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. The most reliable estimates, from period publications, suggest the total production of all 3 years of these cars is between 6000 and 13,000 units. With this low production Graham limped through 1939 and 1940.
Ixo released a Graham Sharknose convertible in their Museum series. Body work by Pourtout of France, or Vesters and Neirinck of Belgium, depending on your source of info. Would have been better in white like an original I spotted online.
@frank Hi Frank It is amazing that a car design can get praised and achieves awards but the crunch is the buying public.
A bit like stats in a football (soccer) match where one side has 73% procession but loose 5-0!
I really like the Graham design, Chris and I agree it's astounding that such cool styling can be so highly regarded on one hand and yet not be such a big sales success at all. Perhaps another factor was that people in 1939 were very insecure about Graham-Paige being able to stay in business for much longer, and so stayed away.
It's ironic that after the war, the initial 1947 Frazers built in mid-1946 actually had "Graham-Paige" identification plates, as part of the Kaiser/Graham-Paige dual production arrangement.
This really nice Graham "Spirit of Motion" shows up at our local car shows sometimes, and, although it's modified, it still looks sensational !
@mikedetorrice. Good stuff. 👍 That show car must get a lot of attention. 👀
It does ! I wonder if people think it's so greatly modified that the original vehicle was just a "typical standard boxy old-time" car, not realizing the futuristic automobile in front of them was pretty much as it was in 1939, other than the wheels.
This looks like a really nice model, I looked at my database because I couldn't remember if I had this one in the beige color, I do. It seems I have never taken any photos of it, my database also lists one in gunmetal gray. They must both be still packed as I don't see them on display.
