Automotive pre war Art Work - Derham Custom Body Co.

[Walt G]

This original pen and ink and wash art work was created by The Derham Body Company of Rosemont , Pa. on a Ford V8 truck chassis. The art work was done on illustration board ( the white area) and then cut out to be mounted on additional illustration board to give the black back ground behind the car and the tan/black frame behind that - you have 3 layers . This was used for presentation for a customer to hopefully order what was pictured here - A Studio Car designed for Columbia Broadcasting Company. I do not know if one or more were ever built but I sincerely doubt it. The craftsmanship to make the compound curves at the area of the body above the belt line would have been an immense task. Detail in the hand drawn art work is outstanding . More stuff from my collection that I enjoy sharing to make all of you think as well as appreciate what was all hand done with no aid of computers etc .

Edited November 1, 2022 by Walt G (see edit history)

[a griffin]

A piece I would love to have in my collection, the art - not the actual vehicle, of course. The door windows and window above aren't too complimentary of the overall design, though.

[alsancle]

Cool!

[wayne sheldon]

Beautiful! I do so appreciate you sharing things like this. They should be seen and appreciated for the historic significance they are. Whether the vehicle was built or not, this piece shows some of the design work of those times. The artistry itself is wonderful and worthy of museum exhibition.

Thank you.

[58L-Y8]

Walt:

Thanks for sharing it and describing how it's made.  A presentation piece would have been intended to not only 'sell the design' to generate an order but also to impress the client that special craftsmanship was the standard Derham practice.   Was Enos Derham the designer?

Steve

[Walt G]

Wayne, you stated exactly why I share things here and research and write the stories that I do. Sometimes what you see needs some explaining or interpretation, and when I can do that based upon my years of observation, research, art training etc it gets the whole picture across to the one viewing or reading it. Gives us all a window to the past. This is best done if we can draw upon many resources to convey the spirit of the times as well as the facts. Thanks to all who put up with all of this odd obscurity.

Walt

[Walt G]

Steve

Yes Enos Derham was the designer. He was a great man, I had some brief communication with him before he passed away and he never ever bragged about what his families company made . I also spoke to a fellow at a local car show here decades ago who saw my 1931 Franklin that had a Derham body. As a young man living in the area of the Derham factory in the early 1950s he got a part time job helping out in the shop. Had some really great insight as to how the cars were built and some limousines being "bomb proofed" before delivery in the era at the time that saw cars driving over bombs planted in the streets that would take out the car and its occupants. Another story that needs to be told.

Walt

[8E45E]

56 minutes ago, 58L-Y8 said:

Walt:

Thanks for sharing it and describing how it's made.  A presentation piece would have been intended to not only 'sell the design' to generate an order but also to impress the client that special craftsmanship was the standard Derham practice.   Was Enos Derham the designer?

Steve

Seen above is basically a 'sketch' or concept drawing as proposal to the customer.  What I would love to have seen are 'redline markups' from Columbia Broadcasting, with possible revisions from their design group, if there actually were any. 

 

IF (a big 'if') an order was generated, more serious engineering drawings showing structural details would been drafted.  Those would be the interesting things to see.  What it appears would have encompassed a 'Cowl & Chassis' on a 131" or 145" wheelbase purchase from Ford.

 

Craig

[SC38dls]

Thank Walt. It’s great to see the design ideas even if they never get into production. I’m

just hope you keep challenging us with your historical documents and art. 
dave s 

[Walt G]

17 hours ago, SC38dls said:

hope you keep challenging us with your historical documents and art. 

This will continue, I like to make people think, and with the winter on its way here we all need some amusement and historical bits to keep us going.

I  continue to be amazed that people still have such a great interest in the pre WWII era like I do. I like all vehicles just favor some more then others for their styling, mechanical simplicity ( most of the time !) etc. This original artwork seen here  will be eventually donated to the AACA Library .

Walt

[Jane Bowen]

Enos Derham was my husband’s grandfather. Our eldest son is intrigued with his great grandfather’s work and I am searching for memorabilia as a gift. Any leads?

[60FlatTop]

On 11/1/2022 at 3:48 PM, Walt G said:

The craftsmanship to make the compound curves at the area of the body above the belt line would have been an immense task.

Derham would have had to farm it out to Brewster.

[Walt G]

Derham did not farm out work Bernie. I have spoken to people who worked for the company and had conversations with Enos Derham 40+ years ago when he was  alive and I owned a 1931 Franklin with a Derham body. Derham, Brewster and a number of other coach builders all shared outside vendors to make seat springs, interior hardware, window raisers etc. All of this seen in issues of the coach builders periodicals in the pre war era such as Autobody .

Can you show me proof that Derham farmed out fabrication of the larger panels?  Larger panels were all formed over wood patterns and some times butt welded together to make a completed area but not always. I would be very interested to know where you found information on them going to another coach builder to have work done.

[60FlatTop]

That was a joke because the lines of the truck were reminiscent of the windblown Brewster Rolls. I was going to write that the truck would have been hard to get to a rooftop for a photo shoot. You would have caught it then.

 

I could have (was tempted) to write Jonckeheere but that seemed too gouache.

 

Good to get those red corpuscles worked up though.

[Grimy]

3 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said:

That was a joke because the lines of the truck were reminiscent of the windblown Brewster Rolls. I was going to write that the truck would have been hard to get to a rooftop for a photo shoot. You would have caught it then.

 

I could have (was tempted) to write Jonckeheere but that seemed too gouache.

 

Good to get those red corpuscles worked up though.

"gouache" indeed!  Bernie, you got my previously uncolored gauche corpuscles smeared red with gouache today!

[60FlatTop]

3 minutes ago, Grimy said:

smeared red with gouache today

Some say I am a bit of an artist, but they don't specify. I was bewitched that spellchecker took it so well.