Errett L. Cord - Inglewood, CA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Errett Lobban Cord was born in Warrensburg Missouri in 1894. Having dropped out of school to work at a car dealership, he bounced from job to job working for a bus company, an electric company, a mining outfit and in the auto repair business. With a flair for sales and marketing, he often got involved with failing businesses, turning them around for profit. He parlayed his small successes into bigger and bigger ventures eventually winding up with the failing Auburn Automobile Company. By the end of 1925, he became principal owner of the company. Cord was basically a business wheeler-dealer: He actually worked as a used car salesman at multiple times in his career. By 1929, his Cord Corporation owned about 150 different companies.

E. L. Cord might have been just another high school dropout who went on to become a multimillionaire if he hadn’t put his name on a line of luxury automobiles beginning in 1929. The ‘Cord’ had a number of special features such as front-wheel drive. This was not the front-wheel drive familiar today where the engine is transverse-mounted, but rather, the engine was completely turned around so that the drive shaft faced forward and was connected to a differential on the front axle. This allowed for the Cord’s distinctive low profile. The line of Cords was discontinued in 1937 but are much sought after collector’s items today. Many Cords are displayed in automotive and transportation museums around the world. I’ve included a picture of a 1931 Cord L-29 Cabriolet that I saw at the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum in Fairbanks AK.

After selling off most of his holdings in the late 1930s, Errett Cord moved to the west coast where he got involved with real estate, radio and television broadcasting and politics. He eventually retired to a ranch outside of Reno Nevada where he died in 1974. And just how do you get a name like Errett Lobban? His parents named him after the clergyman who married them and his mom’s maiden name.
(Sources: wikipedia.com, biography.com.)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 07/20/1894 Date of death: 01/02/1974 Area of notoriety: Other Marker Type: Monument Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: 7:00 am - 5:00 pm Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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