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The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car

The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car

The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car

The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car

The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car

  • The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car
  • The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car
  • The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car
  • The last Gräf & Stift Passenger Car

By the 1930s Gräf & Stift, one of the oldest passenger car manufacturers in Austria, was facing a difficult decision. While its commercial vehicle arm was doing relatively well, sales of its passenger cars were in freefall. In 1933 the company presented a licensed version of the Citroën Rosalie, which did not appeal to the Austrian public. One last hurrah, a license-built version of the Ford V8 called the Gräf-Ford, was unveiled in 1937. 


In 1938, one self-developed passenger car, and only one, emerged, called the C12. It was powered by a mighty four-litre, 12-cylinder engine which came from the spare parts shelf of Ford Motor Company's noble Lincoln Division. Unlike Ford's 90-degree flathead V8 introduced in 1932, the Lincoln-Zephyr H Series V12 presented in 1936 featured a narrower cylinder angle of just 75 degrees. Fitted with flat alloy cylinder heads and steel pistons, the side-valve engine produced 110 hp at a stately 3,900 rpm. This engine was also used in three Allards, some British Atalantas and a Brough Superior. The four-speed transmission of the C12 was supplied by Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, and the front and rear axles were the same as those of the Gräf & Stift SP8 model. As usual, the chassis was built to the highest standards of quality and solidity, bringing the total weight of the car up to an impressive 2500 kg. The body was formed in the Döblingen factory by hand using ash wood frames and sheet-metal plates. The car received a particularly high-quality interior, including sliding windows to the driver's compartment and glove compartments, incorporated into the precious wood trim on the partition to the generously-proportioned rear compartment, which also accommodated two folding chairs.
 
You can read more about this amazing one-off, which survived World War II intact in the latest issue of the award-winning Rare & Unique Vehicles Magazine. This edition focuses on provenance with features about Clark Gable and Gary Cooper's Duesenberg SSJ Speedsters, Fritz Schlumpf's amazing collection, a Maserati 8CM racing car which spent decades behind the Iron Curtain, John Lennon's Rolls-Royce Phantom V and many more.
 
You can order your copy here.

 

Pubblicato:
martedì dicembre 6th, 2022

Commenti

Henry Olpin
11 Dicembre 2022, 11:47
The Graf and Stift was the vehicle in which Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were travelling in Sarajevo in 1914. Their assassination led to the start of WW1.
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Mike Williams
06 Dicembre 2022, 23:11
Don't forget that the Lincoln H V12 was also used in one Jensen, in 1938.
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