Graber
Encyclopedia
Graber was a coachbuilder based in Wichtrach
in central Switzerland
. Between 1927 and 1970 the firm supplied coach-built bodies for fitting on the chassis of various European and US auto-makers. Graber had a particularly close relationship with the British
firm of Alvis
, providing the manufacturer with bespoke
and elegant if expensive bodies for almost twenty years, mostly during the 1950s and 1960s.
business and quickly reconfigured it for the production of car bodies.
The company’s first car, a two seater cabriolet bodied Fiat 509
was presented in 1927. Two years later a Graber bodied Panhard & Levassor 20 CV won the Concours d´Elegance
at St. Moritz
as a result of which the “Carrosserie Graber“ business became known across Europe
. During the 1930s the company built a number of special bodies on a range of chassis from Alfa Romeo
, Bentley
, Bugatti
, Duesenberg
and Packard
.
In the early 1930s France
had lost to Britain
its position as Europe’s largest automobile producer, and Britain would retain the top slot until the early 1950s so it made sense for Graber, after the war
, to concentrate on special car bodies designed to complement some of the more exclusive chassis produced by the UK auto-industry, which they did, especially in respect of Bentley, Lagonda
, Rolls-Royce
and Rover.
In 1948 Graber acquired the Swiss distribution rights for Alvis Cars
, and two years later, in response to a customer order, they produced what would turn out to be the first Graber bodied car on an Alvis chassis. This turned out to be the first of many elegant and stylish special bodied Alvis cars produced by the company.
During the 1950s links between Graber and Alvis became close. After the long-time Alvis designer G.T. Smith-Clarke left the company, Graber presented in 1955 his Graber bodied Alvis TC 21/100 "Grey Lady"
which somehow combined classical elegance with a thoroughly model pontoon format body. The new Alvis bodies went into series production, initially at Graber’s own premises. Later production was taken over by the British firms Park Ward
and Willowbrook
. Several sources state that the British firms produced the bodies under licence from Graber. The Alvis Owners’ Club maintains that the resemblance between the Graber bodied cars and those bodied by the UK firms was only superficial. According to this source Park Ward took the Swiss drawings and adapted them to produce a car with more interior space than the Graber original. All the subsequent Alvis T-series models, up to the very last T-21, in any case followed Graber’s basic blueprint. Meanwhile in central Switzerland Graber continued to build to order special bodied cars based on Alvis chassis at a rate of not more than ten per year. These included four seater coupe bodied cars (sometimes described by the English as saloons), cabriolets, and at least one four-door special. Graber’s bodies were lower than the standard bodied Alvis cars with more steeply raked A and C pillars. When customers requested improvements, Graber was happy not merely to produce special bodies but also to redesign or adapt aspects of the chassis and running gear.
Hermann Graber died in 1970 and the production of special bodied cars at Wichtrach came to an end. About 800 Graber bodied vehicles had by now been produced. The business continued to operate under the control of his widow, specialising now in the repair and maintenance of car bodies. Between 1980 and 1996 the Graber business held a franchise as an official Ferrari
importer. In 2001 the residuum of the business was acquired by a well-known Swiss classic car restorer named Markus Scharnhorst, and relocated to Toffen
.
Wichtrach
Wichtrach is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-History:Wichtrach was created on January 1, 2004 by uniting of the independent municipalities of Niederwichtrach and Oberwichtrach. The parish church of Oberwichtrach was first...
in central Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Between 1927 and 1970 the firm supplied coach-built bodies for fitting on the chassis of various European and US auto-makers. Graber had a particularly close relationship with the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
firm of Alvis
Alvis Cars
Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd was a British manufacturing company that existed in Coventry, England from 19191967. In addition to automobiles designed for the civilian market, the company also produced racing cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and other armoured fighting vehicles, the...
, providing the manufacturer with bespoke
Bespoke
Bespoke is a term employed in a variety of applications to mean an item custom-made to the buyer's specification...
and elegant if expensive bodies for almost twenty years, mostly during the 1950s and 1960s.
History
The history of the business goes back to 1924 which was when Hermann Graber, then aged 21, took over his father’s wheel makingWheelwright
A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker...
business and quickly reconfigured it for the production of car bodies.
The company’s first car, a two seater cabriolet bodied Fiat 509
Fiat 509
The Fiat 509 was a model of car produced by Italian automotive manufacturer Fiat between 1925 and 1929 as a replacement for the 501. Approximately 90,000 of the model were sold. In 1926 the car was upgraded to the 509A...
was presented in 1927. Two years later a Graber bodied Panhard & Levassor 20 CV won the Concours d´Elegance
Concours d'Elegance
A Concours d'Elegance dates back to 17th Century French aristocracy, who paraded horse-drawn carriages in the parks of Paris during Summer weekends and holidays...
at St. Moritz
St. Moritz
St. Moritz is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...
as a result of which the “Carrosserie Graber“ business became known across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. During the 1930s the company built a number of special bodies on a range of chassis from Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
, Bentley
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
, Bugatti
Bugatti
Automobiles E. Bugatti was a French car manufacturer founded in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace, as a manufacturer of high-performance automobiles by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti....
, Duesenberg
Duesenberg
Duesenberg was an Auburn, Indiana based American luxury automobile company active in various forms from 1913 to 1937, most famous for its high-quality passenger cars and record-breaking racing cars.-History:...
and Packard
Packard
Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...
.
In the early 1930s France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
had lost to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
its position as Europe’s largest automobile producer, and Britain would retain the top slot until the early 1950s so it made sense for Graber, after the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, to concentrate on special car bodies designed to complement some of the more exclusive chassis produced by the UK auto-industry, which they did, especially in respect of Bentley, Lagonda
Lagonda
Lagonda is a British luxury car marque, founded as a company in 1906 in Staines, Middlesex by a former opera singer from Ohio, but of Scottish ancestry, named Wilbur Gunn . He named the company after a river near the town of his birth, Springfield, Ohio, United States...
, Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
and Rover.
In 1948 Graber acquired the Swiss distribution rights for Alvis Cars
Alvis Cars
Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd was a British manufacturing company that existed in Coventry, England from 19191967. In addition to automobiles designed for the civilian market, the company also produced racing cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and other armoured fighting vehicles, the...
, and two years later, in response to a customer order, they produced what would turn out to be the first Graber bodied car on an Alvis chassis. This turned out to be the first of many elegant and stylish special bodied Alvis cars produced by the company.
During the 1950s links between Graber and Alvis became close. After the long-time Alvis designer G.T. Smith-Clarke left the company, Graber presented in 1955 his Graber bodied Alvis TC 21/100 "Grey Lady"
Alvis TC 21
The Alvis TC 21 was a British sporting car made by Alvis cars between 1953 and 1955. It was an updated version of the TA 21.The car was available in four door Saloon and drophead versions. The bodies style was essentially the same as the TA 21, one of the differences was the fitting of chrome...
which somehow combined classical elegance with a thoroughly model pontoon format body. The new Alvis bodies went into series production, initially at Graber’s own premises. Later production was taken over by the British firms Park Ward
Park Ward
Park Ward was a British coachbuilder founded by William M. Park and Charles W. Ward in 1919. They had worked together at F.W. Berwick Ltd., the makers of Sizaire-Berwick cars.Their business operated from Willesden, North London.-History:...
and Willowbrook
Duple Coachbuilders
Duple was best known as a British manufacturer of coach and bus bodywork from 1919 until 1989.-History:Duple Bodies & Motors Ltd was formed in 1919 by Herbert White in Hornsey, London...
. Several sources state that the British firms produced the bodies under licence from Graber. The Alvis Owners’ Club maintains that the resemblance between the Graber bodied cars and those bodied by the UK firms was only superficial. According to this source Park Ward took the Swiss drawings and adapted them to produce a car with more interior space than the Graber original. All the subsequent Alvis T-series models, up to the very last T-21, in any case followed Graber’s basic blueprint. Meanwhile in central Switzerland Graber continued to build to order special bodied cars based on Alvis chassis at a rate of not more than ten per year. These included four seater coupe bodied cars (sometimes described by the English as saloons), cabriolets, and at least one four-door special. Graber’s bodies were lower than the standard bodied Alvis cars with more steeply raked A and C pillars. When customers requested improvements, Graber was happy not merely to produce special bodies but also to redesign or adapt aspects of the chassis and running gear.
Hermann Graber died in 1970 and the production of special bodied cars at Wichtrach came to an end. About 800 Graber bodied vehicles had by now been produced. The business continued to operate under the control of his widow, specialising now in the repair and maintenance of car bodies. Between 1980 and 1996 the Graber business held a franchise as an official Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
importer. In 2001 the residuum of the business was acquired by a well-known Swiss classic car restorer named Markus Scharnhorst, and relocated to Toffen
Toffen
Toffen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It lies approximately 10 km south of the city of Bern.The palace situated there, Schloss Toffen, is a heritage site of national significance....
.
Sources and further reading
- Emil Bohnenblust: Hermann Graber war der ungekrönte König der Schweizer Karosseriebauer. In: DrachePost Nr. 4, Juni 2005, S. 12 f.
- Kevin Brazendale: Enzyklopädie Automobil von Alfa Romeo bis Zagato. Die 600 schönsten Modelle. Weltbild, Augsburg 2000. ISBN 3-8289-5384-0.
- Dieter Günther: Swiss Connection. Modellgeschichte der Alvis TC21 bis TF21 in: Oldtimer Markt, Sonderheft 14 – Luxus, Leistrung und vier Sitze. Gran Tourismo: Die großen Reisecoupés
- Rainer W. Schlegelmich, Hartmut Lehbrink: Englische Sportwagen. Köln (Könemann) 2001, ISBN 3-8290-7449-2.
- Halwart Schrader, David Lillywhite: Klassische Automobile. Stuttgart (Motorbuch Verlag) 2005. ISBN 3-613-02552-3.
External links
- Unternehmensgeschichte mit Abbildungen auf der Internetseite www.coachbuild.com (abgerufen am 3. Juni 2011).
- Internetauftritt des Alvis Owners Club mit Bezügen zur Carrosserie Graber (abgerufen am 3. Juni 2011).