Marshall Motor Company — A History

Who remembers Marshall Motors? Winebrenners (1955 — 1967) and Hines (1967 — 2002), sure, but Marshall Motors … nope. So when a history of Marshall Motors came to me and was written by Jim Marshall, the founder’s son, it was too good not to share. Marshall Motors was a reliable weekly advertiser in the 30s and 40s to the Journal. So what happened to this business?

The history begins:

Dave Marshall, who started Marshall Motor Company, came to New London in the early 1920s. He worked for a while for Bill Vincent (1884 — 1971) who operated the Hupmobile Garage. It was located in the old bakery building at the corner of Main and Division.

In a short time, Dave bought Bill out and moved the garage to the Masonic Building located at the northwest corner of Main and Pine. The family lived in an apartment above the garage.

Later he moved the business to Main and Maple, where Wagner Auto Sales and Repair is presently located (the former DX station.) It was in this location Marshall Motors became an authorized Ford dealer and had an approved showroom.

At this time, Sumner Blanck became a partner in the business. Dad and Sumner would leave the house at the 6 a.m. whistle and start back home when the 6 p.m. whistle blew. Saturdays they were there until 9 p.m. The mechanic schedule was from 7 a.m. to the 6 p.m. whistle. I was a mechanic and salaried at $50 per week. Mom (Margaret Marshall) was the bookkeeper and did the books and monthly Ford report at the kitchen table.

The late twenties and early thirties was the era of gangsters. One team, Bonnie and Clyde, drove a 1934 Ford as their getaway car. Nineteen thirty-four was the year Ford introduced the V-8 engine which was the fastest car of the day.

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The only way this infamous pair could be stopped was by ambush with police officers and G-men hiding in the ditches as the car drove past, riddling it with machine-gun fire. Both were killed. Ford Motor Company in Detroit sponsored having this car in the showroom of Ford dealers. We had this bullet-riddled car for a couple of days on our showroom floor. It was a really big attraction.

World War II was declared on Dec. 8, 1941. The production of new cars stopped and all the effort of the automobile industry was directed toward defense. However, those cars already in production for 1942 were finished. Some of the very early 1942s had chrome trim on the grille and trunk; the others had a cheap substitute in place of the chrome. The first post-war model Ford was the 1946. This model looked a lot like the 1942, only a bit more fancy.

In 1948, Marshall Motors purchased and moved to the Wind Building on Elm Street. Ford Motor Company in Detroit allocated us two new cars per month. A new car showing was really an event. The new model would be shipped by railroad, and we would unload it at night. Then it would be parked in a private garage, completely hidden from the public eye. The night before the showing we would bring the new model to the showroom when it got dark and then drape it with a canvas. At the showing the next day, there was free coffee and a drawing (a quart of oil.)

New car sales generated used cars. If a used car had 40,000 miles or more, Dad insisted it be overhauled before it could be sold. In today’s market (2006) a car is considered having low mileage at 40,000 miles. Autos, new or used, did not have a title. All you had for ownership was a “registration certificate” which fastened around your steering column, just below the steering wheel.

I learned a lot about the automobile business from Dad, simply by growing up in that atmosphere. He had lots of patience which allowed me time to learn. He taught me how to weld as well as do body work. Dad could paint a car and it would look like glass. When I did the painting, the entire job had an “orange peel” or a bumpy finish.

For a while I was the “tune-up” man, and I can remember when we got two new “Sun Machines.” One analyzed the engine, its wiring, and general fuel efficiency. The other allowed us to remove a distributor, repair it, and time it perfectly.

Dave Marshall became ill with a malignant brain tumor in 1952 and died in 1953. In 1955, the business was sold to Howard Winebrenner who later sold it to Charlie Hines. Charlie had been a salesman for Marshall Motors and Winebrenner Motors. (This ends Jim Marshall’s history.)

In the Feb. 19, 1953 Journal, Editor Ed Wessel wrote the following: “Dave Marshall was an excellent mechanic … he served many terms on the city council and also on the school board. He was active in the Methodist Church … A year ago he began to suffer from a brain tumor which could not be cured by medical skill. That smile of his will be remembered by many and when his name comes before us it shall always be associated with a man of ideals many of which would benefit the world if there were more Dave Marshalls.”