1931 Marmon Sixteen Coupe by LeBaron

Last weekend, RM Sotheby's sold this 1931 Marmon Sixteen Coupe by LeBaron for $1,050,000. First, just to say, I don't know cars of this era (before WWII) but Steemit seems to be the perfect place to learn and share. And to start this exploration, we begin with a great piece of art, an American automobile from Marmon, the Sixteen...

History of Marmon

In 1851, Marmon Motor Car Company was founded by Howard Carpenter Marmon, an American automobile engineer, but the first production of the company was on machinery. But in 1902, the companys start to produce cars under the Marmon brand. In 1911, the Model 32 won the first Indianapolis 500 and I don't think it helps to win the race, but the first car to have a rear-view mirror. Howard Harmon began to work on the first V16 engine in 1927 but with the crisis of 1929 he couldn't to complete the project until 1931 with the Marmon Sixteen (it was Cadillac with the help of one former engineer of Marmon who developped the first V16).

V16 engine by Howard Marmon (you can eat on it :-))

History of Marmon Sixteen Coupe by LeBaron

The Marmon Sixteen was the creation of Howard Marmon with an all-aluminum V16 engine producing 200hp with a great acceleration. The model had presented in November 1930 at the Chicago Auto Salon and the following month Howard Marmon received a medal from the Society of Automotive Engineers for this engine. But with the Depression, the deficits deepened and the production was not ready until 1931.

Great interior with all this details.

The coach work was designed by Walter Dorwin Teague Jr. (his obituary on NY in 2004), MIT student working in his father's design firm. Very luxurious design with sport lines, the construction of an automobile seems, for me, to be like for luxurious speed boat nowadays (leather, mahogany...), non ? Another point, I don't understand (if someone knows) why LeBaron in its name, the design was from Teague, already PR ? Because, LeBaron was prestigious name for design.

Great restoration... With only 75 remain in existence, and with this sporting coupe, there are only 6 examples known. It's why the price go north...

Sources

Auction at RM Sotheby's
Marmon Motor Car Company on Wiki
LeBaron on Wiki
Walter Dorwin Teague Jr. on NY in 2004)

My Old Posts about Car

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Lancia Aurelia Spider B24 Convertible
Lamborghini Huracán & Pope Francis
Ferrari 275 GTB by Scaglietti
Defender 110 by East Coast Defender
1958 AC Ace Roadster
Lamborghini 400GT 2+2 Coupé
Jaguar XJ6 Series 3 & Iron Maiden