If we could give any manufacture an award for being innovative at all cost, it would have to go to Cord Corporation. They put innovation before profitability and created some of America’s best looking and most innovative cars. Sadly, the company built very few, but it means the ones they did are valuable. The seller of this 1936 Cord 810 Westchester claims their reserve is set very low, so this Cord could end up being a bargain. Find it here on eBay.

E.L. Cord founded his car manufacturing company with one goal, to be innovative. The Cord was the first American car to be front wheel drive, the first to feature hidden headlamps, and one of the first to offer a radio as standard equipment. All Cord 810s also came with a 4.7L V8 and the front mounted 4 speed semi-automatic transmission. The Cord wasn’t the fastest car of its era, with a top speed of 80 mph, but it was comfortable to ride in and it looked great.

This Cord is going to need a lot of work, but hopefully all the original parts are still with the car. The previous owner bought the car back in 1950 and drove it up until it was involved in a front end collision. He parked the car in his garage in ’54 and that’s where it stayed until just recently. He originally planned to restore the car, but obviously never got around to it.

In preparing the car for restoration, it was partially stripped, but hopefully that doesn’t mean pieces are missing. There are actually a few places still building parts for these cars, so just about every missing piece could be replaced. The damage to the front end could be a big problem, as the transmission sits between the front fenders. The damage to the sheet metal could be fixed by a good body shop, but it may be cheaper to buy replacements. Damage to the transmission could be a bigger issue though.

Cords are highly desirable, as only 1,800 of the original 3,000 built still exist. However, this model is the least sought after and restored examples usually sell for around $60,000, so the reserve is going to have to be set low for this one to be a bargain. Given its condition, what do you guys think is a realistic value?