Graham-Paige was an American

automobile manufacturer The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...

founded by brothers Joseph B. Graham (1882–1970), Robert C. Graham (1885–1967), and Ray A. Graham (1887–1932) in 1927. Automobile production ceased in 1940, and its automotive assets were acquired by

Graham Brothers

After successful involvement in a glass manufacturing company (eventually sold to

Libbey Owens Ford Libbey-Owens-Ford Company (LOF) was a producer of flat glass for the automotive and building products industries both for original equipment manufacturers and for replacement use. The company's headquarters and main factories were located in Tol ...

), brothers Joseph B., Robert C., and Ray A. Graham began in 1919 to produce kits to convert

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first mass-affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. Th ...

s into trucks and modify Model TTs. That led to the brothers building their trucks using engines of various manufacturers and the Graham Brothers brand. Eventually, they settled on

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

engines, and soon the trucks were sold by Dodge dealers. The Grahams expanded from beginnings in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is Indiana's List of cities in Indiana, third-most populous city after India ...

, opening plants in 1922 on Meldrum Avenue in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, of , and in 1925 on Cherokee Lane in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

. The Canadian market was supplied by the Canadian Dodge plant. Dodge purchased the Graham Brothers truck firm in 1925, and the three Graham brothers took on executive positions at Dodge. In 1927, the truck program consisted of the models MD (1.5 tons), LD (1.5 tons), OD (2 tons), TD (2 tons), ODH (2.5 tons), TDH (2.5 tons), and a type YD bus for 21 people . Graham's new truck line for 1928 included four 4-cylinder models ranging from and one 6-cylinder model, which used the same engine as the Dodge Brothers Senior Six, lightly modified for truck duty. The Graham Brothers brand lasted until 1929,

Chrysler Corporation FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of ...

having taken over Dodge in 1928.

Graham-Paige

In 1927, with the banking syndicate controlling Dodge trying to sell the company, the Graham brothers decided to enter the automobile business on their own. In 1927, they purchased the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company, makers of Paige and Jewett automobiles, for $3.5 million ($ in dollars ). Joseph became president, Robert vice-president, and Ray secretary-treasurer of the company. The company's initial offerings included a line of Graham-Paige cars with 6 and 8-cylinder engines. For a while, a line of light trucks was offered under the Paige name, soon discontinued when Dodge reminded the Grahams about the non-competition agreement they had signed as part of the sale of the Graham Brothers Company. Graham earned a reputation for quality and sales quickly rose. Graham also had some success in

racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

, which helped boost sales. The Graham company logo included profiles of the three brothers and was used in insignia on the cars including badges and taillight lens. In 1929, five new model types were launched. These are the models 612, 615, 621, 827, and 837. The first number was the explanation of the number of cylinders. Graham-Paige made most of their own bodies and engines. The Graham brothers had solved a long-standing Paige body supply dilemma by purchasing the Wayne Body Company in

Wayne, Michigan Wayne is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Wayne is located about southwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,713. Wayne has a long history of autom ...

, and expanding the factory along with other body plants. They did not have a foundry and contracted with Continental for these services relative to their engines. Some models did use Continental stock engines. Graham-Paige's own engineering department designed most of the engines used in Graham-Paige cars. The 1938–1940 "Spirit of Motion" cars and Hollywood models are frequently incorrectly stated to use Continental engines. After World War II, Continental produced a lesser version of Graham-Paige's 217-cubic-inch-displacement engine used in the previously mentioned models. These engines were used in the post-war Kaiser and Frazer automobiles. Initially, Graham-Paige withstood the onset of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

well, but sales fell as the decade wore on. The 1932 models were designed by

Amos Northup Amos Earl Northup (October 23, 1889 – February 8, 1937) was an American automotive designer. Regarded as a leader in the field in the United States by the late 1920s, Northup worked for the Wills Sainte Claire, Murray Corporation of Ameri ...

. This particular design has been noted as the "single most influential design in automotive history." The new 8-cylinder engine was called the "Blue Streak." However, the press and public quickly adopted the name "Blue Streak" for the cars themselves. The design introduced a number of innovative ideas. The most copied was the enclosed fenders, thus covering the mud and grime built up on the underside. The

radiator cap A hood ornament (or bonnet ornament or bonnet mascot in Commonwealth English), also called a motor mascot or car mascot, is a specially crafted model that symbolizes a car company, like a badge, located on the front center portion of the hoo ...

was moved under the hood, which itself was later modified to cover the cowl, and end at the base of the windshield. For engineering, the rear kickup on the chassis frame was eliminated by the adoption of a 'banjo' frame. Unlike contemporary practice, the rear axle was placed through large openings on both sides of the frame, with rubber snubbers to absorb any shock if the car axle should make contact. This in turn permitted a wider body. To help lower the car, the rear springs were mounted on the outer sides of the chassis frame and not under the frame. This idea was eventually copied by other manufacturers - Chrysler, for example, in 1957. For 1934, Graham introduced a crankshaft-driven

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

, designed in-house by Graham Assistant Chief Engineer Floyd F. Kishline. At first offered only in the top 8-cylinder models, the supercharger was adapted to the six in 1936 when the eights were dropped. Through the years, Graham would produce more supercharged cars than any other automobile manufacturer until

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

surpassed them in the 1990s. By 1935, the "Blue Streak" styling was getting rather dated. A restyling of the front and rear ends for 1935 proved to be a disaster, making the cars appear higher and narrower. Having no money for a new body, Graham signed an agreement with

REO Motor Car Company The REO Motor Car Company (''REO'' pronounced , not letter by letter) was a company based in Lansing, Michigan, which produced automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975. At one point, the company also manufactured buses on its truck platforms. ...

to purchase car bodies, paying them $7.50 ($ in dollars ) in royalties for each Hayes-built body. The engines did have new full water jackets. Graham added new front end styling and revised detailing to these bodies to create the 1936 and 1937 Grahams. Amos Northup of Murray Body was hired to design a new model for 1938, but he died before the design was complete. It is believed the final design was completed by Graham engineers. The new 1938 Graham was introduced with the slogan "Spirit of Motion". The fenders, wheel openings and grille all appeared to be moving forward. The design was widely praised in the American press and by American designers. It also won the prestigious Concours D'Elegance in Paris, France. Wins were also recorded in the Prix d'Avant-Garde at Lyon, the Prix d'Elegance at Bordeaux, and the Grand Prix d'Honneur at Deauville, France. Its cut-back grille later gained the car the name "Sharknose", which appears to have origins in the 1950s. The styling was a complete flop in sales.Odin, L.C. ''World in Motion 1939, The whole of the year's automobile production''. Belvedere Publishing, 2015. ASIN: B00ZLN91ZG. The most reliable estimates, from period publications, suggest the total production of all three years of these cars is between 6,000 and 13,000 units. With this low production Graham limped through 1939 and 1940.

Joint venture

Desperate for a winning offering and unable to retool, Graham made a deal with the ailing Hupp Motor Co. in late 1939. According to the deal, the faltering company entered into an arrangement with

Hupmobile Hupmobile was a line of automobiles built from 1909 through 1939 by the Hupp Motor Car Company of Detroit. The prototype was developed in 1908. History Founding In 1909, Bobby Hupp co-founded Hupp Motor Car Company, with Charles Hastin ...

to build cars based on the body dies of the stunning

Gordon Buehrig Gordon Miller Buehrig (B-yur-rig) (June 18, 1904 – January 22, 1990) was an American automobile designer. Early life Gordon Miller Buehrig was born in Mason City, Illinois on June 18, 1904 to a banker. He attended Bradley University i ...

-designed Cord 810/812. In an effort to remain in business, Hupp had acquired the Cord dies, but lacked the financial resources to build the car. Hupp's Skylark was priced at US$895 ($ in dollars ), and only about 300 were built.Curbside Classic.com
(retrieved 10 July 2018 Graham agreed to build the

Skylark on a contract basis, while receiving the rights to use the distinctive Cord dies to produce a similar car of its own, to be called the Hollywood. The striking Skylark/Hollywood differed from the Cord from the cowl forward with a redesigned hood, front fenders and conventional headlights, achieved by automotive designer

John Tjaarda Joop "Jan" Tjaarda van Starkenburg (4 February 1897–20 March 1962), later known as John Tjaarda van Sterkenburg, was a Dutch product and automotive designer and stylist in the United States. Tjaarda was born in 1897 in Arnhem, as the son of He ...

Lincoln-Zephyr The Lincoln-Zephyr is a line of Luxury vehicle, luxury cars that was produced by the Lincoln Motor Company, Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company, Ford from 1936 until 1942. Bridging the gap between the De Luxe Ford, Ford V8 DeLuxe and the Li ...

fame. The Cord's longer hood was not needed, as the Hupp and Graham versions were rear-wheel drive. This also necessitated modifying the floor to accept a driveshaft. Graham chose the four-door Beverly sedan shape for the Hollywood rather than the two-door convertible, as they wanted the Hollywood to be a popular, mass-market car.

Both versions used 6-cylinder engines. The Skylark was powered by a Hupp; the Hollywood was available with a standard and an optional supercharged version, both manufactured by Graham-Paige. While some 1500 Hollywoods were built, it did not stop the company's slide. After its public introduction, orders poured in. However, manufacturing difficulties caused months of delay before deliveries began. Having bodies ultimately built by the coachbuilder Hayes did not help. Customers tired of waiting, and most of the orders were cancelled. Despite an enthusiastic initial public response, the car actually ended up being a worse flop in the sales department for both Graham and Hupmobile than either firm's respective preceding models. The company suspended manufacturing in September 1940, only to reopen its plant for military production for World War II.

Postwar

The company resumed automobile production in 1946 producing a modern-looking new car, the 1947 Frazer, named for new Graham-Paige president

Joseph W. Frazer Joseph Washington Frazer (March 4, 1892 – August 7, 1971) was a mid-20th century American automobile company executive. Over the course of his life Frazer was employed in half a dozen different companies as a mechanic, instructor, financier, sa ...

, in partnership with

Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known for his shipbuilding and construction projects, then later for his involvement in fostering modern American health care. Prior to World War II, ...

. It also began production of farm equipment under the

Rototiller A cultivator (also known as a rotavator) is a piece of agricultural equipment used for secondary tillage. One sense of the name refers to frames with ''teeth'' (also called ''shanks'') that pierce the soil as they are dragged through it li ...

name. In August 1945, Graham-Paige announced plans to resume production under the Graham name, but the plan never materialized. On February 5, 1947, Graham-Paige stockholders approved the transfer of all their automotive assets to

Kaiser-Frazer The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation (1947–1953 as Kaiser-Frazer) was an American automobile company. It was founded jointly by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer.DeSoto body and engine production, and finally for assembly of the Imperial for the 1959, 1960, and 1961 model years.

Post-automotive legacy

In 1952, Graham-Paige dropped the "Motors" from its name and branched into real estate, and under the direction of

Irving Mitchell Felt Irving Mitchell Felt (25 January 1909 – 22 September 1994) was a New York businessman who led the drive in the 1960s to build a new Madison Square Garden.Roosevelt Raceway Roosevelt Raceway was a race track located just outside the village of Westbury on Long Island, New York. Initially created as a venue for the 1936 Vanderbilt Cup auto race, it was converted to a ½-mile harness racing facility (the actual ci ...

in New York, and in 1959, a controlling interest in the old

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

(built in 1925).New York Times: "Irving M. Felt, 84, Sports Impresario, Is Dead" By AGIS SALPUKAS
September 24, 1994 In 1962, the firm changed its name to the Madison Square Garden Corporation, which was later absorbed by

Gulf and Western Industries Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. The company originally focused on manufacturing and resource extraction, but it began purchasing a number of entertainment companies beginning in 1966 ...

. Currently, Madison Square Garden is part of

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. File:StateLibQld 1 147703 Graham Brothers truck, ca. 1925.jpg, Graham Brothers truck File:1933 car&trailer.jpg, 1929-30 Graham-Paige with early mobile camper trailer at Glacier National Park; December, 1933. File:Graham-Paige Model 610 4-Door Sedan 1928.jpg, Graham-Paige Model 610 4-door Sedan 1928 File:Graham-Paige Model 827 Roadster 1929.jpg, Graham-Paige Model 827 Roadster 1929 File:Graham Paige 612 Tourer, 1929.jpg, Graham Paige 612 Tourer, 1929 File:1929 Graham-Paige Model 612.jpeg, A restored 1929 Graham-Paige Model 612 File:Graham Drophead Coupe.jpg, Graham Convertible Coupé 1930 File:Graham Model 80A Crusader 4-D Touring Sedan 1936.jpg, Graham Model 80A Crusader 4-door Touring Sedan 1936 File:1937 Graham Cavalier.JPG, 1937 Graham Cavalier File:Graham Blue Streak 4-Door Sedan 1932.jpg, 1932 Graham Bluestreak 4-door Sedan File:Stahls Automotive Collection December 2021 079 (1939 Graham Custom Model 97 Sedan).jpg, 1939 Graham Custom Model 97 Sedan File:1940 Graham Hollywood Sedan.jpg, Advertisement for Graham Hollywood, 1940 File:Graham-Paige 613 Interior.jpg, Steering column of a Model 613. One lever in the center controls the headlights, the other is the hand throttle. File:1939 Graham Special Custom Supercharger 4-door sedan, front right, 06-08-2024.jpg, 1939 Graham Model 97 Special Custom Supercharger 4-door sedan "Spirit of Motion", later nicknamed "Sharknose" File:1940 Graham-Paige Model 107 DeLuxe four-door sedan, front left (Hershey 2019).jpg, 1940 was the last year for the "sharknosed" Graham (Model 107) File:Graham-Paige 8 cyl. engine.jpg, Graham 8 cyl. engine, top view dominated by centrifugal supercharger

Graham Brothers

Graham-Paige

Joint venture

Postwar

Post-automotive legacy

See also