Pre- Professional Styling 1929 Grahan-Paige

It seems that I have a number of images of 1929 model year or thereabouts of Graham-Paige automobiles.  As far as I know, the company did not have a styling staff then, and later on used designs by Amos Northup, perhaps supported by engineering staffers and others.

Therefore, the cars shown in this post are indicative of the state of design for American upper-middle class cars from smaller manufacturers in those days before professional styling staffs became common.

Gallery

Model 612 two-door.  Its radiator-grille design is a sort of flat-front, rounded corners type vaguely suggestive of Rolls-Royce.  Another brand image characteristic is the bank of hood louvres that take up only about 60 percent of the available space unlike the usual 100 percent (save allowances for flat structure fore and aft of the louvred zone).

Graham-Paige 621 Roadster.  Soft-top Grahams did not have attached external metal sun visors such as those seen in other images here.  Note the small door for golf bags abaft of the side door.

This and the two following images were probably taken by San Francisco Examiner photographer Christopher Helin, who took many such photos from the 1910s into the 1930s.

This roadster seems longer than the one in the factory-sourced photo above.  Here the windshield is lowered and the canvas top is not seen.

A large, six-window sedan with steel wheels.  Graham headlights are larger than normal for 1929, another brand visual characteristic.

Graham-Paige coupe, Mecum auction photo.  Like the car in the first image, its ground clearance seems higher than the other cars here.  Moreover, this coupe and the two-door sedan have smaller headlights, so these are probably entry-level Grahams.  Note the wood artillery wheels and short hood.  Also, there is no foot step on the rear fender, so this car probably lacks a rumble seat.

Mecum photo of a 1929 Graham roadster.  Details differ from the roadster shown in the image second from the top.  I cannot explain this.

Another Mecum photo, this of a phaeton.  This is listed as a 1929 model, yet the hood louvre pattern is conventional, not truncated as on the Grahams pictured here.