Chassis No.
16 140 818
Engine No.
16749
Body No.
595
Location
Scottsdale, Arizona
1932 Marmon Sixteen Five-Passenger Sedan By LeBaron
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$379,000 USD | Sold
Arizona 2021, Lot 154
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- An American landmark in engineering and design
- Fascinating history, including completing the Monte Carlo Rallye in 1974
- Well-maintained restoration, shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
- Recorded in Dyke W. Ridgley’s Marmon Sixteen Roster
- Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Full Classic
Chassis No.
16 140 818
Engine No.
16749
Body No.
595
Location
Scottsdale, Arizona
Arizona 2021, Lot 154
Like all great pieces of art, the Marmon Sixteen was one man’s vision of perfection. Automobile pioneer Colonel Howard Marmon created a triumph of pattern-making and foundry technology, containing at its heart an all-aluminum V-16 engine on a state-of-the-art chassis. With 200 horsepower from over 490 cubic inches, the car was capable of out-accelerating a Duesenberg Model J—yet it cost only one-third as much, making it as much of a performance bargain as a $5,000 automobile could be. Its crisp styling by Walter Dorwin Teague, Jr., embodied the lean sportiness of the age. Just 75 examples of the model remain in existence. They stand as one of the definitive statements of engineering and performance from the Classic Era and as among the finest driving automobiles of the decade.
SERIAL NUMBER 16 140 818
The elegant five-passenger sedan offered here, one of a dozen known survivors in this style, has had its ownership traced by Marmon Sixteen Roster keeper Dyke W. Ridgley back to the early 1960s, when it was owned by a Mr. Lewis of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1961 it was advertised for sale as a complete project car by C.M. Lewis of Chardon, Ohio, and subsequently sold to the prominent early Marmon Sixteen enthusiast Chester J. Flynn of New York City. Flynn subsequently relocated with the car to Maryland and was very active with it; in 1974 he took it on the Monte Carlo Rallye, covering 2,200 miles! This was followed by completing the 2,400-mile Glidden Tour in 1977.
Following Mr. Flynn’s death, his widow sold the Marmon in 1986 to Ardell Miller of Belleville, Illinois, in whose hands the car was driven on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1993; the certificate for which remains with the car. It was later featured in the December 2012 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine.
The current owner acquired the Marmon two years later and immediately began a meticulous, frame-off restoration at the hands of award-winning craftsmen Lon Krueger and Todd Bymoen. As part of this work the engine was rebuilt with new pistons, heads, valve train, camshaft, and bearings, and the transmission and rear end were rebuilt as well. The body remained in very good condition, requiring very little wood replacement. All brightwork inside and out was re-chromed, and the body, chassis and undercarriage were finished to the highest standards. The end goal was an appearance worthy of Pebble Beach, and in 2017 the car was indeed invited to and exhibited at the famed concours. Since then, it has enjoyed only occasional exercise, mainly to dinner or around the owner’s neighborhood in Arizona, and remains in the same superb condition as when the restoration was completed.
Superbly presented and boasting excellent, known history with well-known Sixteen enthusiasts, this grand Marmon Sixteen represents of the all-time American highlights of the Classic Era.
