The basis for this was a sensitivity for highly elegant and well balanced lines in combination with perfect craftsmanship and accepting nothing else than carefully selected material. Hermann Graber followed these criteria all his lifetime - and it maintained his success. Born in 1904 he grew up during a time when the relation between men and the automobile in Switzerland was an extremely difficult one. For example it is but a fact, that until 1928 in the county of Graubünden laws existed which didn't permit the use of an automobile at all...

Hermann Graber followed his father's tradition and became a coachbuilder, mainly for horsedrawn vehicles. He devoted himself to motorcar bodies after several journeys to foreign countries. Against much resistance, in Switzerland, he became successful as an independent coachbuilder in what can only be considered as a relatively short time.

The majority of his creations were produced for the chassis of French or Italian vehicles, from time to time a body was build for a German or an American upper crust motor car. Surprisingly it is often said that only after WWII was the first body erected on British chassis. It is said that the first English automobile with coachwork by Graber has been a 1949 Rover, finished as a four-seater cabriolet in 1950.

However, at least one Rolls-Royce was bodied by Graber even before WWII. A 1926 Rolls-Royce 20 H.P., chassis-no *GZK58* had started life as a tourer by Gangloff (CH) and became the subject of re-bodying as a two door cabriolet by Graber in 1933. This is now the property of the Verkehrshaus der Schweiz (National Motor Museum of Switzerland) in Luzern. But it is not to be found there on permanent exhibition: most of its life is now spent stored in a cellar. Mr. Neher, who had ordered the body for the Rolls-Royce must have been very satisfied with Graber's work.

About a year later he purchased a new Bentley 3 1/2 Litre, chassis-no #B149BL and had a cabriolet body for this one built by Graber too.

Of significant importance however is that Graber built coachwork for no less than 32 Bentleys of the post-war period - and recently found photos of an additional 1952 Bentley Mark VI might indicate, that he built at least even 33. This figure is a higher one than could be claimed for this time by such well-known coachbuilders like Gurney Nutting or Vanden Plas. Of all non-British coachbuilders, who built bodies for Rolls-Royce and Bentley during the post-war period, Graber was the most successful! Curiously most advertisements offering a Bentley with a Graber-body usually state "one-off" or "unique". It should be said that this is not completely true. It might be a fact however, that the Graber name is scarcely a household word, one known largely to connoisseurs.

Bentley Mark VI, 1947, #B134BH, Graber drophead coupe

Work started on the first Bentley Mark VI Cabriolet by Graber in February 1947. Three further examples were finished in the course of the same year. His first Bentley Mark VI was one of the very first models, the chassis had been delivered from the factory in Crewe to the London depot Lillie Hall in November 1946. The very first Bentley Mark VI chassis had been delivered only a few months previously. Rolls-Royce's Swiss retailer in Berne was Bellevue Garage AG. On later cars' chassis cards the retailer S.A. du Garage de`L Athenee in Geneve was to be found. Interrupted sometimes by long gaps Bentley R, S1, S1 Continental and S3 Continental received coachwork by Graber. All were two door, drop head coupes (cabriolets respectively) or two door fixed head coupes. With the exception of few `two' seaters they offered space for four passengers.

Bentley Mark VI, 1947, #B190BH, Graber fixed head coupe

Bentley motor cars were high-class as regards quality and price, and this limited the number of potential buyers. Hermann Graber believed that his pre-war contacts with French manufacturers like Delahaye, Talbot-Lago etc., which he had pursued again after the hostilities ended, didn't offer sound basis for future cooperation. Actually of these companies none survived for reasonable time as manufacturers of motor cars.

His connection with Alvis however leads on winding paths to a remarkable influence as regards features in the design of several Bentley Continental, whose bodies were built at Park Ward. In an attempt to push sales figures Alvis had arranged for design drawings and wooden body formers of the 1956/57 Graber coachwork to be copied or taken over; and then contracted the English company Willowbrook to produce bodies. Willowbrook however had miscalculated badly and almost immediately faced severe financial difficulties. Production there stopped after only 16 bodies had been built.

One and a half year later the problem was solved by Alvis and the car was offered with but slightly altered coachwork. This body was produced by Park Ward! Park Ward had taken over the basic lines of the Graber-design. The new version by Park Ward having been lengthened offered more room for rear seat passengers and a more spacious boot. Some of these Alvis, which were less expensive than the still available original Graber-bodied ones, were even sold by Hermann Graber`s agency. Rolls-Royce's archive contained photos taken at the Park Ward factory in 1959 showing Rolls-Royce and Alvis side by side with special coachwork in different stages of completion.

What has been found as information from a Swiss source sounds rather strange. Hermann Graber was accused to have been really harsh in his attitude to women in general. This went so far that he estimated any gallant gentleman to waste his time by kindly opening the door to the passenger's seat - and he blocked this by arranging that on most of his cars the offside door couldn't be opened from outside. The driver had to enter his car and reach over to the inner handle for opening. This might explain why Graber's widow is said to have ordered all wooden body formers that were left to be destroyed by fire after only a short time had passed since her husband's death.