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1929 Marmon Model 78 Coupé

Sale price: £55,000.00 make an offer

Car location: Weybridge, United Kingdom

Sale type: Fixed price listing

Technical specifications, photos and description:

Year:
1929
Mileage:
4232
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1929 Marmon Model 78 Coupé for sale

Current customer rating: current rating for this car(2.25) based on 284 votes
For sale by auction on Saturday 29 August 2015 with Historics at Brooklands. Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit. Weybridge. Surrey. Call 01753 639170
Howard Carpenter Marmon's family business was the manufacture of
milling machinery and the pre-eminence of the Nordyke and Marmon
Company allowed the young Howard to indulge his interest in the
automobile. He made his first car in 1902. an air-cooled. overhead
valve V- twin which. unusually for the time. featured a gear
driven. pressure fed lubrication system. His next car. the 1904 V-
four. featured aluminium in some of its construction and Marmon
went on to become an ardent promoter of light aluminium
construction in the motor industry.

With victory in the inaugural Indianapolis Five Hundred Miles
Race in 1911 going to the Marmon Wasp driven by Ray Huroun. the
Marmon Motor Company was in the ascendancy and the new. six
cylinder Model 34. announced at the 1916 National Automobile Show
was acknowledged as one of the finest cars of its era. alongside
the Packard Twin Six and the pioneering Cadillac V-8.

By the mid 1920s the company was experiencing financial problems
and a board shake-up ensued. Howard Marmon's brother. Walter. br/>left the board and a new president. George M. Williams. was
appointed to put the company back on its feet. A new. lower priced. br/>Marmon with fashionable straight eight engines of smaller
displacement was the new president's answer and former Locomobile
engineer. Barney Roos. was hired to design the new model. The
1927 Little Marmon was a great success selling over ten thousand
units in its first year of production. Roos did not stay long
and his replacement Thomas J. Litle. previously with Lincoln. was
engaged to design no less than three separate lines of straight
eights. Of these. the car offered here. the 217 cubic inch overhead
valve Model 78 was the top model. It was offered with a
choice of factory built body styles namely sedan. two seater Coupé. br/>five seater Victoria Coupé. Collapsible Coupé. Roadster and
Speedster. With a 5. 5: 1 compression ratio the engine produced
86bhp at 3400rpm. sufficient to give a top speed of 85mph which The
Indianapolis Motor Speedway deemed impressive enough for them to
make a Model 78 rumble-seat roadster the official pace car for
1928.

The immaculate Model 78 offered here was originally exported to
Switzerland; hence the speedometer is calibrated in kph and. br/>according to The Marmon Club. is one of only two surviving Coupés
built in 1929. Little is known of its history but it was recorded
as having been discovered in Switzerland in the late 1980s and. br/>while in the ownership of a Mr. Ernst Justrich. was entrusted to
Peter Orlainsky of Blunders-Burs in Austria for complete
restoration. The quality of the work undertaken is superb and the
car is still presented in concours condition.

In 2000 Mr. Justrich sold the Marmon to UK Rolls Royce and
Bentley specialists P&A Wood who subsequently sold the car to a
Mr. Jock Thompson. It was then purchased by a Mr. Richard Herbert
who enjoyed the car for a couple of years before selling the car on
to the current vendor twelve years ago. during whose ownership the
car has been used sparingly. It has however. been professionally
maintained and kept ready for use at any time. The Marmon still
looks as if the restoration was completed only yesterday and a
short drive in the car gave testament to its excellent mechanical
condition. The straight-eight motor runs very quietly and is
extremely flexible yet will emit a lovely note when use is made of
its. not inconsiderable. performance. While the mileage cannot be
warranted it is thought that the Marmon has covered only a small
mileage over its lifetime.

There is a history file with the car which includes a detailed
photographic record of the restoration and also a rare Marmon sales
catalogue of the period. The car comes with a UK V5C registration
document and a number of magazine articles in which the Marmon has
featured. This incredible and rare car is good enough to grace any
concours event and will surely appeal to the most discerning
vintage car collector.

Note: Grateful acknowledgement is given to Felsted School for
use of their grounds to photograph the car.

Also published at eBay.co.uk

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