Marmon Motor Car Company
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Marmon Motor Car Company was an American
automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
manufacturer founded by
Howard Carpenter Marmon Howard Carpenter Marmon (May 24, 1876 – April 4, 1943) was an American engineer and the founder of the Marmon Motor Car Company. He was a pioneer in automobile engineering credited with a number of innovations including the use of weight-saving ...
and owned by
Nordyke Marmon & Company Nordyke Marmon & Company was an American manufacturer of flour mills and located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Early history The company began in 1851 as the Nordyke, Ham & Company started in the manufacture of milling machinery in a s ...
of
Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...
, US. It produced luxury automobiles from 1902 to 1933. It was established in 1902 but not incorporated as the successor of Nordyke Mormon & Company until 1926. In 1933 it was succeeded by
Marmon-Herrington The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s wa ...
and in 1964 the Marmon brand name was sold to the
Marmon Motor Company Marmon Motor Company was a Texas-based manufacturer of exclusive trucks from 1963 through 1997. History In 1963, after Marmon-Herrington, the successor to the Marmon Motor Car Company, ceased truck production, a new company, Marmon Motor C ...
of
Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...
. Marmon-Herrington became the
Marmon Group Marmon Group is an American industrial holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois; founded by Jay Pritzker and Robert Pritzker in 1953 (as Colson Corporation), it has been held by the Berkshire Hathaway group since 2013. It owns compani ...
of
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, in 1964.


Marmon Automobiles

Marmon's parent company was founded in 1851, manufacturing
flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...
grinding mill equipment and branching out into other machinery through the late 19th century. Small limited production of experimental automobiles began in 1902, with an
air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...
V-twin A V-twin engine, also called a V2 engine, is a two-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Although widely associated with motorcycles (installed either transversely or longi ...
engine. An air-cooled V4 followed the next year, with pioneering V6 and
V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
s tried over the next few years, before more conventional straight engine designs were settled upon. Marmons soon gained a reputation as reliable, speedy upscale cars.


Model 32

The Model 32 of 1909 spawned the Wasp. The Wasp, driven by Marmon engineer
Ray Harroun Ray Harroun (January 12, 1879 – January 19, 1968) was an American racecar driver and pioneering constructor most famous for winning the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911. He is the inventer of the open-wheel car. Biography He was born on Janua ...
(a former racer who came out of retirement for just one race), was the winner of the first ever
Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
motor race, in 1911. This car featured the world's first known automobile
rear-view mirror A rear-view mirror (or rearview mirror) is a flat mirror in automobiles and other vehicles, designed to allow the driver to see rearward through the vehicle's rear window (rear windshield). In cars, the rear-view mirror is usually affixed to ...
.


Model 48

The 1913 Model 48 was a left-hand steering
tourer Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...
with a cast aluminum engineClymer, p.115. and
electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
headlights A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...
and
horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
, as well as electric courtesy lights for the dash and doors. It used a 573 in3 (9,382 cc) (4½×6-inch, 114×152 mm) T-head straight-six engine of between 48 and 80 hp (36 and 60 kW) with dual- plug
ignition Ignition may refer to: Science and technology * Firelighting, the human act of creating a fire for warmth, cooking and other uses * Combustion, an exothermic chemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant * Fusion ignition, the point at which a ...
and
electric starter A starter (also self-starter, cranking motor, or starter motor) is a device used to rotate (crank) an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power. Starters can be electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. ...
. It had a 145 in (3683 mm)
wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
(long for the era) and 36×4½-inch (91×11.4 cm) front/37×5-inch (94×12.7 cm) rear wheels (which interchanged front and rear) and full-
elliptic In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...
front and ¾-elliptic rear springs. Like most cars of the era, it came complete with a tool kit; in Marmon's case, it offered jack, power tire pump, chassis oiler, tire patch kit, and trouble light. The 48 came in a variety of models: two-, four-, five-, and seven-passenger tourers at US$5,000 ($ in dollars ), seven-passenger
limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...
at US$6,250 ($ in dollars ), seven-passenger
landaulette A landaulet, also known as a landaulette, is a car body style where the rear passengers are covered by a convertible top. Often the driver is separated from the rear passengers by a division, as with a limousine. During the first half of the 20 ...
at US$6,350 ($ in dollars ), and seven-passenger Berlin limousine at US$6,450 ($ in dollars ).


Model 34

The 1916 Model 34 used an aluminum straight-six, and used aluminum in the body and chassis to reduce overall weight to just 3295 lb (1495 kg). A Model 34 was driven coast to coast as a publicity stunt, beating
Erwin "Cannonball" Baker Erwin George "Cannon Ball" Baker (March 12, 1882 – May 10, 1960) was an American motorcycle and automobile racing driver and organizer in the first half of the 20th century. Baker began his public career as a vaudeville performer, but turned to ...
's record to much fanfare. New models were introduced for 1924, replacing the long-lived Model 34, but the company was facing financial trouble, and in 1926 was reorganized as the Marmon Motor Car Co.


Little Marmon, Roosevelt

In 1927 the ''Little Marmon'' series was introduced and in 1929, Marmon introduced an under-$1,000
straight-eight The straight-eight engine (also referred to as an inline-eight engine; abbreviated I8 or L8) is a piston engine with eight cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. The number of cylinders and perfect primary and secondary en ...
car, the
Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Rooseve ...
, but the
stock market crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especia ...
of 1929 made the company's problems worse.


Marmon Sixteen

Howard Marmon had begun working on the world's first
V16 engine A V16 engine is a sixteen-cylinder piston engine where two banks of eight cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V16 engines are less common than engines with fewer cylinders, such as V8 and V12 engines. Each ban ...
in 1927, but was unable to complete the production ''Sixteen'' until 1931. By that time,
Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
had already introduced their V-16, designed by ex-Marmon engineer
Owen Nacker Owen Nacker (November 7, 1883 in Highland Township, Oakland County, Michigan – May 4, 1959 in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan) was an American automotive engineer. Early Automotive Career Nacker was a consultant to Alanson Partridge Brush (February ...
.
Peerless Peerless may refer to: Companies and organizations * Peerless Motor Company, an American automobile manufacturer. * Peerless Brewing Company, in Birkenhead, UK * Peerless Group, an insurance and financial services company in India * Peerless R ...
, too, was developing a V16 with help from an ex-Marmon engineer, James Bohannon. The ''Marmon Sixteen'' was produced for three years. The engine displaced 491 in³ (8.0 L) and produced 200 hp (149 kW). It was an all-aluminum design with steel cylinder liners and a 45° bank angle.


Innovation

Marmon became notable for its various pioneering works in automotive manufacturing; for example, it is credited with having introduced the
rear-view mirror A rear-view mirror (or rearview mirror) is a flat mirror in automobiles and other vehicles, designed to allow the driver to see rearward through the vehicle's rear window (rear windshield). In cars, the rear-view mirror is usually affixed to ...
, as well as pioneering the V16 engine and the use of
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
in auto manufacturing. The historic ''Marmon Wasp'' race car of the early 20th century was also a pioneering work of automobile engineering, as it was the world's first car to use a
single-seater An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have the ...
"monoposto" construction layout.


Manufacturing Plant

The original Nordyke & Marmon Plant 1 was at the southwest corner of Kentucky Avenue and West Morris Street. Plant 2 was at the southwest corner of Drover and West York Street. Plant 3 was a five-story structure measuring 80 x 600 feet parallel to Morris Street (now Eli Lilly & Company Building 314). The Marmon assembly plant was built adjacent to the Morris Street property line with Plant 3 behind and parallel to it (also part of the Eli Lilly complex).


Marmon-Herrington

While the Marmon Company discontinued auto production, they continued to manufacture components for other auto manufacturers and manufactured trucks. When the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
drastically reduced the luxury car market, the Marmon Car Company joined forces with Colonel Arthur Herrington, an ex-military engineer involved in the design of all-wheel drive vehicles. The new company was called Marmon-Herrington. In the early 1960s, Marmon-Herrington was purchased by the
Pritzker The Pritzker family is an American family engaged in entrepreneurship and philanthropy, and one of the wealthiest families in the United States of America (staying in the top 10 of ''Forbes'' magazine's "America's Richest Families" list since the ...
family and became a member of an association of companies which eventually adopted the name
The Marmon Group Marmon Group is an American industrial holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois; founded by Jay Pritzker and Robert Pritzker in 1953 (as Colson Corporation), it has been held by the Berkshire Hathaway group since 2013. It owns compa ...
. In 2007, the Pritzker family sold a major part of the Group to
Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...
's firm
Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from ...
. For the 1993 Indianapolis 500, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Marmon Group of companies,
Éric Bachelart Éric Bachelart (born 28 February 1961) is a former race car driver and Conquest Racing team owner.Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola ...
with
Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...
power, which was uncompetitive and failed to qualify. After qualifications ended, the sponsorship was transferred to the car of
John Andretti John Andrew Andretti (March 12, 1963January 30, 2020) was an American race car driver. He won individual races in CART, IMSA GTP, Rolex Sports Car Series, and NASCAR during his career. He was the son of Aldo Andretti, older brother of racer Adam ...
, who was driving for
A. J. Foyt Enterprises A. J. Foyt Racing, officially and historically known as A. J. Foyt Enterprises, is an American racing team in the IndyCar Series and formerly NASCAR. It is owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, 1972 Daytona 500 winner, 1967 24 Hours of Le ...
. Andretti started 23rd and briefly led before eventually finishing tenth.


Notable Marmon drivers

Actor Francis X. Bushman, at the height of his movie fame in the 1910s, owned a custom built purple painted ''Marmon.'' Other actors who were owners of ''Marmons'' include Wallace Reid,
Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...
and
Arthur Tracy Arthur Tracy (25 June 1899 – 5 October 1997) was an American vocalist and actor, billed as The Street Singer. His performances in theatre, films and radio, along with his recordings, brought him international fame in the 1930s. Late evening r ...
. Statesman and national hero of Finland Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim's official car was a ''Marmon'' E-75. Much later, the same car was bought by a group of technology students. It is still the representational car of the
Aalto University Aalto University ( fi, Aalto-yliopisto; sv, Aalto-universitetet) is a public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the He ...
student union after considerable repairs, and the name ''Marmon'', to some extent, is coupled to this specific vehicle.
J. Horace McFarland J. Horace McFarland (1859–1948) from McAlisterville, Pennsylvania was a leading proponent of the "City Beautiful Movement" in the United States. Life McFarland was the son of Union Civil War colonel George F. McFarland. He lived and worked mo ...
, president of the American Civic Association, owned a ''Marmon''. In 1924, he wrote to John Gries of the National Bureau of Standards' Division of Building and Housing that his ''Marmon'' cost nine cents a mile to operate, "independent of the chauffeur."
Jan Werich Jan Werich (; 6 February 1905 – 31 October 1980) was a Czech actor, playwright and writer. Early life Between 1916 and 1924, Werich attended "reálné gymnasium" (equivalent to high school) in Křemencova Street in Prague (where his future b ...
and
George Voskovec Jiří Voskovec (), born Jiří Wachsmann and known in the United States as George Voskovec (June 19, 1905 – July 1, 1981) was a Czech actor, writer, dramatist, and director who became an American citizen in 1955. Throughout much of his career ...
, Czech actors and leading members of
Osvobozené divadlo Osvobozené divadlo (1926–1938) (''Liberated Theatre'' or ''Prague Free Theatre'') was a Prague avant-garde theatre scene founded as the theatre section of an association of Czech avant-garde artists Devětsil (''Butterbur'') in 1926. The theatr ...
, noted their travels to Nurenberg by M''armon'' car. In his memoir, "The Cruise of the Rolling Junk",
F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
wrote about a 1,200-mile automobile trip to the South that he and
Zelda Fitzgerald Zelda Fitzgerald (; July 24, 1900 – March 10, 1948) was an American novelist, painter, dancer, and socialite. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she was noted for her beauty and high spirits, and was dubbed by her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald ...
took in their used 1918 ''Marmon'' Speedster. In 1916–17, Ruby Archambeau of Portland, Oregon, became the first woman to drive the circumference of the United States. Her vehicle was a ''Marmon''. "King of Bootleggers" Italian Canadian Rocco Perri of Hamilton, Ontario, was known to favour ''Marmons'' in the 1920s. Actress
Bebe Daniels Phyllis Virginia "Bebe" Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such ...
was driving a ''Marmon'' Roadster 72 miles per hour south of Santa Ana when she became the first woman to be convicted of speeding in
Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...
.


Advertisements


See also

*
List of automobile manufacturers This is a list of notable automobile manufacturers with articles on Wikipedia by country. It includes companies that are in business as well as defunct manufacturers. Only companies that have articles here are included. A Algeria * SNVI ...
*
Homer B. Roberts Homer B. Roberts (1885–1952) was a graduate of Kansas State Agricultural College and veteran of World War I who was the first black man to attain the rank of lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps. He began his auto business by placi ...


References


External links


Marmon Club homepage

Marmon Group homepage

Marmon Automobiles Yahoo Group





Marmontrucks.com: Former Marmon Site



A 1926 Marmon in Finland





Marmon-Herrington History page
{{Authority control Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Defunct truck manufacturers of the United States Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1902 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1933 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Indiana Veteran vehicles Brass Era vehicles Vintage vehicles Pre-war vehicles 1900s cars 1910s cars 1920s cars 1930s cars Luxury vehicles Cars introduced in 1902