Oklahoma Man Reconnects With Family Car, 'The Lost Cord'

Every classic car has a story - who owned it, where it's been, or where it was found – but not all of them are as good as the story of the classic car owned by Doug Pray.

If you think there can't be anything too special about the dingy, dirty, paint-chipped old car, you'd be wrong.

"Dad found this in 1953 when he was teaching at Central High School," Doug explained.

Glenn Pray, Doug's dad, completely restored it, because he thought the super charged 1937 Cord Phaeton Model 812 was the most beautifully designed car that had ever been built.

Doug remembers it as the family car back then.

"We were never allowed in this car unless we took our shoes off," he said.

Glenn Pray kept the Cord and drove it to car shows. He won his first trophy in 1956.

But Glenn sold the car in ‘61 to James C. Leake to finance his purchase of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Company. He loved the car so much he bought the company.

Leake sold car the next year and the last record of the car was 1965. Then it seemed to disappear - not registered or shown, nothing.

Glenn Pray hoped to find the wonderful car he had brought back to life, but died before he could. Then, last year, Doug got a call from Michigan.

"You can imagine the day I got the phone call," he said.

It had been sitting in a barn in a small town north of Detroit for 45 years. The ‘Lost Cord' had been found and now Doug said it's time to give it new life.

"Dad sold it originally to James C. Leake and now it's gonna be the James C. Leake Auction company that's gonna sell it," he said.

Most classic cars have a story, and whoever buys this one's gonna get a doozy.

The Leake Collector Car Show and Auction is this weekend in the River Spirit Expo at the Tulsa Fairgrounds.

They expect the ‘Lost Cord' will be sold early Saturday afternoon.