Marquette (make of car)
Marquette was a General Motors brand of automobiles .
origin of the name
The group traces the brand name back to the French explorer, missionary and Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette (1637–1675). General Motors used it twice, first for the luxury four-cylinder cars of the Marquette Motor Company, which existed from 1909 to 1912 . Their Marquette Buick , driven by Louis Chevrolet and Bob Burman , were successful in early motorsport. The second use of the brand name relates to the Buick subsidiary brand described below.
description
In the mid-1920s, General Motors (GM) decided to add sister companies to established brands, which should offer other, usually somewhat cheaper models in order to better cover all market segments. Oakland started with the cheaper Pontiac in 1926 and Cadillac with the LaSalle in 1927 . Both were very successful, and so it was decided to create similar brands for Oldsmobile and Buick (none was planned for Chevrolet). In 1929 the Viking from Oldsmobile and the Marquette from Buick appeared for the 1930 model year .
Models
The Marquette Series 30 - its official name - was a solid (US) middle class automobile. Its six-cylinder engine developed 67.5 bhp (50 kW) at 3000 rpm from 3488 cm³ (212.8 ci) displacement . One of its peculiarities is that it was not developed by Buick, but was derived from an Oldsmobile design. The engine with side- mounted valves (“L-head” “flat head”) was atypical - Buick used more complex engines with valves hanging in the cylinder head (“valve-in-head”). The wheelbase was the usual 2896 mm (114 inches)
1930 model range
model | body | List price in US $ |
---|---|---|
30th | Two-door sedan | 1000 |
34 | Sport roadster | 1020 |
35 | Phaeton | 1020 |
36 | Business Coupe (2-pass.) | 990 |
36S | Special Coupe (2/4-pass.) | 1020 |
37 | Sedan | 1060 |
The following are the new prices of comparable models in a four-door sedan version.
model | body | List price in US $ |
---|---|---|
Chevrolet | Universal Series AD Sedan | 625 |
Chevrolet | Universal Series AD Special Sedan | 675 |
Pontiac | Big Six Model 8920 Sedan | 845 |
DeSoto | Six Model CK Sedan | 885 |
DeSoto | Eight Model CF Sedan | 995 |
Oldsmobile | F-30 Sedan | 995 |
Dodge | Six Series DA Sedan | 995 |
Marquette | Model 37 Sedan | 1060 |
Dodge | Six Series DA Deluxe Sedan | 1065 |
Hudson | Great Eight Sedan | 1150 |
Oldsmobile | F-30 Special Sedan | 1190 |
Buick | Series 40 Sedan | 1330 |
Viking | Eight Sedan | 1595/1695 |
DeSoto CF, Dodge DA, Viking Eight and Hudson Great Eight were eight-cylinder, the latter also significantly larger. The six-cylinder DeSoto and Dodge as well as the Oldsmobile Standard Sedan were significantly cheaper at under $ 1000. It is surprising that the Marquette initially sold so well - the Viking had a harder time, it was (like the LaSalle) positioned between Buick and Cadillac.
Sales of the Marquette started on June 1, 1929 for the 1930 model year. The production number between 1929 and 1931 reached 35,007 units in the USA (including 4437 bare chassis) and a further 6535 units in Canada ; the last ones were built in 1931 from existing parts. So there are 29, 30 and 31 Marquettes, but they are all identical and are considered model year 1930.
There are a number of reasons why the Marquette may be hired quickly. The most important one also concerned the other newcomer, the Viking: On October 29, 1929, the stock market collapsed, which led to a sudden slump in the market in practically all areas. The positioning of the Marquette had the effect that Oldsmobile lost customers to Marquette. At Buick there was the aforementioned internal resistance to the "cuckoo egg" of Oldsmobile. The management was also of the opinion that Marquette was not selling enough vehicles to survive the difficult economic times.
And the Marquette no longer had a place in Buick's product philosophy, because from 1931 only eight-cylinders were to be produced.
literature
- Standard Catalog of American Cars, 2nd Edition, Beverly Rae Kimes (editors) and Henry Austin Clark, Jr., Krause Publications, Iola WI 54990 ISBN 0-87341-111-0 , pp. 890-891
- Encyclopedia of American Cars from 1930, Editor: Consumer Guide, Publications International (1993) ISBN 0-7853-0175-5
- The Specification Book For US Cars 1930-1969, Marshall G. Naul (editors) and R. Perry Zavitz, Motorbooks International (1980) ISBN 0-87938-068-3
- The Production Figure Book For US Cars, Jerry Heasley, Motorbooks International (1977) ISBN 0-87938-042-X
- American Car Spotter's Guide 1920-1939, Tad Burness, Motorbooks International (1975) ISBN 0-87938-026-8