Motor Manufacturing Co (MMC)
Motor Manufacturing Co of Coventry
Successor to the Great Horseless Carriage Co
MMC were the initials of the Motor Manufacturing Co of Coventry, after the restructuring of Lawson's companies. They made motorcycles at the Motor Mills, from 1898 to 1904.
1898 January. Company registered.
1898 May. First OGM. Chairman John H. Gretton; Directors are Thomas Robinson, R. Hoffman, J. H. Mace, Mr. Buckea, H. J. Lawson. Also mentioned is George Iden.
1898 At the 1898 Stanley Cycle Show they exhibited a 'Sandringham' model with an engine by George Iden the Works Manager. It had silent worm gear and for speeds and final drive was by a centrally placed chain.[1]
Production began in 1898 with MMC tricycles and copies of the De Dion engine. The copy was used by the British Army in the Boer War. They also advertised the Motocyclette, with the engine over the front wheel, which it drove by belt.
1898 August. 'Making good progress with their works'. Making Panhard cars, Bollee tandems, De Dion tricycles and Werner bicycles. Iden is the manager.[2]
1898 One floor was dedicated to building Werner motorcycles
1899 Alfred Burgess is secretary of the company.[3]
1900 of 47, Holborn-viaduct, E.C. Works : Motor Mills, Coventry. Regd. Jan. 12, 1898. Dirs., John H. Gretton (Chairman), R. Hoffmann, M. H. Buckea, T. Robinson (Man. Dir.) Sec., Alfred Burgess. (T.A.: Propel, London or Coventry.) Oil Motors, Oil Engines, Motor Car Makers, Brakes, Frames, Wheels, Steering Gear and all component parts.
They did not produce machines for long, but engine manufacture continued into the next century.
1901 September. Details of the 30-hp car.[4]
1902 May 1st. EGM reported. Accounts to 31st October delayed due to discussions with Daimler about merging. Need more money so plans to re-organise shares etc. John H. Gretton resigns and Roger W. Wallace appointed as chairman of the company.[5][6]
1902 June. Mention of their liquidation and re-assigned shares to new company. Plans that the new company will only produce three models; Single, Twin and Four-cylinder types.[7][8]
1902 October. Detailed report on their cars.[9]
1902 October. Details of the 8-hp voiturette.[10]
1904 June. The company went into liquidation. [11]
1905 Company wound up. '...the Motor Manufacturing Co Limited. Notice is hereby given, that by an Order made by the High Court of Justice upon the application of Harold de Vaux Brougham, the Official Receiver and Provisional Liquidator of the above named Company, and dated the 1st day of February, 1905, it was ordered that the following persons be appointed a committee of inspection to act with the Official Receiver as Provisional Liquidator of the said Company, namely:— Ernest Albert Stephens, of Regent House, Alma-street, Coventry, in the county of Warwick (holding a General Power of Attorney from the Clipper Tyre Company Limited); George Iden, of Hopedale, Spencer Park, Coventry aforesaid; Charles William Gray, of 1, Stanhope-street, Boston-road, London (holding a General Power of Attorney from R. Harrison and Sons Limited); David Jackson, of 29, Carlton-road, Putney, London; and William Orton Attree, of 48, Clissold-road, Stoke Newington, London....'[12]
1906 Letter in the press disputing the commercial failure of the company and claiming the company was still operating but concluded "that when the new company comes into existence we are fully determined that the unique reputation M.M.C. cars and motors have obtained in the past for reliability, hill-climbing, and general excellence, shall not only be fully maintained, but that it shall be quite surpassed."[13]
Their building were sold to Daimler for £14,000.
Also see successor company: Motor Manufacturing Co (1907)
Early Registrations
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Vital to the Life of the Nation. Published 1946.
- ↑ The Autocar 1898/08/27
- ↑ The Autocar 1899/03/18
- ↑ The Autocar 1901/09/28
- ↑ The Autocar 1902/05/03
- ↑ The Times, Friday, May 02, 1902;
- ↑ The Autocar 1902/06/14
- ↑ The Autocar 1902/06/28
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1902/10/11
- ↑ The Autocar 1902/10/18
- ↑ The Times, Friday, Nov 25, 1904
- ↑ [1] Gazette Issue 27768 published on the 24 February 1905. Page 15 of 100
- ↑ Autocar
- The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 - by Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth. Pub: The Crowood Press 2004 ISBN 1 86126 674 X
- Motor Cycling and Motoring 1902/12/03