Car of the Week: 1941 Graham Hollywood

By 1940, the Graham-Paige Motors Corp. of Detroit remained in deep financial trouble. Like other car manufacturers, the company had struggled through the Great Depression, which took the hardest toll on independent car makers. Many independents went out of business during the early and mid 1930s, the worst years of the Great Depression, but Graham had been able to continue building cars. Hope for a return to prosperity had come from the company’s all-new and uniquely styled 1938 Graham models, which had a forward-thrusting design that came to be called “Spirit of Motion.” While the “Spirit of Motion” cars drew attention on the street and people to Graham showrooms, the cars fell short of sales expectations due to the unconventional design and the 1938 economic recession. Graham soon found it needed a less-controversial vehicle design, but did not have the financial resources required to retool and produce new body dies. In an attempt to save its ailing business, Graham used body dies acquired by the Hupmobile Co. and created a new model called the Hollywood for 1940. It was not the first time Graham had taken such a measure. To create its Cavalier models beginning with the 1936 model year, Graham paid a royalty to Reo for using its body design built by Hayes Body Corp.

Interestingly, the body dies that Graham used via Hupmobile had previously been purchased from the defunct Auburn Automobile Co., which originally used these dies to produce the stunning front-drive Cord in 1936 and 1937. Hupmobile was struggling alongside Graham and also needed a stylish new car, and upon learning from auto industry veteran Norman de Vaux that the radically modern 1936-’37 Cord 810/812 body’s dies, tooling, patterns—and everything else needed to continue building the Cord body—were available for a relatively bargain-priced $ 45,000, Hupmobile made a deal to buy them. (Incidentally, de Vaux had first approached Graham-Paige about buying the Cord body dies, but Graham-Paige cofounder Joseph Graham passed on the opportunity.)

The Cord 810/812 had been a high-priced car with a factory price of $ 1,995 for the 1936 810 Westchester and $ 2,445 for the essentially identical 1937 812 Westchester. To make the Hupmobile version more affordable at a target price of $ 875, Hupmobile mounted the Gordon Buehrig-designed Cord Westchester sedan bodies on a 10-inch-shorter (115-inch-wheelbase) rear-wheel-drive chassis, and Hupp’s existing 245.3-cid six-cylinder engine of 101 hp was used. The Cord bodies from the cowl rear-ward appeared unchanged; the only change of note to the main body was the addition of a driveshaft tunnel on the floor pans for the rear-wheel-drive powertrain. However, Hupmobile created new front sheet metal to differentiate the Hupmobile, and to accommodate the shorter wheelbase. The Hupmobile’s new front fenders, hood and other front-end sheet metal were designed by John Tjaarda, a designer at Briggs who gained fame for the streamlined Lincoln-Zephyr design. To the Hupmobile, Tjaarda also added exposed headlamps and two grille motifs: the grille on the hood retained horizontal bars that were shorter and ended behind the Hupmobile’s headlamps, rather than extend to the cowl as on the Cord, and he incorporated a new lower grille with chromed vertical bars. This new Hupmobile model was christened “Skylark.”

The Skylark sedan garnered Hupmobile much-needed attention—and orders. When it debuted at the 1939 New York Auto Show, more than 6,000 orders were taken for the new Skylark—a promising number since Hupmobile production numbers of late had been as low as 74 cars in 1936 and as many as 1,890 in 1938.

Hupmobile built four Skylark prototypes for the show circuit in 1938 and 31 more for display in dealerships during 1939, including a Cord body-based convertible, but it soon became apparent that the Cord bodies very labor-intensive to construct on a mass-production assembly line. Between constructing the all-steel sedan roof—which was built from seven different stampings—and the modifications required to accommodate a new front sub frame to the unitized body—Hupmobile was losing money on each car it hoped to sell for $ 875. It’s been written that more than $ 550 was lost on each Skylark built.

Also desperate for a winning offering and unable to retool a new car, Graham reconsidered the opportunity to use the modified Cord bodies and made a deal with the ailing Hupp Motor Car Corp. in late 1939 to share the Cord dies for its own car. In the deal, Graham agreed to build the Skylark for Hupmobile on a contract basis while receiving the rights to use the distinctive Cord dies to produce a very similar car of its own—the Hollywood. The Tjaarda front-end design was shared between the Hupmobile Skylark and Graham Hollywood with very minor differences.

Like the Skylark, the Hollywood used a six-cylinder engine, but of Graham’s own design. While the Skylark used Hupmobile’s 245.3-cid six, the Hollywood was powered by Graham’s 217.8-cid six, which more often than not was optioned with a factory supercharger good for producing 116 hp.

Approximately 1,378 Hollywoods were built for 1940 and 1941, which did not stop Graham-Paige’s financial slide. After its public introduction, orders poured in. However, having the bodies built by body builder Hayes did not result in a smoother assembly process and deliveries were delayed by months. Customers tired of waiting and most orders were canceled. Despite an enthusiastic initial public response, the car actually ended up being a worse sales flop for both Graham and Hupmobile than either firm’s respective preceding models. Graham-Paige suspended manufacturing in September 1940, only to reopen its plant for military production during World War II. The Hollywood would be the last Graham automobile model.

This Graham Hollywood is one of the few surviving examples produced before Graham-Paige quit building cars for itself and is equipped with the factory supercharger. Nearly a decade ago it received a concours restoration to exacting, factory-correct standards and remains in superb, show-quality condition. Overall, this is one of the best restored examples of a Graham Hollywood in existence. It has been meticulously maintained and used sparingly since the restoration was completed. The supercharged engine continues to perform like the day the car left the dealership back in 1941.

Today, the 1941 Graham Hollywood is part of the Stahl Automotive Collection in Chesterfield, Mich. The Stahls’ Automotive Foundation is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that exists in order to preserve, restore and exhibit specific vintage vehicles of the 20th century for educational purposes. The museum, based in Chesterfield, Michigan, features continually changing exhibitions of historically significant cars from the Depression and Art Deco eras, along with mechanical music machines and automobile memorabilia. It also hosts many community events open to the public, including an annual fundraising event honoring and benefiting veterans.

Stahl Automotive Collection
www.stahlsauto.com
586-749-1048

1941 Graham Hollywood Specifications

• Engine: In-line six cylinder, L-head valve arrangement
• Displacement: 217.8 cubic inches
• Horsepower: 116
• Transmission: Three speeds forward, one reverse
• Chassis: Steel, ladder construction
• Wheelbase: 115 inches
• Wheel Type: Steel Disc
• Tire Size: 6.5 x 16-inches
• Body Construction: Steel

More Graham Reading: “The Graham Legacy: Graham-Paige From 1932” Edited by Michael E. Keller – MT Publishing Co. Inc.

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