1929 Graham-Paige Model 837 Dual Cowl Phaeton

The Graham brothers, Joseph, Robert, and Ray, had their industrial start in the glass business. Their work bought the Lythgoe Bottle Company of Loogootee, Indiana, later renamed Graham Glass Company, from a craft shop making hand-blow bottles into a major business. When the brothers sold their interests to the Libbey-Owens firm, they embarked on an enterprise of building trucks and tractors. Their first product used a Ford Model T chassis and was marketed to farmers and deliverymen. Their success in this venture led to the Graham brothers assembling complete trucks of their own design in 1919.

The Graham Brothers built Speed Truck using Dodge components and were done so successfully, that Dodge took notice. The Dodge Brothers firm entered into an agreement for Grahams to supply complete trucks to be sold through the Dodge dealerships. By 1926, they sold their interests in the truck business to Dodge.

On June 10th of 1927, they purchased the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company of Dearborn, Michigan. The name was soon changed to Graham-Paige Motors Corporation. Shortly after acquiring the company, their own Graham-Paige car was ready. The new line of vehicles made its debut at the New York Automobile Show. There were four six-cylinder cars on four different wheelbases and three different engines and one eight-cylinder car.

Graham-Paige commissioned LeBaron to perform the styling for the new line of vehicles. It was given a radiator shell similar to a Hispano-Suiza and was fitted with Graham's new emblem. The public responded enthusiastically, purchasing 73,000 vehicles. This set a record for an automobile marque in its introductory year.

In 1929, a new series of cars appeared, featuring two sizes of eights and three sixes. All of the cars were given hydraulic brakes. The top-level vehicles had Bijur chassis lubrication.

For the 1929 New York Auto Show, Joseph Graham commissioned LeBaron to create a one-off dual cowl phaeton on the Second Series 837 chassis. It had an aluminum-skinned body and sweeping front fenders. There were no sidemount spare tires, rather a single spare could be found mounted at the rear, aft of a leather-covered trunk.

It was designed for Graham's daughters Elinor and Virginia. After the NY Auto Show, the car was put on tour of the dealer facilities. It was later used as Joseph Graham's personal car. In 1936, the factory fitted with car with a centrifugal supercharger.

The car was purchased by Dr. Atwood in September of 1984 at the dispersal auction of the Harrah collection. A restoration began in 1985. Upon completion, it made its public debut at the 1986 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where it was rewarded with a class win.

It is believed that the car has traveled just 15 miles under its own power since its restoration. It has a black canvas top, a leather trunk, side curtains, door ventilators in the cowl, stylish louvers, red leather seats and door panels, and black carpet.

In 2009, this Graham-Paige Dual-Cowl Phaeton was offered for sale at the Automobiles of Arizona auction presented by RM Auctions. The lot was estimated to sell for $200,000 - $275,000 and was offered without reserve. As bidding came to a close, the lot had been sold for the sum of $297,000, including buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2009