1937 Supercharged Graham

[supercargirl]

This is not my car. It is posted on barnfinds.  They discuss the supercharger.  Some said it was Turbo.  Interested to hear what you guys have to say.  It's a beautiful car.

 

Link to Graham

[carljensen]

Hello, You are correct that it is a supercharger.  For a short answer, both a turbocharger and a supercharger force air into the engine generally for the purpose of making more power. The basic difference is that a supercharger is somehow mechanically driven and a turbo is driven by the flow of exhaust gas through a turbine.  Supercharging was previously used on much more high end, high performance cars such as Duesenberg, Stutz, Bentley, Alfa Romeo or Bugatti (as well as a few others), but many would agree that it was Graham who was really first to offer it to more mainstream cars, which they did very successfully.

 

 

[Aussie_610]

Graham was well known for Supercharging.  The implemented it across the range in 1934 as an option and from '36 I believe it became a "no cost option".  Graham produced the most production supercharged cars up until the GNX was released.

[Chrycoman]

Graham offered supercharging, Roots design, on their eight cylinder models prior to 1936, and then on sixes from 1936 to the end for 1941.  The last eight cylinder Graham was built in 1935.

 

The superchargers on the sixes were driven off a belt on the front of the engine, much like mechanical power steering.   My father owned a 1936 Graham Supercharger 4 door touring sedan.  He said the supercharger was not meant for racing or fast take offs from standing still, but for highway driving and passing.  It gave the driver more power when it was needed. 

 

The only thing  he did not like was the fact the supercharged engine used an aluminum head and thus had problems with blow head gaskets.  He purchased the Graham in 1941 and traded it for a 1940 Plymouth in 1950.