Lost Marques |
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Stutz
1932 |
What
a shame that so many fine automobile manufacturers
have closed their doors - fortunately there are many
museums and private collectors dedicated to the preservation
of such important automotive history.
In tribute to
those people, we are writing a series of articles on
the lost marques of last century - and there a quite
a few!
It seems paradoxical today that the owners of
such legendary marques as Stutz and Mercer would compose
such impolite slogans about each other, one wonders
if they would still recite “There’s nothing
worser than a Mercer” and “You’d have
to be nuts to drive a Stutz” had they foreseen
global events such as war and the depression wiping
out the manufacturer of their cherished automobile.
And remember to check back regularly as we expand our
collection of “Lost Marques”…
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Alvis
Coventry, England. Home of many great Marques,
but one lesser known (particularly for many Australian’s)
is the Alvis. The companies initial success was due in
no small part to one G.P.H. de Freville, responsible
for the importation to Britain of DFP cars before W.O.
Bentley took on that concession. Not only did Freville
design the engine for the very first Alvis car, the 10/30
of 1920, but he also invented the marque name Alvis.
We have found several sources that contest the name carried
no more significance than that it rolled nicely off the
tongue! More>> |
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Bentley
W.O. Bentley would join the motor trade in London
where he would import French DFP cars. His first design
achievement was to produce light weight aluminum pistons
for the 12/40 model, allowing the engine to rev much faster,
and in turn develop more power. He then went on to become
one of the key designers aircraft rotary engines working
with the British government during the 1914-1918 war.
More>> |
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Bugatti
There was a time when Bugatti were arguably one
of the most famous sports-car manufacturers in the world.
The cars were aesthetically magnificent, if sometimes
technically backward, and all were the work of Ettore
Bugatti himself. It is interesting to note that Bugatti
would only ever manufacture 4 cylinder and straight-8
engines, never tempted to enter the middle ground and
manufacture a 6 cylinder. More>> |
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Cunningham
To say Briggs Cunningham was an enigma would
be an understatement. Born in 1907, Cunningham was a
natural athlete excelling in everything from bobsledding
to golf and yachting – and in this latter sport he even
pulled off victory in the America’s Cup. After
World War II, Cunningham began racing and tinkering with
sports cars, once putting a Buick engine in a Mercedes!
He even went street racing with his uncle in a Dodge
tourer powered by a Hispano-Suiza airplane engine. Telling
the story of Cunningham is not so much talking of cars,
but talking of the man. More>> |
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Delahaye
Today Delahaye is not only a lost marque, it
could also be described as a forgotten one. Ask someone
to name the lost French marques of last century and they
will invariably mention better known competitors of Delahaye,
such as Lorraine, Delage and of course the wonderful
Bugatti. The war had not been kind to the marque, but
many blamed the crippling post war taxation for the demise
of this and other “Grandes Routieres”. While the West
did everything to re-establish West German manufacture,
it would seem they turned their collective backs on those
from their own backyards, we won’t call it a war
crime, but at the very least it was a great tradgedy. More>> |
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De
Tomaso
De Tomaso was a native Argentinean who had moved
to Italy where he had the opportunity to work for the
Maserati brothers at their OSCA factory. There he watched
and became increasingly impressed by the sports racing
Cooper of the late 1950s. Convinced of the virtues of
the mid-engined configuration, he left Maserati and set
up his own workshop to build race cars. More>> |
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Duesenberg
The beautifully built and styled Duesenberg may
have been owned by screen greats Clark Gable and Gary
Cooper, but was never able to make serious inroads into
car manufacture. The company was founded by Fred Duesenberg;
born in Germany in 1876 Fred immigrated to North America
and started his first business building bicycles. More>> |
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Edsel
Exactly why Edsel failed, and failed so dramatically,
remains a point of conjecture to this day. The reasons
put forward include poor workmanship, radical but unpopular
styling, poor marketing, poor corporate support from
within Ford, and most of all a poorly researched pricing
structure. But there is a more simple explanation that
many believe to be more accurate, that the Edsel was
simply too big for the time – as other manufacturers
made their cars more compact the Edsel harked back to
the early 1950’s era of bigger is best. It wasn’t. More>> |
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Frazer
Nash
Archie Frazer Nash and partner Ron Godfrey capitalized
on the popularity of the cycle-car by manufacturing a
machine known simply as the “GN”, which had
a twin-cylinder engine in a very rudimentary chassis
frame. But what made the GN unique was the use of a chain
drive rather than shaft drive. More>> |
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Hispano
Suiza
Undeniably one of the most unique names of any
car manufacturer, the once famous marque had its name
derived from two countries - Spain, where it entered production
in 1904, and Switzerland where its designer Marc Birkigt
was born. The most famous models however were built in
France, over in England Rolls Royce would licence the
advanced mechanical 4 wheel braking system, and cars would
be manufactured under licence by Skoda in Czechoslovakia.
More>> |
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Invicta
When writing this series of feature articles
for the Unique Cars and Parts “Lost Marques"
section, invariably some stories will be long, while
others will be perilously short. The story of Invicta
falls into the latter category. In a short 20 year period
both the depression and war would conspire against the
company. More>> |
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