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Graham Used Antique, Vintage and Classic Cars For Sale

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Graham History: Joseph, Robert and Ray Graham 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 and sold by Dodge dealers. In 1922 the Grahams built a 13,000 square foot factory in Detroit, Michigan, and another 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 due to 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 had to pay a royalty for the use of designs created by the REO Motor Car Company. By 1938 the Grahams were back on their feet but sales for their next car, sold as the "Spirit of Motion", were poor and by 1938 they were once again out of money. This time the Grahams made a deal with the Hupp Motor Co. to build their 1939 Hupmobile using body dies they had acquired from the Cord Motor Company. They used the dies to build the Hupmobile "Skylark" and a car for themselves called the "Hollywood" but the Hollywood sales were poor and production ceased in 1940.

Contracts from the war department kept the Grahams in business during WWII and by the end they were ready to try again under the leadership of Joseph Frazer, by then the president of Graham-Page. In 1946 they produced the "Frazer" in partnership with Henry Kaiser and also ventured into farm equipment under the "Rototiller" name. In 1947 stockholders renamed the company the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation but Frazer left the company in 1951 and the next year his name was dropped. The Kaiser Motors Corporation continued building passenger cars until 1955.


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