Graham Antique and Vintage Cars For Sale

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Photo	Title	Make	Model	Year	State	Price	Placed
	1940 GRAHAM Sharknose Combination Coupe	GRAHAM	Sharknose Combination Coupe	1940	CA	$45,999.00 US dollars	February 29, 2012

Graham Brothers Company History (Continued from top)

1939 Graham-Paige "Spirit of Motion" Passenger Car  

The Graham brothers, Joseph, Robert and Ray started out making glass and eventually sold their company to Owens Glass Co. Then they developed kits to modify Model "T" Fords into trucks, which evolved into building their own trucks using Dodge engines. The Graham Brother's Company trucks were first sold by Dodge dealers in Evansville, Indiana. In 1922 the Grahams built a 13,000 square foot factory in Detroit, Michigan, and then another one in Stockton, California, in 1925. That same year the Grahams sold their company to the Dodge brothers and took on executive positions.

By 1927 Dodge was facing financial problems and the Grahams decided to go back to making vehicles for themselves. They started by buying the Paige-Detroit Motor Company, who made Paige and Jewett automobiles, and their first cars were called Graham-Paiges. They also made a few trucks under the Paige name but had to stop when the Dodges cried fowl because of a non-competition agreement.

Graham vehicles were known for their quality and their success at racing boosted sales. Their "Blue Streak" was a big success, giving the brothers enough capital to make it through the Great Depression, but by 1932 they could not afford to develop a new body and for the next few years paid a royalty to the REO Motor Car Company for their designs. By 1938 the Grahams were back on their feet and introduced an all new body with the slogan "Spirit of Motion". The new body was a major hit with designers and the press but the public was not so thrilled and sales were poor through 1939 and 1940. Once again the Grahams could not afford to design a new body so they made a deal with the Hupp Motor Co. to build their 1939 Hupmobile, using body dies they had acquired from the Cord Motor Company. The Grahams agreed to build the Hupmobile "Skylark" in exchange for using the same body dies to make a similar car of their own; to be called the "Hollywood". However the Hollywood sales were poor and production ceased in 1940. The Graham brothers probably would have gone bankrupt had it not been for the business they got from the war department during WWII and by the end of the war they were ready to try again. In 1946 they produced the "Frazer" in partnership with Henry Kaiser and they also ventured into farm equipment under the "Rototiller" name. In 1947 the Grahams combined all of their assists with Kaiser to form the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation.

Joseph Frazer was the president of the Graham-Paige Corporation before WWII but Henry Kaiser had no auto industry experience so the two were frequently at odds. In 1949 Kaiser pushed production beyond sales, resulting in too much inventory and Frazer left the company in 1951. The next year Kaiser renamed the company the Kaiser Motors Corporation and continued building passenger cars until 1955.