Gardner

France, 1898 – 1900

Frank L. Gardner, Paris 20e

Before sponsoring the steam cars designed by Léon Serpollet, the American company promoter Frank L. Gardner made a few petrol-engined Gardner cars at his large works in the rue Stendhal. Designed by an Englishman, Charles W. James, the Gardner were conventional belt-driven voiturette with single-cylinder horizontal engines. At least one Gardner car, however, was a 12hp 2-cylinder streamlined racing car with a claimed maximum speed of 40mph.

US, 1919 – 1931

Gardner Motor Co Inc, St. Louis, Mo.

Russell E. Gardner made the horse-drawn Banner Buggy before turning to Gardner motor cars in 1916. At first his Gardner works was the local assembly plant for Chevrolets and also made bodies for them. Then, in 1919, the first Gardner car appeared. It was an assembled, but well-made machine with a 4-cylinder, 3.4-litre side-valve engine specially built for it by Lycoming, who supplied all the Gardner power units. The four was replaced on Gardner cars by a 3.6-litre six and a 4½-litre straight-8 for 1924. From 1926 to 1929, only eights were offered. The largest came into the luxury category, with a price of $2.295. So far the Gardner had run true to American form, except for its ‘tailor-made’ engines, but the new Gardner six of 1929 not only lost cylinders when other makers were adding them – its hydraulic brakes were internal expanding, a great rarity at the time in America. The Gardner make went out in a spectacular fashion, with the exceptionally low-hung front-wheel-drive Gardner six of 1930.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG, TRN

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