Amelia Earhart with her 1937 Cord. After being disassembled and sold around the country, the historical vehicle was restored and reassembled by Jack Boyd Smith and Adam LeVine, featured in automotive documentary series “The Journey.” Photo from Society of Aviation History.

News Release

ELKHART — As interest in Amelia Earhart surges ahead of a planned journey to locate her missing aircraft, another piece of the famed aviator’s legacy has already been found and fully restored, her 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton Convertible.

Now owned by collector Jack Boyd Smith Jr. of Elkhart, the automobile is the focus of the first-season finale of The Journey, a documentary series produced by The JBS Collection in association with LaVine Restorations and Eyedart Creative Studio.

Designed by automotive engineer Gordon M. Buehrig, Earhart’s Cord was photographed alongside her Lockheed 10-E Electra in 1936.

After her disappearance in 1937, her husband, George Putnam, sold the car, which was later dismantled and scattered across the country. Texas collector Ray Foster spent decades tracking down its original components before uniting the frame and engine. Smith Jr. purchased the vehicle in 2018 and partnered with Travis LaVine of LaVine Restorations to return the Cord to its original condition. The episode shows the process of restoring the car and the collaboration Smith Jr. and LaVine.

The Journey has chronicled several of Smith Jr.’s restoration projects, featuring rare and historic automobiles such as a 1933 Chrysler Imperial, a 1923 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, and a 1934 Packard once owned by explorer Louise Arner Boyd.

The season one finale, spotlighting Earhart’s Cord, is available to stream at thejbscollection.com/the-journey.