1937 Cord 812 Supercharged: The American Car That Was Decades Ahead

The 1937 Cord 812 Supercharged looks unusual even today. In 1937, it must have appeared almost futuristic.

Designed under Gordon Buehrig, the Cord 810 and 812 rejected many conventions of American automobile design. Instead of the tall traditional radiator shell common to luxury cars, the Cord used horizontal wraparound louvers that created its famous “coffin nose.”

The innovations did not stop with styling.

The Cord featured front-wheel drive, concealed door hinges and hidden headlamps that could be raised from the fenders. The 812 could also be ordered with a supercharged version of its roughly 4.7-liter Lycoming V8.

Front-wheel drive allowed engineers to create a lower body because there was no conventional driveshaft running underneath the passenger compartment. The result was a remarkably low and streamlined American luxury car without traditional running boards.

The supercharged cars are especially distinctive because of the dramatic external exhaust pipes emerging from the hood.

Why was the Cord 812 revolutionary?

Because many design ideas now associated with later automobiles appeared together on one production car in the mid-1930s: hidden headlights, low-slung styling, front-wheel drive and unconventional packaging.

Commercial success was limited, but influence does not always follow sales numbers. Today the Cord 810/812 is remembered precisely because it challenged what an American automobile was supposed to look like.