AUBURN CORD DUESENBERG CLUB

[mbishop]

Brent:

It is indeed 948, I have checked it myself more than once as I have tried to figure out if this was the car's original frame.

Mike

[dryesandno]

i thought everyone might like an update on my work tracing the history of my cord.

central mfg co. body tag # C92-250
serial #31949F
engine #FC2708
blower #V1562
tranny #T209
frame #949

so far the following is the list of former owners:

H. J. Larkin - tiverton and greene rhode island - 1941 to 1949
James J Ducy Jr. - Framingham Mass. (per the bill of sale sold for $100 to Dailey July 21st, 1952)
Charles G. Dailey - Haverhill Mass - 1952
Doug Collins - 1959 - (per george ehresman)
George Ehresman - 1959 to 1971
Otto Lefkowith - 1970 ??? pd $25,000.
Chris Cord - April 1980
William Schutz - March 1984
Tenny Natkin - 1986
Chris Cord - 1990
Tenny Natkin - 1990
Pete Rosi - 1990
Dick van Dijk - Holland then U.K. - 1997
Brent Merrill - Toronto, Canada - 2005

many thanks to Dick van Dijk, Pete Rossi, Tenny Natikin, Otto Lefkowith, George Ehresman, Scott Dailey (charles daileys grandson) and finally James Ducy Jr., all of whom are still alive and well and were kind enough to tell me about the history of my car.

i have not yet been able to find H. J. Larkin or any of his family or William Schutz or his family or Doug Collins or his family. if anyone on the site knew of these men, i would surely appreciate any information you could provide to me.

in speaking with James Ducy Jr., he seems to have been very knowledgable about cords and he has confirmed to me that this cord was, without a doubt, one of the original 64 supercharged convertible coupes.

it was sheer luck that scott dailey was able to find and correspond with me through the internet, eventually presenting me with a copy of the bill of sale between his grandfather, charles dailey and james ducy jr., wherein charles purchased FC 2708 for the princely sum of $100 back on July 21, 1952.

for your viewing pleasure i present a picture of FC 2708 that i received from scott dailey, circa 1952.

[alsancle]

That's impressive detective work. The bill of sale was a unbelievable find. It was very nice for him to send that along to you.

[hportz]

Brent, I'll add a little more to the pot. Ron Irwin's current listing shows the following : 31949F , FC2708, & C92 250* (*indicates a made up #).
In May 1980 Chris Cord owned this Cord and Hill & Vaughn were doing some work on it for him. The number serial # & engine # then were the same as now. They had me do some rebuilding on the transmission #T209 , primarily on all the main shaft parts. I fit & installed new bushings in the gears, syncro clutches (2nd/3rd break-away @ 95/100 lbs & 4th @ 75lbs), also a 3/8 thrust washer & a .512 Wide heat treated 4140 steel key (Rc 38/40) to hold it in place. The ring & pinion were ser#1032 & 47/10 ratio. My initials HGP & 5-80 are probably stamped on top of the trans near the interlock. The frame # should be found on the right side of the frame aft of the front shock absorber between two large rivets heads & stamped lightly with 1/2" letters.

[Bill Hummel]

Brent,

Are you and the Cabriolet coming to Auburn this year?
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[dryesandno]

henry.....whatever you did to that tranny, you did a nice job. it runs great. never a problem a shifting. thanks alot.

bill, unfortunately the car is in massachusetts. i am planning to go and visit scott dailey and his grandmother and james ducy in september with the car, so it won't be at auburn this year. but i should be there.

here is another pic from 52......

[dryesandno]

Isn't this another great pic. This one i received from James Ducy Jr. who later sold the car to Charles Dailey. The man in the drivers seat of my s/c cord is none other than young James himself around 1951. Note the incorrect bumper subsequently changed by James before he sold the car to Dailey, the "new" style hubcaps, identical to the ones on the pictures above taken later under Dailey's ownership, and the wild looking aerials on both cars. This is what $100 could buy you according to the bill of sale between these two gentlemen dated July 21st, 1952.

[alsancle]

That is a really cool photo.

[dryesandno]

al. thanks for those thoughts.

here is another picture of my cord in the 1970's courtesy of Otto Lefkowith. Otto owned the car from about 1971 for about eight or nine years and paid $25,000 for the privilege.

at this point, the car had just been restored by george ehresman. didn't george do a beautiful job on the car. his restoration has held up so well that the only real difference between then and now is an oatmeal coloured interior that a subsequent owner installed instead of the black that george seemed to love and a recently installed new wexford tan top.

notice the car finally has the right hub cas on it, thanks to george.

hope you like it.

[oldbanger71, Philipp]

Hi dryesandno,

cc No. 4729 should be the enginesize in cubic centimeter also known as ccm.
This was and is used as a taxbase in europe.
best regards Oldbanger71
_________________
The more i know, the more i realize that i don't know enough.
812 310 121 S

[oldbanger71, Philipp]

Hi Brent,
you have asked what the number 4729 in your title would mean, if anything.
The whole thing is about cubic inch converted in metric ccm (ccm /cm3 = CUBIC CENTIMETERS )in european titles this was used for tax purpose.

Early FA Engines had
Bore 3-3/8 inch and 3-3/4 inch Stroke = 269.4 cubic inch=4729 ccm ( cm3).

Later FB Engines had 3-3/4 inch Stroke, but various bore as follows :
Bore 3-1/4 inch = 249.0 cubic inch = 4081.11 ccm ( cm3)
Bore 3-6/16 inch = 258.5 cubic inch = 4236.81 ccm ( cm 3)
Bore 3-1/2 inch = 288.6 cubic inch = 4730.15 ccm ( cm 3)

This information came from Josh Malks' book "the timeless Classic " and i just converted these in metric mesurements.
So 4729 ( ccm / cm3 ) was familiar with me since i prepared the documents to import my Cord to Switzerland, where it will be used to tax my car accordingly to the enginesize.
As your Cord was immatriculated in Europa and then imported by you to the USA in your title the metric cubic centimeters are printed as enginesize. I hope this was a help to you to explane. regards Oldbanger71



_________________
The more i know, the more i realize that i don't know enough.
812 310 121 S