1922 Marmon Model 34 Touring
edited by David Barth, 10 January 2009.
Courtesy The Forney Museum of Transportation at 4303 Brighton Blvd., Denver,
Colorado. Photos were taken in January 2009.
The 1906 Marmon was priced at $3,000, and the 1925 model cost only $3,100. The Marmon was in production from 1903 to
1933. A Marmon won the first Indianapolis 500 race. In 1910 it was advertised as the car with the most wins in speed
and endurance contests.
Howard Marmon and his brother, Walter, were mechanical engineering graduates of the University of California. Walter,
the eldest brother, had the business mindset while his brother, Howard, possessed a mechanical aptitude. Their first
business, Nordyke & Marmon Company had its beginnings around 1850, manufacturing flour milling machinery.
Howard wanted to build automobiles. The first experimental model was finished in 1902. By 1905, the car was in full
production.
Throughout the years, Marmon experimented with aluminum, creating entire bodies, transmission cases, fenders, hoods,
radiator shells, etc. from that element. Marmon used the light alloy extensively, and aluminum became a company
trademark. In 1916, production models had aluminum engine blocks.
Nordyke and Marmon began with air-cooled engines, but in 1909 the company converted to water-cooling. That same year
they built a racecar with a 4.8 liter engine, called the Marmon Wasp. With Ray Harroun driving, they won the first
Indianapolis 500 race in 1911. Harroun introduced the rear view mirror in that race.
In 1926 Nordyke & Marmon sold its milling machinery manufacturing business to Allis-Chalmers and reorganized as the
Marmon Motor Car Company.
In 1929 they introduced a low-priced car they called the "Roosevelt," the first 8-cylinder car selling below $1,000.
In 1931 it becaume the Model 70 Marmon.
Despite the looming financial problems of the Great Depression, Marmon introduced a top-of-the-line luxury car with a
16-cylinder, 500 cubic inch engine at the 1930 Chicago Automobile Show. It was advertised to have 200 horsepower and
do 100 mph.
By 1933, Marmon was in receivership. Howard's brother, Walter, with Arthur Herrington, formed the Marmon-Herrington
Company that built four-wheel drive trucks. This company continued into the 1960's.
