Marmon-Herrington was founded in Indianapolis in 1931 by Walter C. Marmon and Arthur W. Herrington as a successor to the Marmon Motor Car Company, and it concentrated on all-wheel-drive trucks. The company is best known for its all-wheel-drive conversions of other makers’ trucks, especially Ford, and for the military vehicles it built during the Second World War.
Marmon-Herrington at a glance
| Founded | 1931 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Walter C. Marmon and Arthur W. Herrington |
| Base | Indianapolis, Indiana (plant also in Windsor, Ontario) |
| Field | all-wheel-drive trucks and conversions |
| First contract | 33 T-1 4×4 aircraft refuelling trucks, March 1931 |
| Engines of the T-1 | Hercules six-cylinder |
| Military work | 4×4 and 6×6 trucks, armoured cars, M22 airborne tank |
| Armoured cars | Marmon-Herrington armoured car, adopted by South Africa in 1938 |
| Buses | trolley buses from 1946 to 1959; coaches from 1950 |
| Trolley bus models | TC40, TC44, TC46, TC48, TC49 |
| Owner from 1963 | the Pritzker family of Chicago |
| Later home | Louisville, Kentucky (as Marmon Transmotive, from 1973) |
History of the Marmon-Herrington
The 1930s
Marmon-Herrington was founded in 1931 by Walter C. Marmon and Arthur W. Herrington, an ex-military engineer who had worked on all-wheel-drive vehicles, as a successor to the Marmon Motor Car Company. With the Great Depression destroying the market for luxury cars, the new firm turned to building all-wheel-drive trucks. It started well: in March 1931 it won a contract for 33 T-1 4×4 aircraft refuelling trucks with Hercules six-cylinder engines, followed by 4×4 and 6×6 vehicles for the US and Persian armies as load carriers, towing vehicles, mobile workshops and wreckers. Reconnaissance and scout cars were made too, some with four-wheel steering as well as four-wheel drive.
War years
In 1932 the company built the first all-wheel-drive truck and trailer combination, and the largest trucks of the time, for oil pipeline construction in Iraq. The Marmon-Herrington armoured car design was taken up by South Africa in 1938 and used by British and Commonwealth armies in the North Africa campaign. In 1936 came the T9 Ford-Marmon-Herrington unarmoured half-track for the US Army, with a powered front axle and a front ditch roller. During the war the company also produced the M22 airborne light tank, chosen by the US Ordnance Department in 1941 after designs from General Motors and J. Walter Christie were rejected, and built 4×4 trucks on Autocar chassis, 8-wheel armoured cars, M3 half-tracks and snow ploughs.
Buses and afterwards
After the war Marmon-Herrington looked for civilian work. It began building trolley buses in 1946, with lightweight monocoque bodies and double-girder sidewalls, and its trolley coaches became the best-selling type of the postwar era; Chicago alone bought 349 in one order for delivery in 1951-52. The main models were the TC44, TC48 and TC49, with the number giving the seats, plus the TC40 for San Francisco and the TC46 for Philadelphia. Trolley bus production ended in 1959, and coach building in Windsor, Ontario, in 1961. The Pritzker family bought the company in 1963; it later became part of the Marmon Group, and in 2007 a major part of the group was sold to Berkshire Hathaway. Marmon-Herrington still exists as a converter of trucks to all-wheel drive, and as a maker of axles and transfer cases.
Design and features
- All-wheel-drive conversions: the company’s core business — converting Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet, GMC and International trucks to four-wheel drive.
- Military vehicles: 4×4 and 6×6 trucks, armoured cars and the M22 airborne tank.
- Trolley buses: monocoque bodies and double-girder sidewalls made them the best sellers of the postwar years.
- Wide range: from 1.5-tonne conversions to the largest trucks then built, for pipeline work in Iraq.
- Still in the trade: the company continues with all-wheel-drive conversions and driveline components.
Marmon-Herrington versions
- TC44, TC48, TC49: the principal trolley bus models, the number giving the number of seats.
- TC40: a single order of 40-seat buses for San Francisco.
- TC46: built for Philadelphia only, before the TC48 replaced it.
- Deliver-All: forward-control delivery vans with front-wheel drive, introduced in 1945.
- Marmon-Herrington armoured car: the South African-built vehicle used in North Africa.
- M22: the airborne light tank developed for the British requirement and built in the United States.
Marmon-Herrington grew out of the car company described under the Marmon Model 34 and the Marmon Sixteen. More Marmon vehicles are in the Marmon collection.
Sources
- Marmon-Herrington, English Wikipedia: history, contracts, armoured cars, M22, trolley buses
- Marmon-Herrington, German Wikipedia: truck programme, wartime production, Deliver-All, bus history
