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Murray Motor Car Company

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Murray Motor Car Company
IndustryAutomobile
Founded1916
FounderWilliam M. Murray
Defunct1920
HeadquartersPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Productsautomobiles

Murray Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Pennsylvania.

Company history

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William N. Murray, who worked for a Packard distributor, founded the company in Pittsburgh in 1916.[1] His goal was to create powerful, distinctive "prestige" cars.[2] Murray was an automotive enthusiast and was said to have driven the first motorized vehicle, a De Dion-Bouton tricycle, on the streets of Pittsburgh.[3] The company was located at 3727 Webster Avenue in Pittsburgh with the manufacturing facility at 3700 Grand Boulevard.[4][5] The same year, automobile production began. In December 1916, the first vehicles were on display at the New York Show. Production ended in 1920.[6][7] In 1917 James Radcliffe Murray, president of the company's other office in Baltimore was killed in an automobile accident while test driving a new car.[8][9] The company made 269 vehicles in total: 121 vehicles in 1917; 87 in 1918; and 61 in 1919. Their sales manager resigned in 1920.[10]

Murray Motor Car Company Stock Certificate from 1926 signed by John J. McCarthy

In 1920 the company went into receivership and was purchased and moved production to Newark, New Jersey and Murray was said to still be involved.[11][12][13] The company opened up a service station in New York City.[14] The company was then reorganized in Boston, Massachusetts under the leadership of John J. McCarthy as the Murray-Mac Car Company and operated until 1929, though it still issued stock under the name "Murray Motor Car Company".[15][16][17]

Vehicles

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J. Radcliffe Murray at the wheel of a Murray Eight

The company made one basic model in 1917. The Eight had a V8 engine from Herschell-Spillman with Westinghouse starters and lighting.[2] It was rated at 34 horsepower. The aluminum chassis, with "colors optional" had a 128-inch wheelbase.[18] The 1917 models had electric clocks and slanted windshields.[17] In 1918, a touring car with seven seats and a roadster with two seats were available. Both new cars had radiators "of the Rolls Royce type."[19] In 1918 the price of the seven-passenger touring car was raised from $2550 to $2800.[20][21]

In 1918, the roadster remained unchanged. The 1918 touring car had four seats. The touring car was described at the New York Auto show.[22]

so very angular that it was positively cubist. Nothing better than this car could illustrate the tendency to run to the very extreme of anything new. If there was an angle acute, obtuse, indiscreet or impertinent that this car does not contain, you would have to go to Euclid to find out what it was and to name it.

The "cubist motor car" description caught on. Their stock car was described that way in Vogue magazine in 1918, pointing out the square mud-guards and saying the car was "entirely individual and distinctive."[23] A limousine with five seats was also added. The 1918 models came with shock absorbers as standard equipment.[24] When production moved from Pittsburgh to Newark, the company planned "only a few minor changes" to their models.[14]

Very few Murray-Mac cars were ever built. They came on to the market "one or two at a time" and "none of them were exactly alike."[25][17][26] The company produced specifications for a car called the Murray-Mac 70-T, a six-cylinder car, but it's unclear if any were ever built.[27][28] The Boston company came out with a new car, the Murray Six, in 1926 which was shown at the Boston Automobile Show.[29]

Models

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Year Model Cylinder (engine) Horsepower Wheelbase (in) Construction
1917 Eight 8 34 128 Touring wagon 7-seat, Roadster 2-seat
1918 Eight 8 34 128 Touring wagon 4-seat, Roadster 2-seat, Limousine 5-seat
1921 Six 6 52 128
1922 70-T 6 131

References

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  1. ^ Kimes, Beverly Rae (1989). Standard catalog of American cars, 1805-1942. Krause Publications. p. 969. ISBN 9780873411110. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Murray Eight Has Custom Style". Automotive Industries. 35 (24): 1015. December 14, 1916. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  3. ^ "Murray Pioneer in Auto Trade". Pittsburgh Post. April 8, 1917. p. 15. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Murray New Eight". Automotive Industries. 37 (17): 783. April 27, 1916. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  5. ^ Third industrial directory of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Dept. of Labor and Industry. 1919. p. 272. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  6. ^ "Pennsylvania Built". Western Pennsylvania History. 86 (4). Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania: 35. 2003–2004. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Western Pennsylvania History Winter 2003-2004: Vol 86 Iss 4 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". Internet Archive. 2016-10-23. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  8. ^ "J. R. Murray's Body to Be Brought Here". Pittsburgh Post. October 25, 1917.
  9. ^ "Car Shortage Acute". Baltimore Sun. February 15, 1917. p. 29. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Men of the Industry". Automotive Industries. 42 (14): 841. April 1, 1920. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  11. ^ "Various Automotove Plants in East Desire Machine Tool Equipment". Canadian Machinery and Metalworking. Toronto MacLean-Hunter. March 1920. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  12. ^ "Construction and Equipment: North Atlantic States". The Iron Trade Review. 66 (9): 666. February 26, 1920. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Automotive World". Detroit Free Press. July 11, 1919. p. 8. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Murray Plans 1500 Output in Newark". Automotove Industries. 42 (1): 47. January 1, 1920. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Westinghouse Automobile Department Activities". Electrical World. 67 (20): 1130. May 13, 1916. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  16. ^ "Murray Motor Car Company Radiator Emblem". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  17. ^ a b c Geaorgano, G. N. (1971). Encyclopedia of American Automobiles. New York: Dutton. p. Dutton. ISBN 0525097929. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  18. ^ ""Murray Eight Agency Placed Here"". Boston Globe. March 3, 1918. p. 71. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  19. ^ "The Business Side of the Motor Vehicle Industry". Automobile Journal: 39. September 10, 1917. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  20. ^ "Murray Prices Increase". Motor Age. 32 (10): 11. September 6, 1917. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  21. ^ "Automobile Directory". Everybody's Magazine. 36 (6): 46. June 1917. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Comments on the Two New York Shows". The Automotive Manufacturer: 18. 1919. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  23. ^ "Motor Notes". Vogue. 51 (5): 94. March 1, 1918. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  24. ^ "Two New Murrays". Motor Age. 32 (11): 43. September 13, 1917. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  25. ^ "MURRAY". American Auto Emblems. 2016-12-26. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  26. ^ The complete encyclopedia of motor cars : 1885 to the present. London: Ebury Press. 1982. p. 444. ISBN 0852232349. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  27. ^ "Mechanical Specifications of 1922 passenger cars". Motor Age. 41 (5): 79. February 2, 1922. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  28. ^ "Rear Axle Gear Rations Of Passenger Cars from 1914 to 1922". Motor Age. 41 (18). May 4, 1922. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  29. ^ "New Murray "Six" Shown". Baltimore Sun. March 28, 1926. p. 97. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
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