Car ID

[ron hausmann]

All - what year and make is this car. We are stumped.

[Craig Gillingham]

I'd say it's a Marmon; the rear hubs give it away, although it may have been a bit customised.

[keiser31]

10 minutes ago, Craig Gillingham said:

I'd say it's a Marmon; the rear hubs give it away, although it may have been a bit customised.

Yes.

[wayne sheldon]

Marmon model 34s had an unusual way of transitioning from fenders to running boards. Which this car has.

[nzcarnerd]

17 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

Marmon model 34s had an unusual way of transitioning from fenders to running boards. Which this car has.

 

I have never seen one of these but I guess that running board is made from aluminium - like quite a lot of the rest of the car?

[wayne sheldon]

I am not certain. But it seems to me I may have heard that it was? Alanson P Brush was an automotive engineer, mostly known today for his Brush one cylinder automobiles, manufactured from 1907 (I think?) until 1912 when the Liberty model was produced for one year to settle debts incurred by the failed United States Motor Company. Benjamin Briscoe had acquired the Brush automobile in his attempt to build a corporation to rival General Motors. Benjamin Briscoe had run fast and loose in his acquisition efforts and quickly found himself unable to pay the many companies that had supplied the parts for the several marques he had quickly put under his umbrella.

You are most likely familiar with the early and famous drive of a Brush automobile around Australia. The American Brush, not to be confused with a small Brush automobile that had been manufactured in England.

However, there was much more to Alanson P Brush than one small marque automobile. As an automotive engineer, he had many patents to his name, and made considerable money licensing those many patents to many automobile manufacturers, and for many years. When the world war broke out a few years later, he was also instrumental in developing some of the earliest military tanks.

One of his developments, and a few patents surrounding it, was a way to incorporate the running boards and side aprons for an automobile into the chassis frame. Marmon was one of the few American automobile manufacturers that incorporated his design into their cars in those earlier (late 1910s) days. A result of that design is that the fenders, both front and rear, have a joint part-way up from the bottom of the fender ('wings' I believe to you Southern folks?). That joint is something that always jumps out at me when I look at photos of Marmon automobiles of those years.

Most of all that is off the top of my head memory from a couple articles I read some years ago. I know several people that have Marmon automobiles of those years, and excellent cars they are! (Unless one needs to repair the water pump!!!) I have been on several club tours where three to five Marmon automobiles were on the tour at one time (a real treat considering how rare the cars are!). I have never had the opportunity to see a chassis of one apart from the body to see just how it all goes together?

Edited June 8, 2021 by wayne sheldon
spotted a typo :( (see edit history)

[nickelroadster]

The running boards are attached directly to the frame rails.  the running boards are made of heavy gauge steel and basically provide pretty good side impact protection.  They were used on big Marmons from 1916 to as late as 1928

[wayne sheldon]

Thank you for the clarification nickelroadster!