Graham-Paige Motors Corp. (1928-1941)
Dearborn, Michigan
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| This is a Graham trunk emblem (1937) mjs Size: 86mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The three Graham brothers, Joseph, Robert and Ray, had a successful business building Graham commercial vehicles (see Graham Brothers) but sold out to Dodge in 1927. In June 1927, the Graham brothers were back in business after buying the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company (see Paige) and forming Graham-Paige Motors Corporation.
The new Graham-Paige automobile was introduced at the New York Automobile Show in January 1928. The Graham-Paige was offered as a line of six-cylinder cars and an eight-cylinder model. First year production was over 73,000 cars, a new record for a first year.
After such a magnificent start, the Great Depression began to affect sales. Production dropped to under 34,000 by 1930 and down to about 13,000 by 1932. In 1930, the car name became Graham. In 1931 a small screen-sided express pick-up commercial car based on a Graham-Paige passenger car chassis was made and marketed as Paige. The Graham brothers worked hard to keep the company going, even after Ray Graham committed suicide in 1932. Supercharged models were introduced in 1935, making the Graham a fine-performing 90 mph-plus machine. Production rose slightly to over 18,000 for 1935.
But problems continued and by 1936 Graham car bodies were being produced by Hayes for Reo and shared with Graham by Reo for a royalty payment. Graham-Paige introduced a new radiator design, later known as the Sharknose, which they hoped would boost the styling appeal of Graham cars, but it was a disaster. Graham-Paige made a last attempt with the Hollywood model in 1940 by using Cord dies in a sharing agreement with Hupp but the Hupmobile was also in trouble and it did not work out. In September 1940, Graham-Paige ceased production of automobiles. A small number of cars built in 1940 went on sale in 1941.
Emblems
The Graham-Paige introduced in 1928 carried a metal radiator emblem, designed by the monument sculptor, Lorado Taft, showing the three Graham brothers in profile wearing Roman soldier helmets and chain mail vests. This emblem design was meant to represent the principles of integrity, honor and loyalty.
The following 1928 Graham-Paige advertisement displays the first radiator emblem:
The following was the first Graham-Paige radiator emblem appearing in 1928:
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| This is a Graham-Paige ad showing the radiator emblem (1928) ms |
The following was the first Graham-Paige radiator emblem appearing in 1928:
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| This is a Graham-Paige radiator emblem (1928) mjs Size: 65mm high 35mm wide MM: Unknown |
The following variation of the Graham-Paige radiator emblem inscribed "REG. U.S. PAT. OFF." and "MADE IN U.S.A." appeared later in 1928 presumably after the registration of the emblem design was completed. This Graham-Paige radiator emblem was used on domestic as well as export models.
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| This is a Graham-Paige radiator emblem (1928) mjs Size: 65mm high 35mm wide MM: D L Auld |
Most six-cylinder Graham-Paige models for 1929 carried similar radiator emblems with blue or red enamel, see examples below:
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| This is a Graham-Paige radiator emblem (1929) mjs Size: 65mm high 35mm wide MM: D L Auld |
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| This is a Graham-Paige radiator emblem (1929) mjs Size: 65mm high 35mm wide MM: D L Auld |
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| This is a Graham-Paige radiator emblem with gold finish (1929) mjs Size: 65mm high 35mm wide MM: D L Auld |
There was a different radiator emblem for eight-cylinder models in 1929, see blue, white and red enamel Graham-Paige radiator emblem shown below. This Graham-Paige radiator emblem was also used for some late series Model 621 six-cylinder cars.
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| This is a Graham-Paige radiator emblem (1929) mjs Size: 56mm high 41mm wide MM: None |
The following very small Graham-Paige emblem was used as a dashboard emblem in 1929 on all eight-cylinder cars and late series model 621 six-cylinder closed cars:
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| This is a Graham-Paige dashboard emblem (1929) dnc Size: 24mm high 13mm wide MM: Unknown |
Graham followed the practice of having two model series each year from 1928 to 1935 each with different emblem designs, which makes for some confusion when describing emblem changes.
The first six-cylinder Graham emblems in 1930 were similar to the earlier Graham-Paige emblems but were smaller and mounted on the headlight bar, see examples below:
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| This is a six-cylinder Graham showing the head light bar emblem (1930) hemmings |
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| This is a Graham head light bar emblem (1930) mjs Size: 38mm high 21mm wide MM: Fox |
The following slightly larger Graham head light bar emblem was used in late 1930 and 1931:
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| This is a Graham-Paige head light bar emblem (1930-1931) mjs Size: 48mm high 24mm wide MM: D L Auld |
The following variation of the emblem shown above was used for export models but was also used on some domestic models. This Graham emblem is scarce.
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| This is an export version of a Graham head light bar emblem (1930-1931) zc Size: 48mm high 24mm wide MM: Unknown |
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| This is a Graham head light bar emblem (1931) conceptcarz |
The following Graham emblem is a hub emblem used in 1930:
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| This is a Graham hub emblem (1930) mjs Size: 59mm diameter MM: None |
The following Graham head light bar emblem was used on the 1931 eight-cylinder Graham Model 820. This Graham head light bar emblem is scarce.
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| This is a Graham head light bar emblem (1931) mjs Size:113mm high 107mm wide MM: None |
The following Graham emblem was used as a luggage rack emblem in 1931:
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| This is a Graham luggage rack emblem (1931) mjs Size: 58mm diameter overall (50mm diameter center) MM: D L Auld |
The same Graham emblem without the chrome base disc, see below, was also used as a wire wheel hub emblem in 1931-1932:
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| This is a Graham wire wheel hub emblem (1931-1932) mjs Size: 50mm diameter MM: None |
The Graham radiator emblems were changed for 1932-1933 with a circular metal Graham emblem forming part of the hood ornament at the top of the radiator grille and a black enamel emblem forming the crank hole cover at the bottom, see examples below:
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| This is a Graham radiator grille emblem (1932-1933) lynn bawden |
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| This is a Graham radiator grille emblem (1932-1933) mjs Size: 66mm diameter MM: None (some Fox) |
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| This is a Graham crank hole cover emblem (1932-1934) mjs Size: 120mm high 60mm wide overall MM: Unknown |
The following black enamel Graham emblem was mounted on the license plate holder:
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| This is a Graham license plate holder emblem (1932-1934) kmc Size: 107mm wide 27mm high MM: None |
The following photos show the emblem displayed on the luggage rack on a 1933 Graham Bluestreak car. The same luggage rack emblem was used in 1932-1933.
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| Graham Bluestreak showing luggage rack emblem (1933) hemmings |
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| Close-up showing luggage rack emblem (1933) |
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| This is a Graham luggage rack emblem (1933) zc |
The center emblem is the same Graham emblem used as a wire wheel hub emblem in 1931-1932, as shown earlier, and again below:
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| This is a Graham luggage rack emblem (1932-1933) mjs Size: 50mm diameter MM: None |
The Graham radiator grille emblem was changed in early 1934 to the following oval-shaped, transparent blue enamel Graham emblem. The same emblem was also used as the luggage rack emblem. This Graham emblem is scarce.
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| This is a Graham radiator grille and luggage rack emblem (1934) mjs Size: 67mm wide 43mm high MM: Unknown |
The luggage rack emblem was attached to chrome mount or bezel, see photo below:
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| This shows the Graham luggage rack emblem (1934) theman |
The following photo shows the Graham radiator grille emblem in a chrome mount under the combined hood ornament:
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| This is a Graham radiator grille emblem (1934) david c brewster |
Also in 1934, there was a transparent blue and black enamel variation of the previous Graham emblem. This was used as the luggage rack emblem and may have been used as a radiator grille emblem, but I cannot confirm this. The following photo shows this Graham emblem set in the luggage rack mount or bezel. This Graham emblem is scarce.
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| This is a Graham luggage rack emblem (1934) mjs Size: 90mm wide 69mm high overall (67mm wide 43mm high center) MM: Unknown |
Later in 1934, the Graham blue enamel oval emblem used in the radiator grille under the hood ornament and in the luggage rack was changed to a metal oval emblem, see example below:
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| This is a Graham radiator grille and luggage rack emblem (late 1934) mjs Size: 66mm wide 43mm high MM: Unknown |
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| Graham hood ornament radiator grille emblem (1934) zc |
There were further changes to the Graham emblems for 1935, see examples shown below:
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| This is a Graham Model 73 Bluestreak hood ornament grille emblem (1935) mark bach |
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| This is a Graham Model 73 hood ornament grille emblem (1935) mjs Size: 46mm diameter MM: None |
The grille emblem was removed in late 1935 and was replaced by a chrome "Graham" script mounted on the radiator grille, see example shown below:
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| This is a Graham Model 68 showing a radiator script (1935) bonhams |
The following is an example of the chrome plated Graham script shown above. This Graham script was mounted on the radiator grille in 1935 and elsewhere on other later models:
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| This is a Graham radiator script (1935-1937) mjs Size: 138mm wide |
The following die cast emblem was mounted on the left side of the hood, just behind the grille, on all 1935 models except the standard specification economy Model 74. A similar but reversed design emblem was fixed to the right side of the hood.
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| This is a Graham hood side emblem (1935) dnc Size: 104mm wide 41mm high MM: None |
The small circular Graham emblem forming part of the above hood side emblem is shown below:
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| This small Graham emblem is part of the hood side emblem (1935) dnc Size: 26mm diameter MM: Unknown |
For 1936 the Graham script shown earlier was displayed in the center of the radiator together with the same small circular Graham emblem as shown above, see example below:
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| This is a Graham Supercharged model showing a radiator script (1936) conceptcarz |
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| Close-up showing the Graham radiator script and small emblem (1936) |
The following is a Graham trunk lid emblem for 1936:
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| This is a Graham trunk lid emblem (1936) mjs Size: 425mm wide 84mm high MM: None |
The Graham script remained in the center of the radiator in 1937 but without the small round emblem, as shown below:
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| Graham script in center of radiator Graham Series 116 Supercharged model (1937) conceptcarz |
There was also a new hood ornament for 1937 with circular red enamel emblems on each side, see examples below
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| This is a Series 116 Supercharged model hood ornament (1937) conceptcarz |
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| This is a Graham hood ornament (1937) cwc |
The red enamel Graham hood ornament emblems from each side are shown below:
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| This is a Graham hood ornament emblem right side (1937) mjs Size: 51mm diameter MM: Fox |
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| This is a Graham hood ornament emblem left side (1937) mjs Size: 51mm diameter MM: Fox |
The following is a Graham trunk emblem for 1937. This Graham trunk emblem is scarce.
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| This is a Graham trunk emblem (1937) mjs Size: 86mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The Graham body styling was changed in 1938 to the Sharknose and was followed in 1940 by the Hollywood, both styles displaying the same red painted chrome emblem at the base of the radiator covering the crank hole, see examples below, which are the same emblem but painted differently. This Graham radiator grille emblem is scarce.
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| This is a Graham Sharknose radiator grille emblem (1938) richard spiegelman |
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| This is a Graham Hollywood radiator grille emblem (1940) ms |
The rear bumper inscription shown below was used on Graham models in 1938-1939:
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| This a Graham rear bumper script inscription (1938-1939) ms |
Graham Sharknose and Hollywood models in 1940 displayed a "Graham" script on the trunk lid, see example below:
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| This is a Graham trunk lid script (1940) ms |
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