Edit: I am very happy to have recieved the official Graham Brothers Serial Number information to positively identify my truck! It Is a 1926 Graham Brothers Truck made in late April/early May '26. I have been reading cool stuff here for a few years now and decided to join in the fun. Here is my ongoing project. It's gonna be slow and painful. I want to start by saying that I'm a young guy with little experience. So this will not be a blown flatty or hemi powered beast. But I'm gonna do my best to keep it traditional and make as much of this thing as possible. Pickin's are slim here so a few of the big ticket items like front & rear axle, and engine will be going to a restorer here in town and maybe the Wedgewood antique auto museum(which is world class). CURRENT PROGRESS Doesn't look like much but I have learned a lot.
Thank you, how's east texas? I may try to move to a small town around Tyler for an enginering job. Bad idea?
Your best and easiest route in my book would be either get hold of a model A front crossmember and weld it in or at least take a good look and some measurements from a model A or similar and you should be on the right track. Please post some more pic's of your project.
Its not a flatty or a banger, but its my first rebuild so start with the cheap stuff as a poor college student.
purists out there. please dont hate me as this was a very complete truck. If you need dodge 4 parts from around '23 its probly here. check out those wheels, 20's were done 90 yars ago haha
Just so you're talking apples and apples, an X member is different than a cross member. I'm sure you were referring to cross member. 1" lowered just means it is "flattened" 1 inch, or raised 1". This mounts the spring pack higher, which lowers the car (truck). A good plan of attack is to mock up with the wheel combination you want to run, measure, and build to achieve that height.
sorry for the disorganization, this was a few months ago. This is what i started with. Sheet metal wrapped wood frame cab 6"x3"/1/8" stamped frame speedo still works!-northeast electric wood steering wheel is in tact engine turns over and has some compression carb disassembled but all there stewart warner vacuum fuel pump 12 volt starter generator ..................................... Soon to be steel cab ford 302 carb / t5 ford 8 inch rear end pete and jakes model a front end firestone 6.70 15's, 2 11/16 white wall for now my dad has a 1951 cessna 170 and I like the old aircraft paint lines so I'll probly go with something like that
Hey man that thing looks like fun , check out my build i just used a model a crossmember i had to pinch the chassis a little but it worked out fine.
Damn man, that is a rare bird, some purists will nash thier teeth. Those orig. 20" wheels should be ahigh demand item for restroring folks, as the engine and orig stuff. Hope you can sell some of this to finance part of this build. Very cute honey and nice home bro. The shot thru the lace cutian window could back in time! Best wishes on the project, keep us in on the build. ~sololobo~
I love it! I didn't even know that Graham ever made trucks. I learn something every time I look at the HAMB.
Tyler is nice. You can ride/race 3 different off road series in this area of North Texas. Several MX tracks as well. I stopped lining up with the mad men 3 years ago after getting myself a 2nd place overall in the Open Am class. Sold my race bike but have a badass KLX400 enduro. Lots of hotrodders out that way as well. Gets hot hot hot in summer but you will not need your snowblower.
Thanks to all, really. It's nice to get some feedback since there is not much of a gathering here in town. To Bob- I will be selling/giving away the old parts. i figure there is someone out there that really needs it. If anyone wants old graham stuff please pm me....remember shipping is killer. Hammeredrods- Thank you for that Sololobo- Yeah I've already recieved a thrashing from a nice old lady at romardb.com and the fairbanks classic car museum. As far as it's RECENT HISTORY; This is a small town and tracking was easy since I do seamless steal gutters all over town. I ended up working on a guys roof...(Alen) whom I later found out, had these trucks in his yard for a number of years. Alen used to be a hot rodder and has all sorts of cool stuff like giant 10 hp gas engines, old Alaska gold mining tools, and a small machine shop. He is at fault for my hot rod addiction, and has helped me on my way by supplying my parents garage with tools! I first met him and got to talking about cars when he suggested "Why not a model-a?" That is where it bagan.... Thanks Alen. Soon after I found the HAMB and began trolling the internet for cool old stuff. I have always been around antiques. Thats my mom's hobby. And Dad does ham-radio(amateur radio) and has tons of old Collins tube radios. Having two cool parents helped me learn history since school nowadays is worthless. Io it just spiked my interest when I could combine old fart stories with neat cars and a gung ho attitude. About two years later, a new group of friends, and a ton of reading ,I bought the truck from a guy in North Pole Alaska who had 2 for sale ($1500 each). I jumped on the deal because there isn't many choices unless you want to go to the lower 48. Honestly I had never heard of Graham untill I was the proud owner of a giant flatbed 1.5 ton truck that didnt look at all hot...Although not sexy, all the glass was there, a complete drive train, very little rust, some in tact paint, and a full interior were present. Hell, the rear tires still held air! It could probably run with some love and elbow grease. Besides, I want to drive this thing year-round and dont have the money for an original restoration. These are pretty rare and I do feel A LITTLE GUILTY tearing the wood out of the cab in preparation for a chop and hacking the frame rails, but I have only a single arguement as to why Im doing this.- "The guys of the past, who were inventing this stuff had a goal: TO MAKE A BETTER PRODUCT. In my opinion, The horse and buggy was fine, but internal combustion is better... so why not continue the improvements!"-I conclude my soap box statements. GRAHAM HISTORY; Dodge trucks actually began with three brothers named Graham. Ray, Robert, and Joseph Graham were born in the 1880s in Washington, Indiana. They got their start with a successful glass factory in Evansville in 1907; after they sold it, the glass factory became Libbey-Owens-Ford. In 1916, seeing the need for a good, dependable truck to serve people such as themselves, the Graham brothers entered the truck body business. By 1919, they had produced the Truck-builder, which today would be a called a glider, a basic platform from which a customer could spec a truck according to his or her needs. The Truck-builder consisted of a frame, cab, body, and a Torbensen internal gear drive; this allowed customers to build their own trucks, often using engines, transmissions and other components from passenger cars. As their reputation grew, the Graham brothers decided to produce their own truck, complete with drivetrain. Thus was born Graham Brothers Trucks. That venture proved so successful that it attracted the attention of Frederick J. Haynes, the president of Dodge Brothers. Haynes saw an opportunity to get Dodge into the rapidly expanding market of the 1920s for heavy duty trucks; and it could be done without disrupting production of Dodge automobiles. The Graham brothers proved receptive. In April of 1921, an agreement was signed that would allow the Grahams to build trucks with Dodge engines and drivetrains, to be sold through the Dodge dealer network. Thus, in 1921, Graham Brothers started selling 1.5 ton pickups through Dodge dealers, using Graham bodies and Dodge parts. A one ton model showed up later in the 1920s, still powered by that same four cylinder engine, and Dodge Brothers bought a controlling interest (51%) in Graham Brothers in 1925, picking up the rest in 1926. At that point, Graham Brothers had plants in Evansville, IN and Stockton, CA. Ray A. Graham became general manager, while Joseph C. Graham became vice-president of manufacturing and Robert C. Graham became sales manager of Dodge Brothers Inc. The three Graham Brothers were now part of a much larger, more well-funded organization, with a large dealer body. However, they seem to have preferred being entrepreneurs; their stint with Dodge Brothers lasted only two years. One immediate result of the combination was the assembly of both Dodge Brothers cars and Graham Brothers trucks in a new Toronto plant (which was closed when the Chrysler Centre plant in Windsor opened). Both Dodge Brothers cars and Graham Brothers trucks were made in the plant from 1928 to 1929. When Chrysler Corporation purchased Dodge Brothers, they also gained Graham Brothers trucks. At that point, any truck with a Dodge Brothers nameplate was rated at 1/2 ton; all larger trucks were sold under the Graham Brothers name. On January 1, 1929, all Graham Brothers trucks became Dodge trucks, and a new legacy began. [Note: Bill Watson wrote, 1930: Graham Brothers Truck and Dodge Brothers Truck become Dodge Truck and the Dodge Brothers car becomes Dodge. Both, however, continue to use the Dodge Brothers Star of David emblem to the end of the 1938 model year.] -allpar.com Here's the address to the full article: http://www.allpar.com/trucks/graham-brothers.html Larger more in depth article: http://members.shaw.ca/rjsill/justwhat.htm More pics to come Austin
Frame was 3"x6" stamped rail. The truck sat a towering 25" off the ground so I cut it down to 2" at the crossmember. I dont think it would have been strong enough if i boxed it with 1/8", so instead, I made it square via 2x2x3/16 square pipe. The opening will be boxed, along with the rest of the frame.
I love how it looked when you got it. If you have any leads on another truck like this I would be very interested. I am also a Graham.
Here is the frame turned right side up and at ride height. Going down to Arizona for christmas and gonna bring back all sorts of goodies. More pictures to come after christmas!
A sweet can full of old sinclair oil and more pictures of the frame. as it sits currently. more pictures of its original condition to come.
The Jalopy Journal
