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Corbett & Company of Flushing, Queens New York, specialized in conversions and customizations as well as auto-body
repairs. They are known to have built a 1939 Graham model 97 Formal Town Car (Sharknose) that looks
much like the conversions carried out by Derham during the same time period.
The car was displayed at Graham Motors, Inc. of NY. and was mentioned at the
time in Automobile Topics. Although Hugo Pfau attributed the car to LeBaron, historian Karl S. Zahm
has discovered evidence that the Sharknose Towncar was actually built by Corbett. He writes:
"According to the brief comment in Automobile Topics
(May 8, 1939), 'A Graham
Supercharger Town Car with custom coachwork by Corbett & Co. of Queens, New
York City, appeared recently in the showrooms of Graham Motors, Inc. of NY.
The car was built to order for a Manhattan customer and delivered for
$3,200. The custom work alone is reported to have cost $1,300.'
This firm is
also believed to have modified a standard 1939 Graham sedan into a Berline
with the addition of a division partition. A photograph of the interior of
this type appeared in the May 1939 issue of Graham Supercharger News."
© 2004 Mark Theobald - Coachbuilt.com with special thanks to Karl S. Zahm
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