1941 Graham Hollywood Custom Supercharged Sedan
1941 Graham Hollywood Custom Supercharged Sedan
In the late 1930s Graham had faced a flop with their controversial “Sharknose” models and looked for a new line to improve sales. Meanwhile Hupp approached Graham to manufacture the Hupmobile Skylark, which used Cord 810/812 bodies they had acquired the tooling for, converted to rear-wheel drive and with a new front end penned by John Tjaarda. The subsequent arrangement allowed Graham to build the similar Hollywood with trim changes and their own engine. The Supercharged Hollywood had one of the best power-to-weight ratios of the time, and was generally well received. However, using the Cord tooling proved labor intensive and production output did not meet targets. In September 1940, Graham postponed automotive production to join in the war effort. Though Graham would provide a car to launch Kaiser-Frazer in 1946, the Graham nameplate would never grace another automobile. Graham-Paige left the automotive business and went on to other ventures such as real estate, which included taking over the management of Madison Square Garden.
James Chernock, a former president of the Graham Owners Club International, completed the restoration of this Hollywood Custom Supercharged Sedan in 1996. It took second in class at the 2016 Radnor Hunt Concours before joining the collection in 2017.
- YEAR & MAKE - 1941 Graham
- MODEL NAME - Hollywood
- SERIES -
- MODEL/BODY/STYLE NUMBER -
- BODY TYPE - 4-Door Sedan
- BODY BY -
- # CYLS. - Supercharged Inline-6
- TRANSMISSION TYPE & NUMBER - 3-Speed Manual, Rear-Wheel Drive
- WEIGHT - 2,965 lbs
- ESTIMATED PRODUCTION - 1859
- HP - 125
- C.I.D. - 217
- WHEELBASE - 115″
- PRICE NEW - $1,065
Oldsmobiles continued to run on the oval tracks of NASCAR including a 1957 Golden Rocket 88 piloted by a rookie driver named Richard Petty sporting the now famous #43. The Starfire prefix was added to all 98 models, not just the convertible models as in previous years. This engine was so fast that it was eventually banned by NASCAR yet it made its way into a luxury convertible. Despite the fact that this was Oldsmobile’s most expensive model ($3,838.00 before options), the Starfire 98 convertible was the division’s most popular open car with 8,278 made. And, like this car, for a mere $83.00, you could order the hot J-2 engine option. Breathing through triple carburetors, with 10:1 compression, the hopped up Rocket 371 c.i.d. V-8 yielded 300 h.p. In normal driving, only the center carb operated. Oldsmobile also offered an engineering first for 1957 with the first printed electric circuit for the instrument cluster.
Lee Petty’s J-2-outfitted ’57 Olds sailed down Daytona Beach at 144.9 mph. Bill France Sr., recognizing an unfair advantage when he saw it, complained that Oldsmobile wasn’t offering the J-2 to the public, and he was right. Oldsmobile responded by putting the J-2 on the options list for the general public for the 1957 and 1958 model year, but fewer than 750 1957 Oldsmobiles were so equipped making this top-of-the-line Starfire Ninety Eight Convertible a rare survivor.