The many early, industry-first design achievements of the Cord 810 and 812 are legion and famed: hidden door hinges, a single-piece alligator-hinged hood, “step-down” floor, and partial unibody construction. It is easy to forget the significance of the open models, the two-passenger cabriolet and four-passenger Phaeton, in their own right. Both were among the very first production convertibles with a disappearing top, and the Phaeton was one of the first production four-passenger open cars with rear quarter windows, eliminating the blind spot of previous “convertible victorias.”

These sporty styles grew even more so when equipped with the 812’s optional supercharger, which came in partnership with a modified firing order, lowered compression ratio, a more extreme camshaft profile, and a unique larger Stromberg AA-25 carburetor. It exhaled through functional side exhausts, long a signature of the Cord Corporation’s supercharged automobiles.

The 812 Phaeton offered here was owned in the 1950s by Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club charter member Allen Thurn of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who sold it in 1957 to his contemporary Ross Strohecker of New Castle. Mr. Strohecker is believed to have soon sold the car to Steve Staskowitz of Las Vegas, Nevada, with whom it remained until well into the 1990s.

Afterward, the car passed to Leo Gephart, then later to an owner in Arizona, and subsequently into the care of Markley Brown of Santa Ynez, California, in 2007. While in Mr. Brown’s ownership, the car was certified by the ACD Club as a Category 1 Original Car, the documents for which are included in the accompanying history file. By the time of its certification, the Cord had been restored in its present livery—black over a dark red interior with a tan top—and its standard FB engine converted to the desirable supercharged specification using original parts, with additional sorting reportedly undertaken for Mr. Brown by Cord specialist Stan Gilliland of Wellington, Kansas.

Finally, the car joined the Vehicle Vault Collection in early 2014 and has remained on display since. Still in attractive overall condition and benefiting from the ultimate specification of an iconic design, it would be a wonderful automobile to enjoy at ACD Club events in the coming years.