Excerpt - "Art of the Classic Car" - NYTimes.com Peter Harholdt The 1929 Cord L-29 Cabriolet, from the book "Art of the Classic Car." At first glance, the Cord L-29 may not appear to be a remarkable car, at least for its era. Upon close examination, however, this L-29 could be called revolutionary - no less a visionary than Frank Lloyd Wright, who once owned this car, declared it so. The L-29 was the first front-wheel-drive car to be manufactured in any significant quantity. Among others, Cord selected Harry Miller to engineer the car. Miller had set the racing world on its ear with his superb front-wheel-drive racecar designs that succeeded at Indianapolis. For Miller, front-wheel-drive had two primary advantages. First, it eliminated the need for a driveshaft to be placed underneath the car. This allowed the chassis and body to sit much lower, which enhance both handling, through a lower center of gravity, and aerodynamics, by presenting a smaller body to the air rushing by. Second, with the drive wheels at the heavy end of the vehicle, the traction of those tires was enhanced and power could be translated into forward momentum that much more effectively. Transferred to the L-29, these front-wheel-drive advantages were apparent to Wright. In his autobiography, Wright predicted the principles of front-wheel-drive were logical and scientific, and that all cars would eventually be set up that way. By the 1980s, the auto industry's widespread adoption of front wheel-drive had largely followed Wright's prediction. The L-29"s transaxle was placed in front of it long, straight-eight engine. This in turn necessitated a long hood. Cord's Al Leamy only emphasized the car's low, long nature in his body design. A color-coordinated radiator surround, a low roofline, and raised accents running the length of the car helped stretch out the vehicle's visual impression. The L-29"s impact on the larger automobile industry was blunted by the stock market crash that immediately followed its introduction. Cord was forced to lower prices and only moved a few thousand cars before production ended in 1932. Specifications of Interest Engine: 125 bhp straight eight, 299 ci/4.9 liters Base Price: $3,000 Front Suspension: de Dion solid axle, quarter elliptic leaf springs Weight: 4,600 lbs/2,086 kg Top Speed: 77 mph/123 kph Excerpted from "Art of the Classic Car" by Peter Bodensteiner. Photography by Peter Harholdt. Published by Motorbooks. Copyright 2013.