Marquette Motor Company

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The Marquette Motor Company was an active American manufacturer of luxury automobiles from 1909 to 1912 . The brand name was Marquette .

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 described below, and between 1929 and 1931 for the short-lived Marquette , a subsidiary brand of Buick for a mid-range six-cylinder car.

Company history

William C. Durant bought in May 1909 , General Motors (GM) in 1905 Flushing ( Queens , New York City was founded) Rainier Motor Car Company , a manufacturer of high-quality automobiles, which had run into financial difficulties. The new Marquette Motor Company was then founded in Saginaw (Michigan) . The Rainier was initially continued in production. In addition, the company produced components for the GM luxury brand Welch (1903-1911) and its independent sister brand Welch -Detroit (1910-1911) with slightly cheaper models. The company was run by the Buick management.

Between 1909 and 1910, Bob Burman and Louis Chevrolet successfully took part in racing events with Marquette Buicks . These were Buick vehicles, which were called that for regulatory reasons.

As a result of massive over-indebtedness through numerous company acquisitions (such as Rainier and Welch), Durant lost control of GM in September 1910 and had to leave the group. Until the end of 1911, attempts were made to make its acquisitions profitable. The three manufacturers produced very similar products, namely large-volume four - cylinder models with T-head engines , which served an almost identical market segment. It was therefore decided to merge the production of the Rainier and the Welch-Detroit and discontinue the Welch entirely. The machines and tools for the production of the Welch-Detroit from Pontiac (Michigan, USA) were therefore transferred to the Rainier plant in Saginaw. Under the new brand name Marquette , two models appeared in 1912, both of which contained elements of the last Rainier (Model F, 50 HP) and Welch-Detroit (Model S, 45/50 HP). They were presented as Marquette 40 HP and 45 HP.

The reorganization was evidently unsatisfactory. GM announced the discontinuation of the Marquette that same year.

A source states that the name was changed to Peninsular Motor Company in February 1912 . The last of the Marquettes may have been sold under the brand name Peninsular , according to this source . A second source states that the Peninsular Motor Company marketed the former Marquette vehicles as Peninsular from 1912 to 1913 .

Models

The Marquette 40 HP had a chassis with a 3099 mm (122 in) wheelbase. It was available in four open body styles. The Marquette 45 HP was significantly more expensive. At 3023 mm (119 inches) it had a slightly shorter wheelbase and was only offered as a seven-seater touring.

model body List price in US $
Marquette 40 HP Model 22 Runabout, 2-seater 3000
Marquette 40 HP Model 24 Tourabout, 4-seater 3000
Marquette 40 HP Model 25 Touring, 5-seater 3000
Marquette 40 HP Model 27 Touring, 7-seater 3000
Marquette 45 HP Model 29 Touring, 7-seater 4000

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
  • The Production Figure Book For US Cars, Jerry Heasley, Motorbooks International (1977) ISBN 0-87938-042-X

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Beverly Rae Kimes, Henry Austin Clark Jr .: Standard catalog of American Cars. 1805-1942. Digital edition . 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola 2013, ISBN 978-1-4402-3778-2 , pp. 1166 (English).
  2. ↑ Marián Šuman-Hreblay: Automobile Manufacturers Worldwide Registry . McFarland & Company, London 2000, ISBN 978-0-7864-0972-3 , pp. 224 (English).