Page 135 - Exploration10LLR

aluminum crankcase, with a shaft-driven three-speed transmission. Circa 1901, this was astounding, radical
stuff.

Once the Marmon was approved for customer
production in 1904, the engine was expanded to
a V-4, with a bore and stroke both measuring an
even four inches. By then, Howard Marmon had
embarked the company on an industry-leading Notes:
engineering strategy that was likely the first, at _________________
least in the United States, to view the car as a _________________
near-organic system. To develop its suspension,
Marmon tracked the frequency and nature of tire _________________
failures, for example. _________________

Also studying driveline breakages, Howard _________________
Marmon approved what was essentially a double Figure 116: 1905 Marmon Touring Car, Howard C. Marmon Driving _________________
chassis for his cars: One isolated the car from the
road, while the second cushioned the occupants from the engine, transmission and drive axle. This became _________________
Marmon's famous double three-point suspension. _________________

Marmon, the car, was always a highly exclusive product. Traced over the marque's first decade, the cars _________________
steadily gained in visual sophistication and beauty. The Marmon Wasp's victory in the first Indianapolis 500, _________________
with Ray Harroun as solo pilot, is a classic element of American automotive folklore (even though by 1911,
Marmons had already run scores of major American races and hillclimbs). Harroun's victory strut in the _________________
Wasp ultimately put six-cylinder engines in Marmon street cars by 1913. _________________

We ought to make clear, though, that the Marmon family business was regarded as an engineering super- _________________
heavyweight well before it angled off into building cars. That, and Howard Marmon's daring willingness to _________________
press new technology, attracted a host of young brilliance, including Barney Roos, future Stutz president
Frederick E. Moskovics, and soon-to-be Lincoln chief engineer Thomas Litle. Nordyke and Marmon also _________________
became a consultant to Alanson P. Brush, who helped develop the first Cadillac prototype and later co- _________________
founded Pontiac.
________________

135