JPG #249 Solved : 1929-30 Cord L-29 by Maurice Proux

[João]

Make, model and coachbuilder for a point!

[João]

Experts?

[Bill Murray]

Your car has a number of ID characteristics of a 1929/1930 Cord L-29 but I cannot find the same vehicle so far.

Do not lock if I am on the right track as I really cannot get much further just now.

Bill

[João]

Yes Bill, it´s a Cord L-29!

[fyreline]

I agree with Bill, it's almost immediately recognizable as a Cord L-29 . . . But the coachbuilder is a little tougher. I was familiar with the Murphy-bodied L-29 town cars, but this isn't one of those. I'm going to guess that it's the 1930 Cord L-29 with a town car body by the Frenchman Maurice Proux. The tell-tale is the tool box protruding through the running board . . . A fairly unique feature.

[João]

Wow! Absolutely right fyreline. Do you have more info about this unique automobile?

[ropat53]

Front view of the car, it had Marchal lenses installed in the original Cord head-lamps

[fyreline]

Yes, that front-view photograph appears on Page 224 of Don Butler's excellent book Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg (1992,by Crestline Publishing). The photo caption reads as follows:

"An elegant Cord with a French body was this town car with coachwork by Maurice Proux, an unfamiliar name to Americans. The design extended the molding of the production hood, wrapping it over the cowl. Doors were curved at the bottom, had no moldings at the belt, and each rear door had a plaque. When extended, the chauffeur's canopy as fastened to the hinged feature at the top of the windshield, stretching the canopy. Projecting through the running boards were boxes for tools, etc. French Marchal lenses were installed in the stock headlamps."

Altogether a very elegant example of the coachbuilder's art . . . it maintains the proper "look" of the Cord L-29 chassis, while being distinctive in its own right. Proux did at least one other American car, a 1930 Packard 745. His shops were located in Courbevoie/Paris, which if my memory serves me correctly was also the home of Bucciali.

[João]

Thank you so much fyreline and ropat53!

[pnegyesi]

A nice side-view