The Pre-War American Car That Survived a World War, a Diamond Mine, and Seven Decades in One Family

Some cars have histories. This one has a story.

The Graham Model 64 Standard Eight chassis number 1801069 is coming to auction at H&H Classics in Newark on June 17th, estimated at £18,000 to £22,000. On paper, it is a rare pre-war American car with a significant design pedigree. In practice, it is a survivor in the fullest sense of the word.

The Car Itself

The Blue Streak name belongs to one of the most consequential American automotive designs of the 1930s. Introduced in late 1931 and styled by Amos Northup of the Murray Body Company, the original Graham Blue Streak arrived with a look that competitors spent the following years scrambling to copy, hence Graham's own boast that it was "the most imitated car on the road." The snowplough radiator grille, raked windscreen, and fully skirted wings gave the car a visual coherence that was genuinely unusual for its era. Wider than it was tall, lower-slung than its rivals, with body-coloured headlamp surrounds and a radiator cap hidden beneath the bonnet rather than displayed on top of it, the Blue Streak looked like a car from five years in the future.

The Model 64 Standard Eight arrived in January 1933 as a slightly shorter, slightly more powerful development of the original. Riding on a 119-inch wheelbase rather than the 123-inch of its predecessor, it carried a 245.4 cubic inch straight-eight engine with an aluminium cylinder head and dual valve springs, producing 90 horsepower and mated to a three-speed manual gearbox. It was quick enough that endurance driver Erwin "Cannonball" Baker used a Graham to drive from New York to Los Angeles in 53.5 hours, a record that stood for thirty years. In a year when total Graham sales across all lines amounted to fewer than 11,000 cars, the Standard Eight was the performance flagship of a company punching well above its weight.

The design was significant enough to earn the Blue Streak the 19th spot on America's National Historic Vehicle Register, one of the most meaningful recognitions available to a pre-war American automobile.

The History

Chassis 1801069 was delivered new to a prominent Belgian gemstone merchant, a detail that sets this car apart from the average pre-war survivor. When German forces occupied Belgium during the Second World War, the Graham was requisitioned. It came back to its original owner after the war ended, which is itself a small miracle.

What followed is more remarkable still. The owner's son took the car with him to the Belgian Congo, where the family's business interests included a diamond mine. A pre-war American straight-eight, in central Africa, in the service of a diamond mining family, it is the kind of provenance that novelists would be embarrassed to invent.

The car returned to Europe in the late 1970s and was subsequently restored in France, remaining within the same family for seven full decades. It relocated to Belgium again in 2007, and invoices on file document over €16,600 in expenditure before the current vendor acquired it in January 2025. It now carries the age-related UK registration plate XXG 551 and is offered with a V5C and a history file that, by any measure, earns its thickness.

The Opportunity

At an estimate of £18,000 to £22,000, this is a car whose historical significance, documented provenance, and sheer narrative weight would be difficult to match at several times the price. Pre-war American cars of genuine design importance rarely surface with ownership histories this complete, this unusual, or this thoroughly verified.

Viewing is on Tuesday, 16th June, from noon at Kelham Hall, Newark. The auction takes place the following morning from 9 am.

Some cars you buy for the engineering. Some for the looks. Occasionally, one comes along that you buy because of everything it has seen, and this one has seen more than most.