MMC 6Hp Charette Rear Entrance Tonneau
|
Car producer : |
MMC |
|---|---|
|
Model: |
6Hp Charette Rear Entrance Tonneau |
|
Year: |
1900 |
|
Type: |
Tonneau |
Motor Manufacturing Company Limited, incorporated 1902 following companies of the same name formed in 1898 and 1900 was the third and final revival of H J Lawson's The Great Horseless Carriage Company. In 1904 Lawson and business partner E. T. Hooley were indicted for "an ingenious system of fraud carried out over a long period". Lawson, who defended himself, was found guilty and sentenced to a year's hard labour. MMC went out of business. Lawson had sought to establish a monopoly of motor manufacturing in Britain by obtaining as many related patents as possible, starting with those of the German Daimler company. His efforts, like those of the Selden patent's owners in the USA, would be frustrated by the courts.
The Great Horseless Carriage Company shared the Motor Mills in Coventry with Daimler's British offshoot and commenced production in 1897 using Daimler engines and gearboxes, while the bodies and wheels were of its own manufacture. Reorganised as The Motor Manufacturing Company in 1898, it continued with Daimler based designs alongside rear-engined types designed by railway engineer George Iden. Motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles were added to the portfolio and MMC also supplied its engines to other manufacturers. Simplification of the range saw only three models offered for 1902: a single, twin and four, all with front-mounted engines.
In receivership in 1904, MMC relocated to Parkside in Coventry and the company staggered on for the next few years, producing a handful of cars, before being reorganised again in 1907. MMC moved to London but its new owner's ambitious plans came to nought and it effectively ceased to exist in 1908.
In The 1000-Mile Trial of Motor-Cars their Iveagh phaeton completed the entire trial. In class D — the most expensive for which a prize was given — first prize went to Daimler and second to MMC. The gold medal for the most meritorious competitor was given to the Panhard of Hon C S Rolls.
