Gardner. 8-75. 1929. 4021cc. Cabrio. Coupe.

1929. Gardner 8-75 Roadster. Cabrio. Coupe.

Gardner was a manufacturer of cars with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, between 1920 and 1931.

Without a dollar in his pocket, Russell E. Gardner left his home state of Tennessee for St. Louis in 1879. Three and a half decades later, was a multi-millionaire. Gardner had achieved a great success in St. Louis through the manufacture of buggies Banner before the beginning of the century and, unlike many builders of cars, was very aware of what it meant to the era of the automobile for your business. Started with the construction of new bodies on Chevrolet and, to the side, his company was building cars. By 1915, this had led to the complete assembly of the Chevrolet in St. Louis and Russell Gardner was controlling all trade in the Chevrolet is west of the Mississippi river.

Gardner sold his business Chevrolet to General Motors after his three sons entered the Navy during the First World War. After the war, her children decided to build their own cars. The Gardner Motor Company was established with Russell E. Gardner, Sr. as chairman of the board, Russell E. Gardner, Jr. as president, and Fred Gardner as vice-president. His previous experience had been in the assembly of cars, so it was not surprising that the Gardner was assembled from purchased parts. Engines Lycoming were used to over the years of production. A four-cylinder model with a wheelbase of 112 inches (2800 mm), and medium price was introduced in late 1919 as a model of 1920.

Sales in 1921 were 3800 cars, which increased in 1922 to 9000. At the beginning of 1924, Cannon Ball Baker set a new record transcontinental from New York to Los Angeles in 4 days, 17 hours and 8 minutes in a Gardner. Began to prepare to expand the product line and distribution network. The plant's capacity was 40,000 cars annually, and by 1925 these included six and eight. The four were abandoned in 1925, and there were six genders, and eighty in 1926 and 1927. For 1927 and 1929 the eights were the only engines used. The interior cars of the Series 90 had a lot of high-quality materials, like hardware with silver finish, silk curtains, windows, walnut and upholstery mohair (the Series 75 and 80 did not have walnut in the interior.) All cars had a gas gauge and temperature. caliber standard During the summer of 1929, Gardner announced two "very important" contracts of cars. The first was with Sears, Roebuck and Company , who wanted Gardner to develop a new car to be sold by mail. The other was with New Era Motors , to manufacture the Ruxton front-wheel-drive. With the fall of the stock market in late 1929, both agreements were closed. For the model Gardners of 1930, they returned only to the six-cylinder engine. In January of 1930 the company announced a six-cylinder car with front-wheel drive, a six hp (60 kW) six on a wheelbase of 133 inches (3,380 mm) with a body Baker-Raulang that sported a hood longer and with a distinctive bass lines hung Rare in the united States, used hydraulic brakes of the internal expansion Lockheed and hydraulic shock absorbers of two pathways. Unfortunately, it turned out that only produce prototypes of this model.

The models of 1931 were the same as those of the 1930's, just updated. In mid-1931, Russell E. Gardner, Jr. requested the permission of his stockholders to stop producing automobiles. The reasons given for the failure of his company were that Gardner had not been profitable after 1927 due to fierce competition from the major producers of automobiles and their control of many sources of parts supply. The car funeral Gardner was built until 1932, but then the company ended all production.

TRIVIA:1930-1931

1929 had been a wonderful year for the style, the power and choices of consumers, but a very bad year for sales. Even before the crash of October '29, the company was thinking of closing its doors. So the models 1930-31 would be the end of the line. The cars of 1931 were built in the last 5 months of 1930. On December 30, 1930 it was official Gardner no longer manufactured car engine, build car funeral for two years.

The six cylinder was back to 1930; The new model was the 136 and replaced the small eight (model 120). The six was announced in April 1929, but seems not to have been produced until the introduction of the cars of 1930. The six new ones were listed at 70HP only 6 less than the model 120, and its wheelbase is 122 inches was two inches longer. In addition, the six had a four-speed transmission as standard equipment. The 125 was replaced by the model 140 and had an HP of 90. The 130 was replaced by the model 150 and had a HP of 126. The headlights were deeper, and the cars equipped with lights hood now had lights fenders. The molding of the belt is reduced to 3 inches and continued to the center of the hood, where it ends in a design pointed. Prices were reduced from $ 200 to $ 300. In 1930, there were available 24 body styles different. The big news was the introduction of a sedan with front wheel drive, powered by a Continental six. This car had a wheelbase of 133 "and 80HP. The changes for 1931 were minor, the roadster was no longer the trim, additional door below the belt line. The housing of the radiator had a black insert and the year 1931 at the bottom. A protector of the radiator Was added for 1931.

Unfortunately, Gardner did very little advertising in the past two years. With the end in view, the reduction of costs took priority. Gardner would only 1,080 cars for 1930-1931. Today, few of these cars exist, and very few of the ads bear witness to the magnificent style of these two years.