18 ❘ August 22, 2019 http://www.oldcarsweekly.comT
he Cord Front Drive car thatde-
buted for 1929 was promotedas
being safer and easier to drive
than any other new vehiclethat
year. Manufactured by theAu-
burn Automobile Co. of Au-
burn, Ind., the front-wheel-drive 1929
Cord L-29 — America’s ¿ rst such
mass-produced car — was said to have
“exclusive advantages” over its more
conventional rear-wheel-drive com-
petitors. Those advantages ranged
from the claim that “pulling is bet-
ter than pushing,” to the fact that the
Cord L-29’s low center of gravity
gave it safer handling.Push versus Pull
One sales catalog illustration
showed a prancing horse pushing a
Cord next to a drawing of a gallop-
ing horse pulling a Cord. The idea
behind the two images was that
front-drive cars were speedier
than conventional rear drive cars.
This concept was repeated
again in another illustration that
depicted two aircraft. The ¿ rst
plane was a very early, kite-like“pusher type”with itspropeller at the
rear.“But(an)imperativeneedinaero-
nauticswasutmostef¿ciencythatsoon
forced aeronauticalengineers to adopt
the‘tractortype’ofplanewith(the)pro-
pellerinfronttopulltheplanethrough
the air,” said the sales copy above a
drawingofa then-modern 1929 plane.A strongerframe
Otherillustrationsinthesmalleight-
panelsalesfolder pointedout that the
FrontDriveCordhada strongerframe
thatwasreinforcedwithcrossbracing.
The front-drive car could also use a
framewithstraightersiderailsbecause
it was not necessary to have a frame
kick-up over the rear axle. This also
addedstrengthtotheCord’sframe.ThesaferCord
As for safety,
the Cord Front
Drive was quieter,
smootherandmore
vibration-free be-
cause the operating
mechanismssuchas
theclutch,transmis-
sion, battery, propel-
ler shaft, differential
andrear axledid not
sit below the passen-
gers.Allmovingparts
onthe Cord wereun-
derthehoodratherthan
underthebody.
The Cord’s lower
center of gravitywas a
bene¿t ofthecar’slow-
er-than-normal overall
height.Thiswas achiev-
able because the frame
didn’t kick upwards atThe ‘exclusive advantages’ of the
Front-Drive Cord BY JOHN GUNNELL
Four bodies were
cataloged for
the Cord L-29,
but some custom
bodies were built,
including this
coupe by Hayes.Push-pull characteristics
and a strong frame without
a rear axle kick up were
features promoted by
these catalog drawings.