M M C

1897 - 1898 The Great Horseless Carriage Co. Ltd., Coventry.
1898 - 1907 The Motor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Coventry
1907 - 1908 The Motor Manufacturing Co.(1907)Ltd., Clapham, London.

This marque had its origins in the Great Horseless Carriage Co. Ltd., one of the creations of the celebrated company promotor Harry J. Lawson who had floated the English Daimler company in 1896. In the summer of that year he floated the Great Horseless Carriage Co. with grandiose plans to make cars and commercial vehicles in large numbers. His premises were part of the Motor Mills in Coventry, which also housed Daimler as well as seeing the manufacture of tricars under licence from Leon Bollee and some of Edward Pennington's odd creations. Neither Daimlers or M.M.C.'s were made until the summer of 1897, when, according to A.C.Brown who joined the company as an apprentice fitter, four or five chassis were under construction. They were similar to the Daimlers being made next door, with 4hp vertical twin engines, tube ignition and tiller steering. The engines and gearboxes were made by Daimler, with the wheels and bodies made by the Great Horseless Carriage co.
In 1898 the firm was reorganised as The Motor Manufacturing Co., and new designs were produced the following year. These were the work of George Iden, who came from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. They broke away completely from the Daimler layout, having rear-mounted horizontal-twin engines. Several types were made, such as the Princess 4.5hp 2 seater, the Sandringham 6hp phaeton and the Balmoral 11hp charabanc. They were, apparently, not very successful. A.C.Brown said "I worked on most of George Iden's ""Flight of Fancy"" designs. Some did not go at all, some went a bit, and most of them were flops". While waiting for these to be ready, some of the crypto-Daimlers were made, and also some motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles with M.M.C.-built De Dion Bouton engines. In 1898 75 cars and 31 engines were made, the figures fot the first ten months of 1899 being 163 cars and 92 engines. By then all engines were made by M.M.C., whether of Daimler, De Dion Bouton or Iden design. Alfred Burgess who had joined the company as a clerk in 1896, became company secretary in 1901 - he was later to run one of the re-formed M.M.C. companies.
The first reorganisation took place in 1902, when the complex range was reduced to three models, with front-mounted vertical engines of 1, 2 or 4 cylinders. The single was a light car with 5hp M.M.C.-De Dion Bouton engine, the others were on Panhard lines. They looked rather ungainly, with large gilled-tube radiators. They must have sold reasonably well, for M.M.C. paid a dividend for the first time in 1903. That year's cars had lower bonnets, some with honeycomb radiators, and used the Iden constant-mesh gearbox. The largest chassis was ta 25hp four, on which a very luxurious touring saloon body was shown at the Paris Salon.
Despite some success in the period 1903-1905, M.M.C. cars did not have a very good reputation, particularly with regard to spare parts. One owner said thgat he could never get parts that would fit. "No two cars were exactly alike. Things were done ina haphazard fashion by individually good workmen". George Iden resigned in December 1903, later making a few cars under his own name at Parkside, Coventry. The M.M.C. range continued through 1904 with little change, though on the 8hp single-cylinder model the buyer could specify mechanical or automatic inlet valves. The company was in receivership at the end of 1904, and their part of the Motor Mills was taken over by Daimler. Several times since 1900 M.M.C. had approached Daimler about some form of reunion, but they had always been rebuffed. They moved to new premises in Parkside and announced an ambitious range of six models, from a 9hp single to a 35hp four, but few were made.
Two years later the company was reorganised again, and moved to London under the management of Al;fred Burgess. The Automobile Owner magazine was enthusiastic about the new company's prospects, "I have spoken of the revival of M.M.C., but it has more than revived, for under keen business management and the guidance of councillors whiose names have become synonymous with success in the industry --- the M.M.C. firm is not merely reviving but has already passed the stage of probation and has achieved position". Burgess announced that he would make 104 cars in 1907, large machines with 35/45hp 6 cylinder engines of 8550cc on a 126 inch wheelbase, and with a Delaunay-Bellville type radiator. Sadly, the works at Clapham were never completed and only one 35/45hp was made. According to a company report it was not a success, although an employee, writing many years later, said that it was a very satisfactory job. By December 1908 M.M.C. was in liquidation again, and the machinery at Clapham was sold the following year.
In 1910 Burgess joined Frank Wellington in the Wellington Motor & Aerial Navigation Co. Ltd., which was described as "a car manufacturing concern with aerial aspirations as an extra object". This was still located at the Clapham works, but not a single car, let alone an aertoplane, was made there. Two years later Burgess surfaced again, once more using the name Motor Manufacturing Co., but his Finchley premises only provided spare parts for M.M.C. cars and sold, so it was claimed, "all makes of new and second-hand cars".