Marmon history
In Finland since 1926

"By Marmon to town Porvoo", Moottori, August 1926

Oil purifier, device seen in the middle, was introduced in model E-75

Marshal Mannerheim in a parade 16th May 1928

Marmon pulling sailplanes up in the air. 
Artukainen airfield 1938.

1st of May 1959 at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki.

Marmon garage "before"...	...and "after"
First Marmon had to be washed	60 years of mud and grease...
Trial start, 1991	First test drive!
Restoration work begins	Chassis dismantling
Specialist meeting	"Marmon brotherhood",  the mental and financial back rest of the project.

Marmon E-75, 7-passanger Speedster (body by Locke), id number 10RA84, was first used by Marshal of Finland, C.G.E. Mannerheim. He was the commander of the Finnish "white" army during the Finnish Independence war in 1918 and the military and political leader of Finland during the World War II. Between the two wars, at the end of '20s, Mannerheim was a civilian becuse he did not agree with the government politics and so he had no official car in his use. Even though he had no official position Mannerheim was very respected person between the wars. The owner of Autokeskus Oy, lieutenant Geitel, was very good friend of Marshal Mannerheim and he generously offered him a car and a driver when ever he wanted. It is somewhat unclear if the Marmon ever really belonged to Mannerheim, but at least he used it like his own car on his trips around the country and to the middle Europe.

The Marmon was specially customized for Marshal Mannerheim. He was a rather tall man and the dickey seats were moved forward in order to get more room for his legs (and less room for his adjutants...). Mannerheim was known as very accurate and strict person and he always wanted to be aware of the speed and schedule of the trip. This is the reason why an extra speedometer was assembled to the passanger compartement. If you wish to read more of Marshal Mannerheim, this is a good link: http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/mannerheim.html

After Mannerheim the car belonged to baron Aminoff. Ten years later, when Marmon actually was rather old car, it was donated to an aviation club. They used it to pull sailplanes up in the air. I can imagine why: a big and heavy car with a strong and slowly turning engine was ideal for that purpose. During the wartime it was stored in a hangar at the airport. We heard a rumour that during the war some german soldiers made boots and bags out of its leather interiors (there was some german troops in Finland because Germany and Finland were allied against the Russians).

After some years - in 1959 - a group of young students of Helsinki University of Technology bought the Marmon. Every year 1st of May an association of students of technology called SiMiLi publish a fun magazine called "ÄPY". The Marmon was used to arouse peoples interest when selling these magazines. A dark and big old car was really a head turning sight when roaring down the streets among the small european after-war cars like Fiats and Volkswagens. The Student Union used it also in different kind of student campaigns and festivals and for driving around just for fun.

Maintenance of an old car was rather difficult and time consuming. The radiator was leaking, the water pump had been corroded, the electricity system behaved oddly etc. The students who bought the Marmon graduated and moved away and after a while there was nobody left to take care of the car. The Marmon was just forgotten in a garage and it was removed from the Finnish vehicle register in 1967. Nothing was heard of the Marmon until 1980 when a yellow paper magazine "Ratto" published an article "Marshals car in a pile of junk!". That woke up the Espoo Car Museum and they offered Marmon a better place to stay.

Some ten years later I was the president of the Automobile Club (TAK) of the Helsinki University of Technology. One night at the end of 1980's we had a automobile club get-together (discussion about cars, Finnish sauna and, of course, lots of beer...) where the chief editor of a veteran car magazine gave us a presentation of antique cars. At the end of the presentation he asked us: "...by the way, how is the Marshal Mannerheims Marmon doing nowadays? The one that belongs to you students?". I had to admit that I had never even heard of the car and that annoyed me quite a lot. Then we found the Marmon in the Espoo Car Museum and we were really astonished of its majestic looks. For a few years we thought about the idea of restoring the Marmon and after we had found a suitable garage and some skillful people to do the job we got the Student Unions permission to restore the car. 

The project begun by renewing the garage during the winter 1990-1991. The restoring itself started in spring 1991. Marmon was looking pretty good to us, but when the restoration went on, the thruth was revealed: the engine worked all right, but the water pump was corroded beyond reparation, the radiator had several leaks, distributor cap was cracked, and all moving parts were more or less worn out. When we opened the engine we found out that all bearings were cracked and worn and somebody had put the pistons in wrong order. The car had sometimes been in an accident and the front end of the chassis was twisted. As a consequence of the accident one of the running boards had been replaced. The interiors of the car were made of cheap imitation leather and the canvas top and the top mechanism and many of the smaller parts were missing. We realized that we had a lot bigger mission ahead of us than we thought when starting the project.

It has taken quite a long time to restore it, but we have gone totally through the car and renewed actually every piece of it. At the moment (March 2002) the car is almost ready for driving. The engine is totally restored and it runs nicely. Most of the restored parts have been assembled back to the car, but the upholstery and the instrument panel need some finishing. Several parts are still missing, e.g. the canvas top and its mechanism. It will still take quite a lot of time and work, but our goal is to meet the requirements of the Finnish National Automobile Historic Club and get the Marmon registered as a museum vehicle!