C.1904 MMC 8HP REAR-ENTRANCE TONNEAU - BONHAMS 30-11-15

COMING TO AUCTION

FROM

This week we take our annual look at the vehicles up for sale at Bonhams London to Brighton Sale to be held on the 30th of October, the sale is just one of the events in celebration of this historic motoring event.

We kck off today with this little beauty.

C.1904 MMC 8HP REAR-ENTRANCE TONNEAU

Registration no. H 13 Chassis no. 1154 (see text) Engine no. 3390

£40,000 - 60,000

€56,000 - 83,000

c.1904 MMC 8hp Rear-Entrance Tonneau
Registration no. H 13
Chassis no. 1154 (see text)
Engine no. 3390

*A rare and short-lived British marque
*In the present family ownership since 1955
*Restored 50-plus years ago

FOOTNOTES

• The Motor Manufacturing Company (MMC) was successor to The Great Horseless Carriage Company, which had been founded by the infamous entrepreneur and fraudster, Harry J Lawson, in 1896 and was part of his British Motor Syndicate. Lawson had sought to establish a monopoly of motor manufacturing in the Britain by obtaining as many related patents as possible, starting with those of the German Daimler company. His efforts, like those of the Selden patent's owners in the USA, would be frustrated by the courts.
  
  The Great Horseless Carriage Company shared the Motor Mills in Coventry with Daimler's British offshoot and commenced production in 1897 using Daimler engines and gearboxes, while the bodies and wheels were of its own manufacture. Reorganised as The Motor Manufacturing Company in 1898, it continued with Daimler based designs alongside rear-engined types designed by railway engineer George Iden. Motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles were added to the portfolio and MMC also supplied its engines to other manufacturers. Simplification of the range saw only three models offered for 1902: a single, twin and four, all with front-mounted engines.
  
  In receivership in 1904, MMC relocated to Parkside in Coventry and the company staggered on for the next few years, producing a handful of cars, before being reorganised again in 1907. MMC moved to London but its new owner's ambitious plans came to nought and it effectively ceased to exist in 1908.
  
  This example of a short-lived British marque was purchased from a Mr Broard in August 1955 by Mr Stanley Gilks, proprietor of Stan Gilks Ltd, a motorcycle dealership in Ickenham, Middlesex. There is a hand written receipt for the purchase deposit on file and the car also comes with an illustrated diary of information completed by the previous owner concerning the MMC's history while in his ownership. The previous owner had bought the car circa 1953 from a Mr W F Parr of The Broadway Garage, High Road, Harrow Weald, Middlesex where it is believed to have been for many years. According to information supplied at the time, the MMC was said to have last been used in 1909 and therefore never registered under the 1920 Roads Act. When purchased the car was fitted with a strange upright body (see images on file).
  
  The MMC was already totally stripped down to separate components when purchased. Photographs of the parts as received are in the history file. The restoration was carried out by the present owner, Mr Geoffrey Gilks, Stanley Gilks' son. The restoration was completed around 1960 and the MMC subsequently featured in the motion pictures Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) and Half a Sixpence (1967). Further restoration work was carried out in the 1980s (see photographs on file). It has not been registered for the road since the 1960s and will require re-commissioning/restoration before further use. As yet undated by the Veteran Car Club, this rare MMC is offered with an old-style logbook and V5 registration document. It should be noted that no number has been found on the chassis; that recorded on the V5 is thought to be the the number stamped on the rear axle.

SOURCE: BONHAMS 2015