I have said that I like little cars that outperform much bigger and cruder opposition but, on occasion, the big ones can be just so outrageously gorgeous that they cannot be ignored. Cord’s 812 of 1937 was just such a beast.

It was exceptional in so many ways: not only did it look powerful and beautiful, it was decades ahead of its time in technical specification. Powered by a Lycoming V8 of 289 cubic inches (4.7 liters), supercharged to produce 170 bhp, the car was capable of 110 mph, a very high top speed for the time. Almost unheard of in American cars until quite recently, the engine drove the front wheels through a four-speed gearbox.

Cord was one of the companies orbiting the Duesenberg and Auburn makes and produced fewer models than any of them. But, to my eye, the 812 was easily the best looker of the lot. That huge expanse of hood in front of the driver, that aggressive extended radiator grille, the attention to slipstreaming, all speak of power and grace. The convertible was just as good looking, as this photograph shows:

Of course, it was all too good to last for long. In company with its sister marques, Cord made and sold far too few cars to remain solvent and they disappeared forever before the war put a stop to all such fanciful automotive dreaming. But the 812 is a magnificent reminder of a time we will never see again and it has one more little-known claim to fame: it was the car Tom Mix, star of so many early western movies, was driving (too fast) when he died in a wreck in Arizona in 1940.