Roy Brizio is a man of ingenuity who uses his gift of imagination to build some of the wildest street rods to ever hit the pavement. He has building hot rods for almost 30 years, and everything from flamed ’32 Ford Roadsters to classic ’57 Chevys have rolled out of his shop. One current, very different project in his shop is building a hot rod out of one of America’s first high end luxury cars, the 1937 Cord Coupe.

A loyal customer of his, Chuck Thornton, came across this ’37 Cord. Chuck simply didn’t want a restored Cord but a modern street rod that could rival most new luxury cars off the showroom floor. When Chuck’s rod is finished its going to have the art deco styling of the original Cord but the handling and performance of a modern Corvette. Brizio and his men re-engineered the Cord’s chassis to be able to handle the weight of a modern LS1 engine from a C5 Corvette. This V8 will produce 320 horsepower and it will be mated to a Porsche Tiptronic four speed transaxle.

Notice the Porsche transmission that is going to hide under the front bumper.

The reason a Porsche Tiptronic is being used is the Cord was originally a front wheel drive car (a first for an American vehicle at the time it was introduced) and Brizio intends to keep it that way. The Tiptronic is designed to be used in an RWD car with a rear mounted engine, so Brizio believes he can get it to work with FWD and a front mounted motor with no problems.

To help accommodate the engine and tranny, a custom independent front suspension was fabricated. Further improving the 37’s handling, Brizio is fabricating an independent rear suspension using parts from a 1993 Cadillac DeVille which should make this rod glide like its on a cloud. The LSX Cord is almost complete and we will keep you folks updated with its progress, but in the meantime, visit Brizio’s project page for a bunch more photos of this fascinating and unique build.