1936 Graham 110 Supercharger

[Mataract]

I’ve got a 36 Graham 110 Supercharger, and I’m trying to decide between modernizing and selling. Some are going to say the former option is blasphemy, especially considering I’ve got a title, the owner’s manual, original motor rebuilt and never fired, the supercharger, and a mile of paperwork going back into the 40’s. I think the only thing missing is the hood ornament. Thoughts?

[keiser31]

37 minutes ago, Mataract said:

I’ve got a 36 Graham 110 Supercharger, and I’m trying to decide between modernizing and selling. Some are going to say the former option is blasphemy, especially considering I’ve got a title, the owner’s manual, original motor rebuilt and never fired, the supercharger, and a mile of paperwork going back into the 40’s. I think the only thing missing is the hood ornament. Thoughts?

You might need to talk with this guy....

 

[wayne sheldon]

If the engine hasn't been ruined sitting out with plugs and manifolds missing, and is otherwise complete and the rest of the pieces in good condition? The engine may be worth more than the rest of the car!

You say "modernizing"? I imagine you mean something along the lines of a "resto-mod"?

If selling is your goal? Absolutely do nothing to it other than boxing up all parts that someone else might want and having the whole project in one small space. Any work you do on it, either restoration or modification, will cost way more than the number of dollars that work will add to the value of the project. Plus, if you do anything to it? No matter what you do to it? It will be the wrong thing for at least half your potential buyers and in turn cut the salability of the project.

 

When it comes to rusting hulks of projects? Too many people think that "resto-modding" is the answer. It isn't. The cost to make a nice "resto-mod" out of a rusting hulk is every bit as much as the cost to restore it properly! Paint, body work, upholstery and all the rest of those things cost almost the same. The costs to modify for all the different drive train, brakes, and safety issues will cost more than a proper restoration! After it is done, nobody that wants the historic "supercharged Graham" will want anything to do with the abomination (you said it, blasphemy!).

Most resto-mods sell for a fraction of what they cost to build. And many take years to find a buyer at that (seen it many times!).

 

If a person wants a resto-mod, and wants to do it themselves? If they can afford the costs, both time and money? Go for it! There are thousands of rusting hulks out there that will never be restored properly. Have at it!

A supercharged Graham is something special. But only really worth something if properly restored. And nobody is going to make money doing that. I have restored a dozen cars over my years. Never to make money. One restores cars because they love the history and the cars behind it!

 

To further a point. A "supercharged Graham" is only a "supercharged Graham"  IF (a very BIG IF) it has an actual Graham supercharged engine in it! The minute one puts any other engine in it? It just becomes another funny looking old car.

[alsancle]

It’s a parts car.

 

[Model56s]

As interesting as it is, that project is a big hill to climb.

[60FlatTop]

I was probably about 24 years old when I stopped at an outdoor car museum just a little north if Cicero. New York, near Syracuse. There must has been twenty cars like that with weeds and vines growing through them. They were for sale. The guy told me "A lot of people didn't have the foresight to save cars like these". Fifty years later and I still smile when I remember him. Define saved.

 

On topic, I still buy cars like that and resell them. The last one I turned $1,000 on. It's a thousand I didn't have before.

 

Never usurp the potential buyers opportunity to make a purchase.

 

The big tip on investments in the old car hobby "You can usually buy $4,000 of another person's investment for $1,000." That has been pretty consistent for the past 60 years.

 

Work with those two tips and you will find sport better than football ever thought of being.

[60FlatTop]

One more comment. Showing it with the tow bar still attached is not a huge presentation leap beyond pictures of it still on the trailer.

[Mataract]

Thank you, everyone, for the comments. They were pretty much on par with what I expected. Some light encouragement, some words of caution and some apathetic disregard. I think the car has a serious case of the “cools.” My intent was to feel out the scene, and if someone couldn’t live without the engine or supercharger or both, or needed the whole thing to supplement their concours restoration, I could live with that. That not apparently being the case, I’ll handle it. This won’t be my first car project, nor will it be my last. It will live on, with original (and beautiful) body lines unaltered, and painted to perfection, as it deserves. The feedback was just what I needed to cement the decision. Thank again!

[Model56s]

Good luck with the project! The lines of mid30s cars are among the best of all time.

 

I’m glad you’re redeeming this piece of history.

[wayne sheldon]

I generally do not say something cannot or should not be restored. Quite frankly, I am one of those crazies that has restored worse, and more than a couple of them!

One of the first ones was an original era after-market boat-tail roadster body manufactured for the model T Ford chassis. The model T part of it was easy to replace what was missing. However, the original body? Almost everyone that saw it said almost exactly the same thing, "Yeah, it is a real original boat-tail, but you can't restore that!"

 

The original car had been wrecked at high (relatively?) speed, the entire body twisted, and half the tail section turned inside-out! Out of curiosity, When done with the early stages of restoration, I measured how much welding I did putting the sheet metal back together. The main body section required over fourteen linear feet of crack welding! Two little low sections under the tail of the body required an additional about five feet of welding to put the original metal back together! Certainly, I could have made new pieces in half the time. But I wanted as much of the original car on it as possible!

 

A couple years later it looked like this and I very much enjoyed every tour I drove it on!

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by wayne sheldon
Clarify a thought. (see edit history)

[Leif in Calif]

I'm getting older now and might enjoy driving a special car, but in my 50 plus previous years in the hobby the joy was in the garage, not the street.

Restoring (I'd say "fixing up" because my work isn't to a concours standard) a car like this can bring many hours of enjoyment (and several boxes of band-aids).