Marmon

The Marmon Motor Car Company was established in 1902 by Howard Marmon. Marmon's parent company was founded in 1851, manufacturing flour grinding mill equipment and branching out into other machinery through the late19th century. Small limited production of experimental automobiles began in 1902, with an air-cooled V-twin engine. An air-cooled V4 followed the next year, with pioneering V6 and V8 engines 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.

The Model 32 of 1909 spawned the Wasp. The Wasp, driven by Marmon engineer Ray Harroun (a former racer who came out of retirement for just one race), was the winner of the first ever Indianapolis 500 motor race, in 1911. This car featured the world's first known automobile rear-view mirror.

The 1913 Model 48 was a left-hand steering tourer with a cast aluminum engine and electric headlights and horn, as well as electric courtesy lights for the dash and doors. It used a 573 in T-head straight-six engine of between 48 and 80 hp with dual-plug ignition[4] and electric starter. It had a 145 in Wheelbase and 36×4½-inch  front/37×5-inch rear wheels (which interchanged front and rear) and full-elliptic 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 $5,000, seven-passenger limousine at $6,250, seven-passenger landaulette at $6,350, and seven-passenger Berlin limousine at $6,450. 

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. A Model 34 was driven coast to coast as a publicity stunt, beating Erwin "Cannonball" Baker'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.

In 1927 the Little Marmon series was introduced and in 1929, Marmon introduced an under-$1,000 straight-eight car, the Roosevelt, but the stock market crash of 1929 made the company's problems worse.

Entering the Depression Marmon had a wide variety of chassis available to fit a variety of price points very similar to the GM philosophy of a “car for every pocket book”, only on a smaller scale production wise

Howard Marmon had begun working on the world's first V16 engine in 1927, but was unable to complete the production Sixteen until 1931. By that time, Cadillac had already introduced their V-16, designed by ex-Marmon engineer Owen Nacker. Peerless, 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 Cu in and produced 200 hp. It was an all-aluminum design with steel cylinder liners and a 45° bank angle.  As with the Duesenberg J, and initial run of 400 or so engines was produced, and ended up being the only run of engines as the Great Depression severely curtailed the demand for high end motorcars.  The Marmon Sixteen was styled by Dorwin Teague and was a very sleek and somewhat spartan car, with understated elegance.  The car put Marmon is a very elite group, with really only GM/Cadillac being the other 16 Cylinder Car available.  Peerless only produced a prototype of their V16.  

The early thirties was the era of the “Multi Cylinder Wars” as many luxury car manufacturers started producing 12 cylinder powerplants for their offerings.  Packard, Cadillac, Pierce Arrow, Auburn, and Franklin all produced 12 Cylinder engines for their cars. One must remember that at the time everyone hoped the crash of the 1929 would reverse itself and that “Prosperity was just around the corner”.  As the Depression deepened in 1933 and 1934 numerous Luxury Auto Manufacturers failed. 

Marmon ceased production in 1933, it was succeeded by 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 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 1964 the Marmon brand name was sold to the Marmon Motor Company of Denton, Texas. Marmon-Herrington became the Marmon Group of Chicago, in 1964.

Marmon became notable for its various pioneering works in automotive manufacturing; for example, it is credited with having introduced the rear-view mirror, as well as pioneering the V16 engine and the use of aluminum 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 "monoposto" construction layout.

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).