![The Nail in The Coffin [inset] | by Vince Montalbano (autofocus)](http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54405244055_bee10a8a17.jpg)
The Nail in The Coffin [inset]
What you see here is a classic example of how even ugly cars (IMO) can have interesting, and sometimes even beautiful details that are worth highlighting in a photo. The car, a 1939 "sharknose" Graham was one of those cars that had very limited success, and was widely not accepted by the 1938-1940 buying public. And, probably even less than the controversial designs of Chrysler's Airflow models of the middle thirties. It's unique design, for the times, with it's protruding hood and front fenders gave it it's shark like looks, and it's subsequent moniker, "sharknose Graham." Most would agree that it was a diving catch for the Graham-Paige automobile company at the time that was significantly suffering financially far greater than most of it's competitors. Unlike some company's that had rebounded some from the Great Depression Graham had not been one of them. And this was in spite of having some very good earlier successes with their early thirties Blue Streak models, a car that had also been designed by the talented Amos Northrup who had penned and designed the sharknose above. But, by the end of the decade the country was entrenched in a deep recession that impacted the overall auto industry, and that had car sales off by slightly over 50%. However, that was still somewhat better than what Graham was experiencing at the time with it's sales by 1939 being off slightly more than 70%. Needless to say Graham-Paige Company did not survive long into the 1940's, and the sharknose was it's final nail in the coffin! Ironically, and also sadly, Amos Northrup did not live to see his final design effort go into production. He had taken a bad fall on ice and died from a fractured skull before production on the car had begun.
My shot above, as I noted, is a detail of just a small portion of the hood, grill, and headlight on the subject car. As what's often the case it's hood was open which only proved to minimize it's bizarre shark nosed appearance so I managed to find a photo off the internet in the inset so that you can see a bit of the looks, and style of the front of the car.
Vince
The Nail in The Coffin [inset]
What you see here is a classic example of how even ugly cars (IMO) can have interesting, and sometimes even beautiful details that are worth highlighting in a photo. The car, a 1939 "sharknose" Graham was one of those cars that had very limited success, and was widely not accepted by the 1938-1940 buying public. And, probably even less than the controversial designs of Chrysler's Airflow models of the middle thirties. It's unique design, for the times, with it's protruding hood and front fenders gave it it's shark like looks, and it's subsequent moniker, "sharknose Graham." Most would agree that it was a diving catch for the Graham-Paige automobile company at the time that was significantly suffering financially far greater than most of it's competitors. Unlike some company's that had rebounded some from the Great Depression Graham had not been one of them. And this was in spite of having some very good earlier successes with their early thirties Blue Streak models, a car that had also been designed by the talented Amos Northrup who had penned and designed the sharknose above. But, by the end of the decade the country was entrenched in a deep recession that impacted the overall auto industry, and that had car sales off by slightly over 50%. However, that was still somewhat better than what Graham was experiencing at the time with it's sales by 1939 being off slightly more than 70%. Needless to say Graham-Paige Company did not survive long into the 1940's, and the sharknose was it's final nail in the coffin! Ironically, and also sadly, Amos Northrup did not live to see his final design effort go into production. He had taken a bad fall on ice and died from a fractured skull before production on the car had begun.
My shot above, as I noted, is a detail of just a small portion of the hood, grill, and headlight on the subject car. As what's often the case it's hood was open which only proved to minimize it's bizarre shark nosed appearance so I managed to find a photo off the internet in the inset so that you can see a bit of the looks, and style of the front of the car.
Vince