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145hp Marmon Big Eight?


ricosan

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Good Morning Friends,

Shortly after I bought my 1932 Marmon 8-125 my brother and his wife gave me this framed advertisement for a 145 hp Marmon. I had never heard of a 145 hp Marmon so I dismissed it as some over zealous advertisers. Then last week at a car show I came across a book about cars of the thirties. In the short section devoted to Marmon, they made reference to the 145 hp 8 cylinder engine.

Do any of you have information on this engine? How were they able to get the extra 20 horses from?

ricosan

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Good Morning,

My car is an 8-125. It's a roadster with the "Big Eight" 315 cubic inch engine. It's possible that the engine in my car is the 145 hp version but I don't know what to look for that might help identify this specific engine setup.. Apparently Marmon did offer for sale, automobiles with the 145hp engine. I'm hoping that there are some survivors out there.

I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this mystery.

ricosan

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Good Morning Al,

It's 125" axle to axle. As far as personal preference, I like the "short wheel base" cars. Many of the roadsters and coupes from this era were 5 to 10 inches longer. This short wheel base car is more easily maneuvered than the cars with longer wheel base.

ricosan

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From The Marmon Heritage by Hanley in describing the Model 8-125 (HH):

"The bodies however were a new generation of Hayes designed bodies shared with Franklin Olympic and the REO. It was not another Teague work of art, but an automobile quite a bit about the rest of the crowd.

It was a spectacular performer... in this regard a fitting companion to the SIXTEEN. It was powered by the 125 horsepower engine introduced for the Big Eight but the engine was mounted in a chassis where the 5-passenger sedan weighed a surprising 3400 pounds. The specific weight was only 27 pounds per horsepower, just about the same as the SIXTEEN! It not only had GTO type acceleration, it also had a wide track of 58.5 inches front and rear."

Just an observation, but the Marmon 8-125 and REO Royales appear to share the same make of headlights.

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