Befitting the breezy and colorful West Coast lifestyle, the coachwork built by Murphy of Pasadena, California was frequently lighter of line that its Eastern competitors.

This was embodied by the most outstanding feature of the company’s Classic Era design, the “Clear Vision” windshield, which boasted a frame narrower than the space between a man’s eyes—thus eliminating blind spots.

Not only a safety feature, the Clear Vision windshield also resulted in an airy, glassy greenhouse, the perfect complement to the simple and largely unadorned lines of the Murphy body below.

Variations of this theme were produced, most prominently a convertible sedan with an equally narrow center pillar at which both doors hinged.

This design proved popular and prolific, utilized on a variety of chassis in the late 1920s and becoming one of the best-known Murphy creations.

The Type AM offered here is one of two known examples of Murphy’s Clear Vision convertible sedan coachwork mounted on the immense, ...