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"Marmon touring car, San Francisco, 1918." Latest entry in the Shorpy Index of Ill-Fated Phaetons. 5x7 glass negative by Christopher Helin. View full size.
Marmon did get back into the transportation business, they were making trackless trolley coaches for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Rte. 66 on Frankford Ave. in 1955. Long ago, I think that they also made side cars for motorcycles.
I read a magazine article several years ago about the five greatest cars ever produced in America, and the 1931 Marmon was one of them (I think it was Brock Yates who wrote the article). They consistently made excellent automobiles until the Great Depression forced them to go out of business (just like Duesenberg and Stutz). Anyway, that stuck in my mind because I had never heard of Marmon before I read that article.
I have a 1914 Hudson with Warner Lenz headlight lenses.
I just like the looks of them.
This is the first time I have noticed the tires had white sidewalls on both sides. Today, white sidewalls are only on one side. When did that change and why?
Those tires look old and have messed up sidewalls. Why are they on this new-looking dealer car?
tterrace's advert for the headlight lenses lists the car companies carrying them as standard equipment. It is, in retrospect, not a promising list.
Always amazed and the amazing paint finish and body panel fit on these early cars.
Curious - the car appears to be new - dealer plates, clean undercarriage, shiny paint, with tires totally scraped and scuffed. Were new tires optional?
I believe there may be just the tiniest bit of exaggeration in the maker's claims.
The Warner-Lenz may have been "resistless", but judging by the list of car makers who adopted it, it was the Heisman Trophy of the auto industry!
I wonder what purpose was served by the designs in the glass.
[They're Warner headlight lenses. Click to enlarge. -tterrace]
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