1932 Marmon 16
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Founded in 1902, by 23 year old Howard Marmon: Marmon was an American Automobile manufacturer based out of Indianapolis Indiana. It was a Marmon 'Wasp' which took first place in the very first Indianapolis 500 race in 1911 out of a field of 40 racers. A few years later, in 1931 Marmon introduced an amazing automobile: the Marmon 16. This was to be direct competition for the Cadillac V16. Cadillac's V16 churned out an impressive for the time 165 Horsepower. This was however dwarfed by Marmon's 8. 1 Liter all aluminum 16 cylinder powerhouse which created 200 horsepower. These 16 cylinder vehicles were built on an impressive 145 inch wheelbase which offered a great platform for quality coachwork. Only about 390 examples of the 16 cylinder cars were made between 1931 and 1933, and they carried a hefty price tag around $5,000. The vehicle was beautifully crafted and well ahead of its time mechanically, especially because of their use of aluminum. To test build quality and performance, all Marmon chassis were run around the Indianapolis race track with a driver sitting on a folding chair. Each chassis had to top 100 MPH before being sent off to the coach builder. The...