Derham Limousines

J

Jim Jordan

I am trying to compile a registry of sorts documenting any post WWII Derham conversions. I am interested in current and historic photos of cars that members have or that may be long gone.

I currently have a 1956 Fleetwood Seventy Five Limo that was one of 2 identical cars built for John D Rockefeller, Jr.

Any pics or info is greatly appreciated. Post here or send to me at allante93jj@aol.com

Thanks in advance.

Jim Jordan
Oklahoma City, OK
 
1954 Derham Henney Packard

Owned by George Hamlin of Clarksville, Maryland.
 

Attachments

  • 54 Henney limo Derham top lo res.jpg
    54 Henney limo Derham top lo res.jpg
    59.3 KB · Views: 745
That Photo was taken in 1962 when its second owner, Mr. Allen Bell of Knoxville, TN purchased it from the Rockefeller family's agent to become the inaugural vehicle for Carey Limousine of Knoxville. I purchased it from Mr. Bell's nephew in 2006. It patiently sits in my garage awaiting restoration. It has travelled on 55,000 miles but does suffer from rust in the roof ala padded Derham top.
 
Hudson Limo

Adam Borkat said:
If you haven't see it before, take a look a t Dave Cline's site. They're not catagorized, but there are some Derhams on there (my favorite is the '52 Hudson). He can probably tell you more also.

http://my.net-link.net/~dcline/limoclas.htm
Click to expand...

Adam,

Here are "current day" pictures of that Hudson that I took at the 50th Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Meet when it was held in Pontiac, Michigan in 2009. However, I believe it's actually a "1948 Hudson Commodore 8" that was retrofitted to become a Derham Limousine.

l_b00430dc57be40bcaa5490519c6c8ae4.jpg


l_d2c23fbc733f4b91b2099742f36429c1.jpg
 
After Derham ceased operations circa 1964, Cadillac started offering the "formal" top treatment under the Fleetwood byline. I once had a '72 Series 75 limo with this option, which had no quarter windows and the very tiny rectangular backlight. The special top cost about $2,500, enough back then to buy a smaller Ford or Chevy. Sporting an Earl Scheib paint job, the Cad took the 2nd place trophy in the limo class at the '92 PCS National.
 
Last summer, I had the priviledge of visiting Richard Kughn's private car collection near Detroit. He has an early 1950's Buick sedan with a Durham conversion. When asked what the story behind the car was, he said it was the car of the then-president of General Motors, who had been promoted from president of the Buick division, and so he wanted his car to be a Buick and not a Cadillac.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top