A Jailable Offense: 1936 Cord Westchester Sedan And Phaeton
Not so long ago in our history, a man who committed any particularly heinous offense might find himself at the wrong end of a horse whip. While you might think that horsewhipping someone for a crime is a bit extreme, it was second only to hanging in preventing recidivism in criminals. Today, we are a much more kind and gentle society, and even the most hardened outlaw is punished by just jail time. That is a shame, because leaving these 1936 Cords, one a Westchester sedan and one a phaeton, to sit outside and rot needs to have some sort of consequence. Any Cord is a special car, and all Cords are full classics to boot. So, after finding these cars on AACA’s general discussion forum, I present to you exhibits one and two. Both are being sold on craigslist, and are currently located in Walla Walla, Washington. The sedan is being offered for $13,500, but the phaeton might be sold “for the right price.”
As previously mentioned, the crew on the AACA, or Antique Automobile Club of America, forum were discussing the pros and cons of purchasing these cars. Before the thread veered off in an unrelated direction, it was a lively debate that a few Cord owners and experts contributed to, and even shared pictures of Cords they owned. I think it was safe to say that all were aghast at the thought of storing these cars in such a rough manner, and they held out hope that the sedan could be restored. As for the phaeton, that would be a much taller mountain to climb financially and skill wise. As we look at the pictures posted here, the sedan seems to be rough but restorable.
The seller tells us that the sedan is near complete for restoration. Being near complete when it comes to a Cord is a little different than being in that condition with any other car. These cars were basically hand built, and their Lycoming V-8 engines and pre-selector transmissions have a reputation for being hard to find parts for. The transmissions are especially finicky, but there are still a few people around who can make them work well. Other than the mechanicals, the exterior of the sedan appears to be free of rust through, and in pretty good shape for having lived under a tarp for a while.
Inside, we find matters to be less appealing. The seats are covered in a ratty red vinyl with black trim, and the door panels appear to be absent as well. The window surrounds look to be in the back seat, and the missing bumper is proudly riding shotgun. Other than that, the steering wheel has seen a lot better days, and it looks like the pre-selector for the transmission is missing. This would be a big deal. Where would you find another one?
The roughness continues forward of the front seat. The dash certainly seems to be restorable, but the heavy corrosion on the main panel doesn’t bode well for the internal condition of the instruments. There has been a lot of moisture trapped in this car by the looks of the dash, but the cowl and front floor panel mysteriously look to be in good condition. The door handle is still present on the driver’s side, but it and the window crank are missing on the passenger’s side. Having small pieces like these are a big thing on a car this rare, so a check with the seller to see if they are around is in order before any purchase.
Under that long coffin hood rests a potentially expensive engine rebuild. These Lycoming V-8s put out 125 horsepower, which was a fairly potent number for the day. Unfortunately, Cord was the only manufacturer to my knowledge using this engine. Thus, finding any needed parts will be an issue not solved by placing an order down at the local Pep Boys. The good news is that the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club is a very well organized club that is known for helping members find the parts they need to restore these beautiful cars. They could probably point the new owner to a shop capable of both handling a rebuild of the engine and transmission as well as help the owner liquidate any 401Ks they have accumulated to pay for the work. Cords are gorgeous, but you will pay for the privilege.
Speaking of paying for a privilege, I shudder what to think the total costs of getting the other Cord, a 1936 phaeton, back on the road. While the owner won’t come out with a price for the open car, my guess was that the sedan was to be the parts car for this restoration. There is no sign of a tarp in any of these pictures, and the rust we can see is a pretty good indicator of the condition of the floors. Another good indicator is that we can see light from a spot just under the hood that looks to be emanating from the rear fender area. The folks on the AACA forum even speculated that this phaeton might have been in the process of being converted into a rear wheel drive. The absence of the front wheel drive parts between the front fenders in the area forward of the grill supports this theory.
Even if all the parts were resting in a climate controlled warehouse on satin pillows, this car is almost too far gone. If you were very determined, and could call yourself an extremely talented restorer, you might be able to make a passable resto-mod using a modern drivetrain and chassis components. However, a concours restoration is pretty much out of the question unless you find yourself in a Brewster’s Millions situation. While the seller is looking for someone to make an offer he cannot refuse, it looks like the time to make an offer on this car has long since past.
Looking at these two Cords gives me hope that the sedan may finally find its way out from under the tarp and into the garage of a decent caretaker. While it seems to be missing some important pieces, I think it could be restored with the injection of a lot of cash and effort. The phaeton will likely return to the Earth, as its neglectful owner seems to be waiting for the big cash offer that will never come. What a sad end to one of the most gorgeous cars ever built.
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Comments
Cords are impressive automobiles. Don’t know a thing about them other than their appearance but they are what they are – ahead of their time.
Hope the one at least will be saved.
I know this type of person. I’ve seen an orig Camaro pace car conv, white/ orange stripes melt into a driveway cause he was gonna fix it up. Another was a real Shelby gt 500 that melted into a front lawn. Actual quote, “ that cars worth a hundred thousand dollars.” That was 1988, and the car was so rusty, the vin plate rivet had vanished on the right side. Need I say more.
This sickens Me.
That’s how most old cars end up, in a field with a tarp over them. Because it’s a Cord doesn’t make it any different. I don’t like seeing it personally, but it’s their car to do as they please. Seems all the crazies end up with the good stuff just to make us suffer from seeing it rot because they can.
With production being so low making original replacement parts even rarer and very expensive you would be better served to buy the very best one your budget will allow and start from there. An old dog like this one will break your heart and your bank balance if you are not a Saudi prince.
$3500 ?
It’s never impossible. If your mind is set on a project you can accomplish anything you want. I just read a story about a guy who restored an ancient Big Four tractor, starting with a crankshaft. He found some parts buried in the bank of a river in South Dakota and was able to scrounge stuff all over the northwest. There’s another guy not too far away who is completing the restoration on a Redcliff truck, which he began with a frame, a cowl and a radiator shell. Just the same it really bothers me to see cars like this left out in the elements. Of course I can’t say too much because I have some projects in waiting that are outside as well. I sure hope that these cars find a good home….
For such a low production vehicle it’s hard to believe these two examples were left to rot. Shameful.
If you take the phaeton on to restore, one has to think that after finishing hardly anything is really Cord from the original car.
When I see a guy like this saying he’s open to offers i have 1 Aerosmith song popping into my head: “dream on”
You all must be East Coasters. Stuff doesn’t rust in Eastern Washington State. Those cars would look the same if you left them in that field another 20 years. I love driving around down there. So many rust free projects.
As an Australian I am just really impressed that Walla Walla, Washington actually exists. I thought that it was an imaginary place that only existed in Warner Brothers cartoons!
Adam, I was thinking the same thing. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANrmdh7M1c0
Good onions come frome there lol.
So onions and these cars are two things from Walla Walla that will bring tears to your eyes then?
I love odd place names, and here in New Jersey we have many of them, including Succasunna and Ho-ho-kus. Michigan has Kalamazoo. Plus, I once lived in a place I am sure you are familiar with: Wooloomooloo, in Sydney.
For such a small population, here in Tasmania we also have our share of unusual place names. We have Doo Town, No Where Else, Eggs and Bacon Bay, Break-Me-Neck Hill, Cape Grim, and the very inviting sounding Dismal Bay!
A few years ago I bought a BMW motorcycle basket case from Truth or Consequences, NM.
My father was born in Walla Walla … “The town they liked so much that they named it twice.” (The) WSP is there (where Little Willie John died … “Fever” … ) … Whitman College, etc. Gateway to Pullman (WSU).
While there is much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in the lamentation over the shabby treatment of iconic cars the fact remains that this is not really a poor man’s hobby. Too often the price of admission is tantalizingly low and those of us of modest means get sucked in only to find that it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of money to convert a pile of rusty parts to concours condition.
A whole lot of money.
I have always loved Cords..,very advanced
for their time,and cool styling.It will always
amaze me why vehicles like these were
never bought / sold a long time ago….they have
always been sought after.The phaeton would make
an awesome custom resto-mod,although that sounds
harsh,I think that’s all someone could do with it.
Really hope they both go to good homes…!
Hard to tell much about the ragtop – the few pictures are terrible. I like open cars so I’d like to see more.
The sedan doesn’t look too bad to me. The body looks pretty solid on my tiny cell phone screen. I wouldn’t pay $13.5k for it though. That may be a fair market price, but not worth it to me. Plenty of other old car fun to be had for less than that.
– John
I hate seeing stuff like this. In my 40+ years of restoring cars, and working on I have seen people do stuff like this just because they can!!!! I once worked hard to try and buy a wrecked 69 Chevelle from a ole boy, he wanted an arm and a leg, plus my first born son for it. He had such a crazy price for it because he knew no body would pay it. For years as I would drive by his home, there it set in his front yard with the for sale sign on it, and I watched it rot to nothing. After he died, his family sold 25+ cars of his to a scrap yard for current scrap prices, and the day they loaded the Chevelle it was loaded in piece because it just crumbled. Why did he have such a high price for the Chevelle I asked him one time “Because I can”.
I had an old timer friend the same way. He was a car scrapper that let many fine muscle cars go to the squasher. Inside the cars he would pick up he’d find many of antique rifles, shotguns, etc. He stacked them up like cordwood in his garage.
When he died most were sold for scrap.
Some people are just resistent to common sense,
My dad would’ve tackled it. He was a ’40’s/50’s body man. He could make stuff out of nothing. It was out of necessity as a depression kid.
I have a friend who has a 36 Cord Beverly, supercharged, he showed me a photo of the car when he found it, literally sitting on a pile of scrap iron. He explained to me the complexities of that transmission, even how you have to shift it to keep it from blowing up. You are looking at probably a decade of work to put these back together, and you better be a very good machinist which he is. However, there are more parts out there than one might realize, and yes Eastern Washington is high plains desert.
Sometimes the high prices are a ruse: the man can tell his spouse “I’m trying to sell that old thing, honey, but no one will pay what it’s worth!” Sometimes it’s a gambit: if you ask for the moon and stars, some dimwit just might pay it!
Sadly, in other cases I truly believe there is a mental illness at work. I’m reminded of a field filled with Edsels in south-central Nebraska, all going to seed, and the owner just wanting more, more, more. He would not even CONSIDER selling a car, or parts thereof. Mayhaps he intended to build on them at some point, but I doubt he ever did. I left the region forty years ago, and wouldn’t be at all surprised to find whatever is left of his collection still moldering in that field, if it hasn’t been hauled off for scrap, or plowed under. Pity.
I have to agree with ccrvt, though: restoration is NOT a poor man’s pastime. I’m a motorcycle guy myself – I worked for years in a shop that specialized in old Harley-Davidsons – and I can’t tell you how many “restorations” we saw that were A) incomplete/incorrect/half made up of Taiwanese repop, B) not running, and/or C) utterly unsafe. These ol’ boys would buy a basket-case Harley – usually paying far too much for it – and quickly discover that their “near complete” motorcycle was just a clapped-out pile of mismatched and broken pieces.
Then, if they got to the point of actually working on the thing, they’d realize that their “near complete” motorcycle was missing all manner of specialized, hard-to-find (and expen$ive) parts, connectors and detail items, and that even easy-to-find hardware was going to cost them arms, legs and other vital body parts. Add in machine-shop labor, welding, paint-and-body work and upholstery, and then stand back and watch a grown man cry.
I love to see well-restored machines, no matter how many wheels they have, but I’ve been forced to realize, after my own ill-fated foray into the never-neverland of vintage motorcycle restoration (a post-war Brit called The Famous James, pictured above, if anyone cares), that I will never be wealthy (or driven) enough to restore anything worth restoring. Seriously. I bought a 1/6th scale model of my first Harley on eBay a few years back, and I’ll be lucky if I ever get around to building THAT!
I tip my hat to you guys who are doing the hard work of keeping beautiful old machines alive. Shalom!
What a shame. That sedan still has a chance, that Pheaton, is a hopeless projekt, if he think he can get gold for it.
Really dont hope a buyer use the sedan as a parts car, for Pheaton.
Im not to open cars. A coupe look better. But thats just me.
First place I would look for parts is Broken Arrow OK
I worked there in 1978 and that’s what I was thinking.https://www.acdfactory.com/
This is a challenging project to say the least. Absolutely buy both cars if possible, restore them both if you have the assets to do it and have yourself a substantial estate on wheels.
at this point, restoring the Westchester would be a money pit, but just might be a break even as well. As for the Phaet…rust o mod it…yeah I know – horrible to think, but if you pencil it it not going to make sense. Even if its a labor of love you will be upside down for decades. Don’t waste the hood tho – stuff a Jag or BMW V12 in there! (Sorry, if you’ve got the money for a Columbo, you can restore the car). Heck…maybe even a big Beemer 6 or an XK 4.2 would be fun.
As they say money talks – I would offer cash money – in his face for both piles of parts. A bit more than he wants for the sedan – but not 2x. ANd money in hand, with truck and trailer to remove BOTH piles ASAP.
Once I had them – and indoors – I would figure out what I needed to restore BOTH cars. Yes, the sedan is do-able (might need to machine some stuff), and the Pheaton would be worth it – but, it is going to be a longer haul than most would want to attempt.
I have a one of 130 (body style) built Bantam in my garage – bought as a hulk – and it has taken 7 years – but, I have found the parts and drawings to create the stuff I am missing. Just acquired a 1930 Austin from the estate of the third owner – I am going to restore it, someday….. Well, he never did – and it is my turn to try.
I have a 1936 Cord Beverly and the more I work on it the more I realize what a poor proposition this car is. The transmission is weak brand new and the gear shifting system complex and unreliable. There is no heater and no seat adjustment. Being a low production car most every part is expensive or unavailable. The main appeal is the look. On many levels I am sympathetic to originally but I keep wanting to improve the errors. .Each person decides what to do with their property.
With the readily available handheld 3d scanners, missing mechanical parts can be machined up fairly quickly if you could find someone willing to let their parts be scanned. I have started to take this approach for parts that are no longer available for cars i own and like driving. For me it has comes out to basically the same as buying half damaged parts offered.
Yep, sad to see. we found a 35 ford once behind a barn, asked lady about selling it and was told grandson was going to restore it. I ask if had done any others and she oh! no he is only 8 but when he gets older he will restore it. and as time passed I was back in that part of the state, went by the old farm and car still setting there only now it has a 15 to 20 foot tree growing out of the roof, no grill or deck lid and no glass and beat up all over, grandson should be 35 now and still waiting to fix r up!! sad story and we all have either heard them or seen them.
Lovely write up-thank you for that…..VERY interesting to read. As others have said anything can be restored at a price. Reminds me of the story of a guy here in the UK who wanted one of the 1920/early 30s Bentleys-and we know what they make. Started with a bag of bits of iron which were the cutup remains of an orginal chassis…..over the years he finished the car. Hope these two much abused cars survive
Take them indoors and call Jay Leno. He has the means, the time, the shop and the personnel on hand to make them proud once again. I wish I could have had the same career trajectory as Leno–from gearhead to entertainer, to restorer of fine autos while broadcasting his skilled tradesmen (and women) doing their thing on his own YouTube channel. Me jealous.
As far as fabricating parts, even in the bottom reaches of the vintage car spectrum–MG Midgets and Sprites–cottage industries have bloomed for little things that can no longer be found NOS or on the secondary market, or from salvage cars.
Maybe 25 years ago on the south side of Cheyenne, Wyoming, there was a field full of mid-Fifties Lincolns, one of my favorite styles. Anyone know if any of them have been restored, or are they still there?
I dunno my thinking is use the sedan as a parts car for the convertible. Then sell off what is left of the sedan. Try and get the convertible running and moving. Then sell it for 30K to someone more ambitious than I am. Lycoming is still in business though https://www.lycoming.com/history they could probably rebuild that engine if you were willing to shell out that much money. They could probably even modify the original transmissions to function properly. I worked on 711, 712 and 714 engines they produced for boeing helicopters. They were quality products that would endure a lot of abuse and keep running. I am talking bullet holes and still run. So if you love them cords enough or more than big money. It might be worth doing.
No matter what condition these cars were in when the current seller obtained them, no matter what their plan was for restoration, BOTH cars should have been better cared for. These cars have been VERY desired, VERY sought after cars for at least the last 40 years. Such a shame to see such grand works of automotive art & engineering mistreated in such manner. Criminal offense indeed.