When I Win The Lottery . . .

1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet,

once owned by Frank Lloyd Wright,

who had it finished in striking Burnt Orange.

Photos courtesy Frist Center for The Visual Arts.

Illustration: HEMMINGS DAILY

HEMMINGS CLASSIC CAR.

Art Deco Automobiles

display comes to Nashville.

This Article, unless otherwise stated, is from HEMMINGS DAILY

Jim Donnelly on 27 Feb 2013.

Beyond its historic bond with Country Music, Nashville has, of late, transitioned into something of an Art Mecca of The South. That was accentuated in 2001 when The Frist Center for The Visual Arts opened in Nashville’s former Main Post Office, a spectacular Art Deco edifice dating to 1934 and designed by the local architectural firm of Marr and Holman. Appropriately, The Frist Center will host an upcoming Exhibition that highlights Art Deco’s influence on the Automobile.

Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles will include eighteen Cars and three Automobiles; among the former are a 1929 Cord L-29 Cabriolet, once owned by Frank Lloyd Wright, who had it finished in striking Burnt Orange; a 1937 Delahaye 135 MS roadster with Figoni et Falaschi Coachwork and a Hermes Leather Interior; the 1934 Ford Speedster that stylist E.T. Gregorie designed for Edsel Ford; the Phillip Wright-created 1934 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow; and the famed Stout Scarab.

The Guest Curator of the Exhibition is Automotive Journalist and Historian, Ken Gross, who, in the recent past, has organised displays of aesthetically-significant Cars at The High Museum of Art, in Atlanta, The Portland Museum of Art, and The Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

The Exhibition opens 14 June and will run through 15 September. For more information, visit FristCenter.org.

Delahaye Automobile.

Illustration: HEMMINGS DAILY

1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet.

Collection of The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum,

Auburn, Indiana, United States of America.

Photograph © 2013 Peter Harholdt.

Illustration: FRIST CENTER

The following Text is from THE FRIST CENTER

Errett Lobban Cord rose to national prominence after rescuing The Auburn Automobile Company of Auburn, Indiana, in 1928. Seeing an opportunity for a uniquely-engineered luxury Automotive brand, Cord encouraged Fred and August Duesenberg to build what he envisioned as America’s finest Motor-Car.

Noted Race-Car constructor Harry A. Miller and his associates were retained by Cord to engineer a radical front-drive chassis. The innovative and luxurious L-29 Cord, unfortunately introduced just as The New York Stock Market crashed, combined its engine, trans-axle, and clutch into one co-located assembly, eliminating a conventional driveshaft. This permitted a ten-inch lower chassis and necessitated a lengthy hood that appeared even longer, because the designer, Al Leamy, surrounded the radiator with an integrated sheet-metal assembly, finished to match the Car’s colour.

The low-slung Cord’s body-lines were exquisite. Features include an Art Deco-styled trans-axle cover, an elegant streamlined grille that evoked the styling of Harry Miller’s Racing Cars, sweeping clam-shell fenders, sleek body-side Reveals which accentuated the Car’s length, and a low roof-line. These are embellished by myriad Art Deco-styled details, ranging from accented fender trim, tapered headlamp shapes, etched door-handle detailing and tiny, but exquisite, instrument panel dials.

The L-29 Cord’s Art Moderne styling and engineering prowess attracted buyers of taste and style who were not afraid to try something different. Owners included the era’s most prominent and controversial architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, who bought a new L-29 Convertible Phaeton in 1929 and drove it for many years. This stunning Cabriolet, was purchased in the 1950s by The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Wright's legal caretaker until his death in 1959. Wright had many of his Cars painted in a bright hue called Taliesin Orange. The finish of this Cord is a close approximation.

Sponsored by: Tuck Hinton Architects.