, or would you do something differently? It’s definitely an interesting and odd find, but is there anyone out there willing and capable of finishing it?
I can find the proper words for this car, but you won’t print them.
You can say what you want, just us asterisks, such as – This is one awesome m*****-f****in’ automobile. Holy s***, this is a great looking car. This is one kick-a** Cord! etc….
This would be a helluva car if completed, but without a huge effort and investment, this is yard art.
If Dolly Parton ever bought a custom car, this should be it!!
The front fenders and Dolly Parton have a lot in common……
Looks like they were going for the
Dallahaye look and they got it. A
convertible sedan would be the way to
go with this one. Power could come
from a 300 HP Northstar V-8 backed by
a 4T80E automatic transmission. The
interior would be Cord style with leather
seats and door trim. The dash could be
filled with VDO gauges with a hidden
radio a la a’ ’68 Imperial. The hidden
headlights could be retained and the
outside pipes could stay too. The
windshield would be a one piece fixed
unit with a mild chop. That’s what I’d
do. Anyone else?
cool vision, but LS powered! I think Hupmobile bought the rights to the Cord after they quit and turned the body into a read wheel driver, which would explain the Hupmobile parts.
Mr. Foose,
I really hate to bother you at the moment, but I need to ask you for a favor???
Wow, love it! Beautiful.. so many possibilities
Shop manual says it takes 4.5 days to change a front tire.
Melt it down and get three Toyota’s out of it!
Or 7,563 beer cans which would be a much better use of this fever dream.
Oh man, this thing NEEDS to be completed! Very cool concept, and the workmanship so far looks top notch. It would be quite impressive once finished. I’d want to build it to look as though it was made in the 40s or early 50s.
With that long hood it needs a long engine. Something like an inline 8. Maybe an OHV Buick with custom manifolds and multipe carbs.
Holy Mother of Pearl!! I think I see the next “winner takes all” of the custom car show world!!!
I picture this in a sleek art-deco swoopy two-tone of maybe pearl black sapphire blue with terra cotta leather guts!!
Looks like the automotive version of ‘My 600 Pound Life’.
The front wheel whatevers are completely out of proportion with the rest of the whatever. Hideous design that would have gotten the ‘designer” tossed out of any Industrial Design class, with good reason.
Rip off the front balloon fenders to expose the front wheels but leave the rear ones on. Then Rat Rod that baitch.
Frank is right about the proportions, but the sketches reveal a more coherent concept. Toning down the excesses and showing some restraint could result in a really nice shape. I see dark blue metallic for the body with large skirts front and rear painted in a contrasting silver blue. A monochromatic gray mouse fur interior with lots of chrome accents. Buick straight 8 power with a 3-speed manual.
What gives with the hideous, bulbous front fenders?
Am I missing something? That first picture made me blush.
And no Delahaye or Cord ever had those balloon cartoon fenders. Bulbous fenders yes. Balloon cartoon fenders no.
I’m not sure about that.
They probably decided to sell it when they were trying to fit a front suspension, turning radius, what turning radius?
Just too cool. Rare parts/Right look.
Use some imagination.
Sure beats the rusted Mopar muscle we’ve been seeing here…
Needs completed, and powered by ANYTHING but an LS.
Seagrave V12…
imagine this with a corvette engine!
This is an amazing piece of automotive art and truly should be properly finished. Since it’s already set up for rear-wheel drive….gasp…put a twin turbo BMW or Mercedes V12 in it and really drive folks nuts ! BTW, it should be easy enough to confirm/deny the artist/designers allegedly involved. One of the images on eBay actually shows a signature by the left rear wheel….
i have litterally never heard of a cord
Never hears of a Cord???!!!
I love it, would look in my garage. I would finish just the the drawings show it. If I was 20 years younger I would be all over this car.
Looking @ the original concept, I’d put an 810/812 Roadster-Pheaton spin on it. Marcel’s would be tapped for the job and it would be something E.L. Cord himself could’ve said that he commissioned. This would fit right in with staging in front of his beautiful Pan Pacific Auditorium. Space Age before we ever hit the scene.