Brothers Joseph , Robert , and Ray Graham were " Indiana live wire , " to quote auto historiographer Jeffrey Godshall – farm boy with " dream beyond the arcadian lifespan . " Sharp they were . After starting a glassmaking commercial enterprise that grew to become Libbey - Owens - Ford in 1930 , the brothers construct hand truck for Dodge .
They did so well that by 1926 they were run Dodge ’s full truck organisation . Then , all of a sudden , they left and bought the slump Paige Motor Company in 1927 to build up their own cable car . The first appeared the following year under the Graham - Paige banner , which continued through 1930 . The name was then switch to simply Graham , though Paige remain in the party name and on its commercial vehicles .
The Grahams prospered with cars as chop-chop as they had with trucks , volume soaring to more than 77,000 in calendar 1929 . By that time they ’d prepare up a vast new factory in Dearborn , Michigan , plus facilities in Indiana and Florida . However , 1929 would be the firm ’s output acme .
Graham ’s 1930 note was grand , comprise Standard and Special Sixes on a 115 - inch wheelbase and Standard , Special , and Custom Eights on duet of 122 , 134 , 127 , and 137 inches . engine were conventional 50 - heads : 207- and 224 - cubic - in inline - sixes with 66/76 horsepower as well as 298.6- and 322 - cid square - eighter with 100/120 bhp . Among numerous body way were beautiful long - wheelbase Custom Eight town machine and limousines by the LeBaron studio at Briggs Manufacturing Company . All poser feature Graham - Paige ’s famous four - amphetamine transmission .
This basic lineup continued through early 1932 , get together in the bound of 1931 by the hopefully named " Prosperity Six , " a cheap four - model series priced as low as $ 785 . But the Depression was on , and Graham - Paige failed to flourish . Model - year 1930 automobile product sank to about 24,000 , then slid to 20,000 for 1931 .
Undaunted , the Grahams came back for 1932 with the Blue Streak Eight . This mounted a generous 123 - inch wheelbase that absolutely suited brilliant new styling by Amos Northup of the Murray Corporation . Northup had just make the 1931 Reo Royale and was also responsible for the other Hupp Century . The Blue Streak was no less sensational . Smooth , ultraclean eubstance hide out unsightly chassis components , windshields tilted jauntily back , a radiator with sharpen vertical parallel bars and no hood fit flush with the hood , and fenders were artfully drawn down to embrace the wheel – the " duck " treatment was a first for a production car .
The Blue Streak bowed with only a coupe , four - room access sedan , and convertible coupe . All carried a 90 - bhp 245.4 - cid eight with an aluminum head and pistons . Beneath the trend-setting bodies was an equally advanced chassis with straight side rails , outboard rearward springs , and " banjo " rear - axle climbing . The result was exceptional cover stableness combined with great ride consolation , abetted by adjustable daze absorbers and , a mo after , grim - insistence tire . received and Deluxe trim was bid at beautifully scurvy price ranging from $ 1095 to $ 1270 .
In in force times , the Blue Streak would have sell well . But 1932 was n’t a good year for anyone in Detroit , and Graham ’s calendar - year volume slide to 12,967 . Most were Blue Streaks and conventionally styled Sixes .
The Blue Streak was rename Custom Eight for 1933 , when its little - change introductory excogitation propagate to all " second - series " Grahams . Competitors ' styling commence mimicking the Blue Streak , so Graham proclaimed itself " the most imitated railway car on the road . " With almost every 1933 American car wearing fender doll , they were proper . Below the Custom were a new 113 - in - wheelbase Standard Six and 119 - inch Standard Eight . All framework rode stronger frame with front kB - brace and lark about gracefully vee’d front bumpers . Yet for all this quality and appeal , Graham - Paige yield sank again , hit 11,000 for the calendar year , though the firm somehow eked out a flyspeck $ 67,000 profit .
Still hope for better time , Graham ricochet a surprisal for 1934 : the Supercharged Custom Eight . tag as modest as $ 1295 , it was America ’s first moderate - price supercharged machine . Boosting its newly drill 265.4 - cid engine was a Graham - built centrifugal blower that helped deliver 135 bhp – good for lively midrange impulse and 90 mph all - out . temerarious gadget driver " Cannonball " Baker drive a Supercharged Custom crown of thorns - rural area in 53 time of day , 30 minutes ; a solo platter that would stand until 1975 . Baker ’s feat also testified to the gross dependableness of the Graham electric fan . Over the next six years , Graham would build up more advance car than any company ever had before .
Other Grahams go steady piffling change through the " first - series " 1935 simulation , though the lineup was juggled several meter and built - in trunks were a notable new option for sedans ( at $ 35 ) . With calender 1934 yield rise to 15,745 cars , thing seemed to be look up .
For more on defunct American cars, see:
Graham Cars in the 1930s
Offerings shuffled again for 1935 ’s " second series . " Coupes and sofa bed looked much as before , but sedan start back aside from Blue Streak styling , which was becoming a bit date anyway . A small-scale new Standard Six arrived with a 60 - bhp , 169.6 - cid locomotive and Blue Streak styling on a spare 111 - column inch wheelbase . It lacked some big - Graham proficient features , but sold well . A good thing , as eight - cylinder sales declined sharp . So even though model - year intensity go up to near 18,500 , Graham was now feel a severe financial pinch .
Accordingly , the business firm abandoned Eights for 1936 but offered America ’s first supercharged six : a 217.8 - cid social unit that would be Graham ’s linchpin railway locomotive rightfield to the end . It arrived in 115 - in - wheelbase boost and unblown Cavalier serial share Hayes - build coupe , saloon , and convertible physical structure with Reo ’s 1935 - 36 Flying Cloud , an arrangement worked out during 1935 . The two companies never " married , " but Graham used Reo dead body through 1937 , which result in some very ordinary looking railcar . Graham ’s price - leading 1936 - 37 Crusader used 1935 tooling , which was later sold to Nissan of Japan to bring in postulate hard currency . And Graham needed that , recede $ 1 million in 1936 despite higher calendar - year sales of over 16,400 .
Hoping for a miracle , Graham unleash the extremist " Spirit of Motion " for 1938 , a winded and unblown four - door saloon with a acutely undercut front that soon make the dubious nickname " sharknose . " It was Northup ’s last design before his untimely death in 1936 . ( Ray Graham had guide out in 1932 ; he was only 45 . )
Graham was try out to be the expressive style loss leader it had been with the Blue Streak , but the public did n’t grease one’s palms it – literally , as example - year production ended at 5020 . A " sharknose " two - door sedan and " Combination " club coupe arrived for 1939 , when running control panel were winnow out . Horsepower remained 116 supercharged , 90 unblown , and all models offer Deluxe and better Custom trim . Despite impressive supercharged performance ( 10.9 bit 0 - 50 ) and fuel economy of up to 25 mpg , the " sharknose " remained a pitiful seller . It thus part after 1940 , see little further modification save slight HP gains ( to 120 and 93 ) . Respective 1939 - 40 modelling - year output was 5392 and an reckon 1000 .
By now , company Chief Executive Joseph Graham had spent a half - million dollars of his own money to keep his firm going . He needed something newfangled , but how to pay for it ? The answer issue forth in 1939 with Norman De Vaux , who ’d failed with automobiles marketed under his own name . De Vaux had bought up the tooling for the later 1936 - 37 Cord 810/812 Westchester sedan , and had talk equally struggling Hupp Motors into building a change rendering with rearward - rack driving instead of front drive . Joe Graham propose building the body , allow for his companionship could sell its own variant of the car with Graham baron . Aside from that and nonaged trim differences , the resulting Graham Hollywood and Hupp Skylark were identical . The Skylark was announced first , in April 1939 at the New York World ’s Fair , though that proved premature . Gearing up for production took longer than expected , so neither poser was built in significant numbers until May 1940 .
Like Hupp , Graham planned to provide a saloon and convertible , but only one Hupp convertible security was ever built and perhaps up to five Grahams . Production Hollywoods carried Graham ’s own 120 - bhp supercharged six , and thus cost a bit more than Hupp ’s unblown Skylark : initially $ 1250 versus $ 1145 . Both mannequin taunt a 115 - inch wheelbase , 10 inches unretentive than the parent Cord ’s . To fit their tall locomotive engine beneath the Cord ’s broken hoodline , Graham technologist offset both carburetor and air cleaner . Both versions wore a handsomely retread face ( by the renowned John Tjaarda ) with a double grille ( fully chromed on Hollywoods ) , exposed bullet headlamps , and nicely shaped front buffer .
Unfortunately , the older tooling was simply unsuitable for volume production – the same thing that had stumble up the Cord . The ceiling alone comprise seven freestanding panels . Joe Graham hoped to simplify topic , but was distracted when he correspond to take over Skylark production , which necessitated a complete overhaul of Graham ’s assembly line and added further cost and time lag .
Though Hupp called it depart in the summer of 1940 , Graham push on for ' 41 , adding an unblown Hollywood price at just $ 968 and cutting the monetary value of the supercharged model to $ 1065 . Horsepower was upped somewhat on both railway locomotive . But it was all to no help , and Graham finally gave up the auto business , too , in September 1940 .
Ironically , departing the gondola business proved quite seasonably , as Graham thrive through World War II on $ 20 million of government defense contracts . Joseph W. Frazer then bought the house in 1944 . His namesake Frazer car was build as a " Graham - Paige " product in 1946 - 47 , though at Kaiser ’s Willow Run factory rather than G - P ’s old Dearborn plant . In early 1947 , Graham - Paige sold its remain automotive stake to Kaiser - Frazer , and in 1952 take leave farm equipment as well . G - P then dismiss " Motors " from its name and became a shut investing potbelly . It afterwards operated Madison Square Garden and own several professional New York athletic teams . All these enterprise proved far more profitable than carmaking had ever been .
