Graham is one of the American car makers that tends to get lost in the historical shuffle. The built some of the most beautiful cars of their day and unfortunately it all came to a stop for them in 1947. Prior to WWII, specifically in 1940 and 1941 they produced one of the best looking sedans to ever roll off an assembly line, the Hollywood. This thing is the height of art deco cool. The sweeping lines, massive fenders, compound curves everywhere, etc. The Hollywood name is perfect as well because we could totally see a 1930s movie star being driven to the studio in one of these babies, its 124hp supercharged flathead six engine whirring away under the hood.
If you think you see something in the nose of this car that is reminiscent of another American classic, you’d be right. The Cord 810 with its famed “coffin nose” is a grandfather to this machine. Now Graham obviously made significant changes adding the brightwork and grills but if you look at this car head on and peer down the hood line you will see some familiar shapes. That’s pretty cool and if you can believe it the body dies actually came from Auburn after they had stopped production.
The other big thing about Cords of course is that they were front wheel drive. This car is not as you can see from the photos that depict the underside of the machine. This is a really neat car and while it only makes 124hp, it was still a pretty high horsepower car for its day. The blower was designed and engineered in house and is of the pancake style mounted below the carb. We don’t know the boost number but to get the 124hp out of the flattie six it was certainly doing something.
Just an awesome piece you certainly do not see every day. We dig it!
Check out the photos below and then hit the link to see the eBay ad –
Gorgeous! – but detail that engine and drop the suspension 2 inches or so then it will be perfect. A Cord in all but name at a fraction of the price – now where’s me credit card…..