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A body engineer and designer for Auburn who deigned the Cord L-29 and
Duesenberg Model J. Later as staff stylist at Ford from 1947 on.
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Because of the drive configuration, chief design engineer John Oswald was
able to style the L-29 very long and low, which made it look sleek against
its contemporaries.
But, oh, what the layout did for looks. The super long front allowed body
engineer John Oswald to create a flowing hood and fenders ensemble while
Auburn chief designer Al Leamy applied a Duesenberg-style radiator that only
accented that impressive length and the lowness conferred by front wheel
drive. In all, the L-29 looked sensational in its four "factory" body
styles: Sedan, Brougham, Phaeton and Cabriolet, all supplied by subsidiary
Cord companies.
By 1948, Buehrig wondered if he would ever get back to what he loved best,
auto design. He did, with Ford Motor Company. In 1949, Buehrig went to work
for Ford's John Oswald, then head of body engineering and styIing, as head
of the body development studio. One of five studios at Ford Styling, this
group was responsible for creating station wagons and convertibles from
standard sedan bodies designed in the other studios. Buehrig's first
assignment was the car which became the 1951 Ford hardtop. xxxx
John Oswald, the man who had penned many a memorable Auburn design, was
tapped to draw the lines of the L-29 Cord, and he took every advantage of
the front-wheel-drive layout. While all the rear-wheel-drive cars on the
road had bodies that sat up high above their driveshafts (Stylists had yet
to prevail upon engineers to let the shaft run through the passenger
compartment.), the L-29 sat elegantly low. Its hoodline was a foot lower
than its luxury car competition.
And what a hoodline!
It extended nearly half the length of the car. Not only was the long hood a
styling statement that resonates to the present day, it was also a
necessity. Under that hood was a Lycoming-built longitudinally mounted
straight-eight powerplant that displaced 299 cubic inches (4.9 liters). Not
only was the engine long, it was also preceded by the transmission that
straddled the front axle. Housing that formidable drivetrain took a bunch of
sheetmetal and even then the last cylinder of the engine intruded into the
passenger compartment ala the AMC Pacer.
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