Lost Marques I - N (Imperia to NSU)

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What a shame that so many fine automobile manufacturers have closed their doors - fortunately there are many museums and private collectors dedicated to the preservation of such important automotive history. In tribute to those people, we are writing a series of articles on the lost marques of last century - and there a quite a few!

It seems paradoxical today that the owners of such legendary marques as Stutz and Mercer would compose such impolite slogans about each other, one wonders if they would still recite “There’s nothing worser than a Mercer” and “You’d have to be nuts to drive a Stutz” had they foreseen global events such as war and the depression wiping out the manufacturer of their cherished automobile. And remember to check back regularly as we expand our collection of “Lost Marques”…

Imperia
 
Imperia
Imperia were relatively late starters in the Belgian motor industry - they did not begin production until 1906; six years after Minerva, eight years after Metallurgique and nine years after Germain. Designed by the German Paul Henze, the Piedboeuf-Imperia range consisted of an 18 hp 3-liter, a 24/30 hp 4.9-liter and a 50/60 hp of 9.9 liters. Henze drove a Piedboeuf-Imperia in the 1907 Kaiserpreis, dropping out on the third lap. More>>
Innocenti
 
Innocenti
Although in the immediate post-war period it was Ferdinando Innocenti's idea to produce cars, it was not until 1960 that the first cars bearing his name appeared on the market. The first two cars built by the Innocenti were the A40S and the Roadster, both of which were versions 'of the well known BMC A40 Farina of the same period. In the early days of Innocenti car production, the models produced arrived as 'knocked-down' vehicles which were then assembled locally by the company. Next came the Innocenti C sports car, which was really an Austin-Healey Sprite with a redesigned body. More>>
Invicta 4.5 Litre
 
Invicta
When writing this series of feature articles for the Unique Cars and Parts “Lost Marques" section, invariably some stories will be long, while others will be perilously short. The story of Invicta falls into the latter category. In a short 20 year period both the depression and war would conspire against the company. More>>
Iso
 
Iso
Iso was the creation of a family business run by Renzo Rivolta. The initial wealth came from the production of mopeds and other two-wheelers after World War 2, at a time when Italy was in urgent need of transport but could not afford four wheels. Rivolta saw that the demand for two wheels was only a transient thing and that future progress would depend on super-economy four-wheelers. More>>
Isotta Fraschini
 
Isotta Fraschini
Cesare Isotta and Vincenzo Fraschini (later joined by their brothers Stefano Isotta, and Oreste and Antonio Fraschini) got together in 1899 to import single-cylinder Renault voiturettes, Mors cars and Aster engines from France. Soon after the company was established, they brought in the parts to assemble in their Milan premises, and gradually more and more locally made components were incorporated until the product could be called an Isotta Fraschini. More>>
Itala
 
Itala
When writing this series of feature articles for the Unique Cars and Parts “Lost Marques" section, invariably some stories will be long, while others will be perilously short. The story of Invicta falls into the latter category. In a short 20 year period both the depression and war would conspire against the company. More>>
Jensen
 
Jenantaud
Jeantaud's first successful electric car appeared in 1894, and was' described in La Nature the following January .. A neat two-seater carriage, it had a battery of accumulators weighing 450 kg mounted beneath the seat; the 4 hp motor, which could develop 1500 rpm, was in-unit with the rear axle which it drove through a double-reduction gearing. More>>
Jensen
 
Jensen
The story of Jensen starts in 1934, when the brothers Alan and Richard formed Jensen Motors Limited. Alan Jensen, born 1906, and his brother Richard, born 1909, were drawn inexorably into an industry in which they were to make a name for themselves. They both displayed a talent for creativity, Richard being the more artistic of the pair, but Alan showing a flair for acquiring the basic discipline that was to serve them in such good stead over the years to come. More>>
Jowett
 
Jowett
'THE LITTLE ENGINE WITH THE BIG PULL' is the slogan by which the Jowett car is best remembered. It is remarkable that this small manufacturer, from Yorkshire in the UK, managed to have only the one basic design in production for nearly half a century ... and was then able to turn its back on its former staid image and produce one of the more exciting family cars of the post World War 2 austerity era. More>>
Kaiser
 
Kaiser
The 1946 Kaiser prototypes had all-round independent torsion-bar suspension and front-wheel drive, plus a distinctively slab-sided bodyshell. By the time the vehicle reached the market in 1947, though, it had become a mediocre car for middle America, with a totally conventional layout-front engine, rear-wheel drive-and styling by Howard 'Dutch' Darrin, which differed little from any of its contemporaries. The more expensive Frazer was distinguished only in the details of its specification: both cars were powered by 100 bhp side-valve six-cylinder engines. More>>
Lagonda Rapide
 

Lagonda
While most classic car enthusiasts associate, quite rightly, the name “Lagonda” with the legendary car marque, not many would know that the name originates from the US and not the UK! The company’s founder was one Wilbur Gunn, who first lived in a small town named Lagonda, in the state of Ohio. More>>

Lanchester
 
Lanchester
The Lanchester has the distinction of being the very first British car. The cars came about because of the Lanchester brothers, both remarkable automotive pioneers, they were also very prominent engineers, so that, although distinctly unusual in design and construction, the early Lanchester motor-carriages were efficient, well sprung machines of adequate performance. More>>
Lea-Francis
 
Lea-Francis
Lea-Francis started, like most other early car manufacturers, as cycle makers. It was a company that had many set-backs and had faced receivership in its time, yet it also had its great occasions, being prominent in the competition world as a very desirable 1½-liter Meadows-engined sports car. More>>
Marmon
 
Marmon
The first Marmon was made in Indianapolis by Nordyke and Marmon in 1902, using an epicyclical two-speed transmission (as the Model T Ford used all its life), to obviate any alarms that the clashing of sliding pinions might bring to inexperienced operators. A special arrangement of the front springing, and sub-frames for the mounting of both engine and gearbox on the chassis frame, made for durability over bad going and these Marmons continued in production right up to 1908. More>>
Martini
 
Martini
Martini cars were built in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, by the famous armament manufacturer, amounted to little more than a hundred cars; Adolf von Martini, son of the inventor of the Martini-Henry rifle, had built his first experimental rear-engined car in 1897, following this with V4 cars of 10 hp and 16 hp in 1902. Then came production under licence of the French Rochet-Schneider; and it was one of these cars that Captain H. H. P. Deasy, the British agent, had used in a daring publicity stunt. More>>
Mathis
 
Mathis
Emile Mathis, who was born in Strasbourg in 1880, built sober cars, but this he offset by entering some improbable ones in races. It seems that he found out about motor-engineering by serving an apprenticeship in London. By 1898, at a time when wealthy adventurers were investigating the pleasures and perils of travelling, if not very far (without resort to horses), Mathis returned to Alsace to set up in the motor trade. More>>
Maudslay
 
Maudslay
The Maudslay Company had a high reputation as engineers long before it turned to making cars. From around 1790, Maudslay had made steam engines in Lambeth, and later it was to have the distinction of supplying boilers for the pioneer battleships of the Royal Navy. Other important contributions to steam engineering were made by Maudslay Sons & Field, and in 1902 they reached the decision that it was time they entered the then-accelerating motor industry. More>>
McLaughlin
 
McLaughlin
Most attempts at Canadian automobile manufacture had failed miserably. Yet the alternative - importing a proven design from America - was expensive, as there was a 35 per cent tariff levied on the wholesale price, so that a Ford, which sold in Detroit for $800, cost $1000 in Toronto. It was more economical for Canadian companies with sufficient facilities to build cars to American designs, making as much as possible themselves, and importing the remaining components, which attracted a far lower rate of duty than complete vehicles. More>>
Mercer Raceabout
 
Mercer
Mercer County, New Jersey, USA. Home of the now largely forgotten Mercer Automobile Company and their wonderful Type 35 "Raceabout". Introduced in 1911 the car was designed by Finley Robert Porter and made possible by the financial backing of Washington A Roebling. More>>
Minerva
 
Minerva
Belgium was never a major builder of cars, but if it did not make them in vast quantities, it had its grande marque in the celebrated Minerva, the Goddess of Automobiles. It all began in 1897 when Sylvain de Jong commenced making bicycles and then branched out into supplying engines for the first motor cycles, a venture in which he was so well regarded that most of Europe's pioneer riders were propelled by little Minerva engines. More>>
Monica
 
Monica
Excluding the Facel Vega, France did not build many luxury cars in the 3 decades after World War 2, mainly because of a car-taxation policy which legislated heavily against any vehicle with an engine of 2.8 liters or more. The Monica was a rare ... and all too short lived exception. More>>
Monteverdi
 
Monteverdi
Switzerland was never a large manufacturer of cars. However, in 1967, a Basle garage owner and former racing driver, Peter Monteverdi, decided to build a fast two-seater GT car. Monteverdi had constructed his own racing cars, known as MBMs, but he retired after a serious crash and concentrated on his booming BMW sales outlet. He had often wanted to build his own car and, in 1967, he decided to take the plunge. To make the operation economical, he used a large number of bought-out components so that he needed little factory space; in fact, the cars were assembled in his BMW workshops by the mechanics, in between servicing the BMWs. More>>
Moon
 
Moon
The Moon company - headed by Joseph W. Moon, who had emigrated from Scotland - were builders of horse-drawn buggies before they turned to motor manufacture. Their first products, though, were a far cry from the buggies, as Moon engaged Louis P. Mooers as designer. More>>
Mors
 
Mors
MORS is the Latin word for death, a coincidence which did not escape the notice of a motorphobe Member of Parliament at the turn of last century, who claimed that the name implied that Mors drivers had the licence to kill anyone who crossed the path of their cars. More>>
Moskvich
 
Moskvich
Although it was relatively late in the development of the motor car, the Moscow factory was the second oldest car production facility in Russia, the first being the Gorky factory which produces Volga cars. The first car which the factory produced was, in fact, manufactured from the dies which the Russians obtained from the German Adam Opel AG factory when the end of World War 2 brought about the enforced dismantling of the Russelsheim factory during 1945. More>>
NAG
 
NAG
The story of NAG starts at Bergmann's Industriewerke of Gaggenau, Germany, who had created a reputation for themselves as manufacturers of chocolate slot machines and enamel signs. Their first venture into things automotive was designed by Joseph Vollmer, and the company struck upon a great name ... the "Orient Express", but unfortunately the contraption was a disaster. Loosely based on the Benz, it first appeared in 1895, and was soon given the nickname the 'Brute Beast'. More>>
Nagant
 
Nagant
Nagant was established by brothers Lean and Maurice, who owned an arms factory in Liege, Belgium, and, like many other turn-of-the-century armament makers, they turned to car manufacture as a relief from the long - and unprofitable - years of peace. Their first products, which appeared in 1899-1900, were French Gobron-Brillies built under licence. Like their Gallic prototypes, these cars had their twin-cylinder opposed-piston engines set transversely at the rear of the chassis. More>>
Napier
 
Napier
At the start of last century, Napier held the position that was later occupied by Rolls-Royce. David Napier, the founder of D. Napier & Son, was the second son of the blacksmith to the Duke of Argyll at Inveraray, and was born in 1785. His cousins became shipbuilders but, after engineering training in Scotland, David came south in 1808 to make his career in London, and soon set up a business in general engineering in Lloyds Court, St Giles. By 1824, he had designed and manufactured a printing press with the excruciating name of 'The Nay-peer', and he sold several of these to Hansard, the government printer, and other machines to newspapers. More>>
Nardi and Nardi-Danese
 
Nardi and Nardi-Danese
Today Nardi is best known as an after-market manufacturer, but there was a time when Enrico Nardi was developing fine litte racers that enjoyed plenty of success at the track. Nardi had made his name in automotive circles as early as 1932, when he made a little racing car christened Chichibio. This had been designed by Augusto Monaco and, after completion as the Nardi-Monaco, the car had a fairly successful competition career, winning its class in several Italian hill-climbs. More>>
Nash
 
Nash
The story of Nash is very much a rags-to-riches story. The company was founded by Charles W. Nash, who was born in 1864. Orphaned at a very early age, he was bound out to an Illinois farmer when he was six; he hated the life so much that he ran away six years later, when he reckoned he was old enough to fend for himself. But his adolescence was spent in grinding poverty, wandering from farm to farm as an itinerant labourer; before he was 27 Nash never made more than $300 a year. More>>
NSU Ro80
 
NSU
There were many good things to come out of 1906. There was the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and ... NSU’s first automobile. But when the company was first established, the motorcar was a thing of the future. In 1873, the two Swabians who established a workshop in Riedlingen, Christian Schmidt and Heinrich Stoll, were keen to get into the manufacture of another kind of technical innovation, namely knitting machines. More>>
A Brief History of the Automobile:
If you enjoyed the features listed on these pages, we hope you will also enjoy our "Brief History of the Automobile". From Cugnot's 1770 “Fardier” to the 1950's, by which time many manufacturers had succumb to financial difficulty, we have tried to capture all the important events and milestones of our favorite invention. In many ways the 1930s were a watershed - they saw the last of the big luxury cars from makers such as Hispano-Suiza, Duesenberg and Minerva, as well as the end of many small, independent manufacturers and coachbuilders (victims of the swing to mass-produced cars with pressed-steel bodies). The motor industry had reached the point where it had become vital to the economic well-being of the major industrialized countries. Now it was to prove just as vital in providing weapons of war. Click here to go to our latest feature, A Brief History of the Automobile...
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