Cord differences.

[lordairgtar]

I notice while researching a build that some Cords have eight grille bars and others have seven. Are these changes in production or models?

[Richard Bartrop]

That's the first time I've ever seen anyone point that one.  You never stop learning, I guess.

 

[Paul Payne]

I think I heard some later Cords had 8 bars for a higher hood, and larger, more formal body work- limousines and such.

[lordairgtar]

  On 2/14/2021 at 12:42 AM, Paul Payne said:

I think I heard some later Cords had 8 bars for a higher hood, and larger, more formal body work- limousines and such.

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That's what I'm thinking. I want to build a Beverly sedan but if the front is wrong, i have more fine tuning of the hood area.

[stitchdup]

Are there fender differences too? they appear to be level with the top bar on the sedan but taller than the top bar in the top pic

[sjordan2]

The Beverly and Westchester sedans (only basic difference was sedan interiors) were longer and higher than the Sportsman 2-seater (AMT 1/24 and 1/12 scale kits) and Phaeton 2+2 (Revell/Monogram), and you're correct about the difference in the number of grille bars. What kit would you be starting with?

[lordairgtar]

  On 2/14/2021 at 5:35 PM, sjordan2 said:

The Beverly and Westchester sedans (only basic difference was sedan interiors) were longer and higher than the Sportsman 2-seater (AMT 1/24 and 1/12 scale kits) and Phaeton 2+2 (Revell/Monogram), and you're correct about the difference in the number of grille bars. What kit would you be starting with?

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Probably the Revell Monogram. In pictures of the cars online, even the sedans seem to be all over the place. I notice that the rocker panel area has height differences too, probably to compensate for the height of the grille. It's all confusing. I see resin sedan bodies and I wonder if they are correct for the Cord kits.

 

[Mark]

The number of grille bars, and even the fender height, could have been a running change as thosr cars were built from panels stamped on crude tooling compared to the Big Three, or even independent automakers like Nash or Studebaker.  Most articles about these cars mention crude tooling, like the sedan roof being made from seven panels welded together, leaded, and hand finished.  All that came back to bite Hupp and Graham later on, when they tried to build lower price cars using bodies built from the Cord tooling.  They couldn't build them to the desired price with all of the hand work involved.

[Brian Austin]

According to the article by William C. Kinsman in Classic Cars In Profile (pub.1960s), the extra louver was added "to help retain the original design proportions on the enlarged chassis."

[Brian Austin]

And for fun, check out the prototypes and mockups of large Cords, exhibiting the taller noses and extra louvers....

 

http://www.coachbuilt.com/des/t/tremulis/tremulis.htm