Graham Hollywood - made from Cord dies - Check this out!

I didn't say Cord received over six thousand orders. I said Graham or Hupp received over six thousand orders and could not fill them because of the complexity of the design. It's been over twenty years since I heard that story, so I'll have to check. The cost of construction helped to harm Cord's production, too. I heard it from one of the old Graham-Paige people who made the move to the Madison Square Gardens staff, but still liked to talk about his car days.

Sorry, I'll be more serious; uness something ricochets off my funny bone.

Bill, I enjoy levity too. But your posts include figures and facts that others who know less tend to accept as gospel. After they have in turn repeated it several times it becomes unassailable fact, and is really hard to turn around.

Auburn did NOT "receive orders for over six thousand" Cords. They received [i:2789nmyd]inquiries[/i:2789nmyd] (meaning requests for literature) for that many. Actual orders were far fewer. And the reason they could not deliver on time was not complexity, but because production facilities were still being set up at the time of the November 1935 shows --- the first Cords actually rolled off the assembly line three months later.

There's a thin line between being cranky and being accurate. I am trying real hard to walk it, but I realize that am not always successful.

I'll have to be more specific. I tend to exxagerate while using levity. What I said was, literally, the Cord had too many roof panels to build a cheap car. They received orders for over six thousand cars and were not able to fill the order because the car was too complicated to build.

Studebaker and Willys used similar chassis engineering.

The Chevrolet, a truly inexpensive car, had a basic one piece roof stamping, welded at the corners. We have a shark nose Graham, and it was the end of the line. You know that little toe tap that the bad guys do when Clint Eastwood does them in? That was the Hollywood Graham and the Hupp Skyllark.

I'll bet you're right, Bill. Those new pieces are meant to replace a rusted section of the fender, so the restorer need not buy a whole fender if just a front edge is rusted out. Good call.

And I love, in your avatar, how the crushed Beverly morphs into a beautiful cabriolet!

Josh Malks wrote: I don't know where the idea of two-foot-square panels, twenty-piece roofs and ten-piece fenders comes from.

Maybe that idea comes from club members seeing the advertisers in the Newsletter who are making replacement panels for the Cord fenders. They come in a lot of pieces.

Graham never brought the dies home. They were first sold to a promoter named Norman DeVaux by the bankrupcy court in 1938. He convinced Hupp that they could be used to build a low-priced car. Staggering Hupp tried to set up the dies for use, but found itself without funds. They offered Graham the opportunity to build the car for Hupp, with the nearly identical Graham Hollywoods going down the same assembly line. Each used its own engine/drive train. As stated, the Graham was supercharged.

The front frames bore no resemblance to the Cord frame, which had been made by Midland to Auburn's specifications. Graham and Hupp both used semi-elliptic springs in front, with a solid front axle. Very archaic by 1940.

While the Cord was indeed made from more pieces than a mass-produced car, I don't know where the idea of two-foot-square panels, twenty-piece roofs and ten-piece fenders comes from. (Sounds like a jigsaw puzzle.) Go to [url:2h6ejcu3]http://www.automaven.com/My_Cords/Now/Paint_Job_2000/Paint_2000/paint_2000_2.html[/url:2h6ejcu3] for a look at my sedan with the paint off. (The page after that shows the roof better.) The roof was seven pieces. Each fender, front and rear, was two pieces. Remember, Central Manufacturing Company, Auburn's manufacturing plant in Connersville which manufactured the Cord body specialized in steel stampings. They knew what they were doing.

There's a photo coming up in the next Newsletter of an NOS fender owned by George Arakelian that shows the one seam down the middle. Hard to mass-produce, but no jigsaw puzzle.

As I understand it the Graham people almost soiled their pantaloons when they got their new aquisition home and checked it out.

The plan was to build a middle class low end luxury car for the masses. When they checked things out they found that the biggest die they bought was about two feet square. The Cord roof was in about twenty pieces, the front fenters almost half that many pieces, and even the rear fenders had half a dozen pieces. All the pieces were bucked up and welded.

The cheaper the planned car, the fewer pieces that can be hand fabricated.

Chris Summers wrote: BTW, if you're ever interested in seeing one of those in person, I think there's still a nice green one on display at the ACD Museum.

Yep, walked by it last night.

btw, the supercharged graham was a perky performer. It is substantially lighter then a Cord and the blown engine was good for 124 hp. Could be an urban myth, but I believe that they were the fastest American car 0 to 60 in 1940.

crjs wrote: I believe the purpose of my post was very clear. If interested, go to the e-bay number posted and "read all about it!".

Chet in Ann Arbor

I re-read my post and I can see how you thought my comments were directed towards you. As Chris said, my issue is with the ad. I always laugh at auction catalog descriptions for a car that will probably sell for over 1,000,000, yet the catalog spends 3 pages telling you the history of the marque and one paragraph talking about the car. You would think that if someone is going to spend big coin on a car, they probably know a bit about the model's history. This ebay ad for the graham is sort of the same thing. How about some history of this particular car, how long has it been in California, how long have you owned it, is it blown (originally?), etc, etc. The seller is just costing him/herself money.

...and if you liked the Graham Hollywood, you'll [i:4u7fggyv]love[/i:4u7fggyv] the Hupp Skylark!

It is a wonderful bit of Cord history, one last gasp of production. I settles the idea if there had been rear wheel drive it would have achieved commercial success.

They don't bring Cord prices so this car might be a good way to start. The blowers seem to be plentiful but a Graham or Hupp would be nice with matching numbers.

This is an interesting listing as there are good pictures of the dash. I would be curious about the stub frame and how the engine and suspension was mounted.

Was the same steering box geometry and front suspension live and how did it compare in balance and drive ability?
There are the wind-wing doors shown that were mentioned in another posting.

The fun never ends and the road goes on forever...

Just checked it out again and I noticed Graham did not use the opening windshields and lowered the wipers. The rear seat looks like it also has some changes. Someone will get a fun car!

Thanks. I jump to conclusions too readily. Need to work on that!

Chet

I don't think he was complaining about your post, Chet. He was complaining about the eBay page, which doesn't mention if the Graham was supercharged or not--an important thing to consider when buying one of those. It just gives some history of the Graham Hollywood and no real history of the car for sale for a buyer to look at.

BTW, if you're ever interested in seeing one of those in person, I think there's still a nice green one on display at the ACD Museum.

I believe the purpose of my post was very clear. If interested, go to the e-bay number posted and "read all about it!".

Chet in Ann Arbor

You would think that if you went to the trouble of posting an eBay ad you would at least spend more than 2 sentences describing details. For example, mention if it was supercharged or not.

Just saw this Very interesting item on e-bay about a vehicle made for a very short time and using Cord 811/812 dies which were purchased from Cord. A fascinating bit of history I knew nothing about.
The e-bay # is 160127245387 - check it out!

(Note: I have No personal interest in this item, just thought it was interesting.)

Chet in Ann Arbor