Martinis on the rocks

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Switzerland is an interesting motoring country with its mountain passes and tunnels, motorway ‘vignette’ seal and its notorious ban on motor sports. Although classic car enthusiasm is huge in the watchmakers country, motor manufacturers have always been rather thin on the ground there.

Automobiles Martini was the great exception and built its fine vehicles from 1897. Founding father Friedrich von Martini had made his name and fame in the rifle industry; his sons Adolf and Max turned to motor cars. They were to become pioneers in the field of marketing and PR for motor manufacturers and sold cars throughout Europe and the UK, the US and even Russia. Their English agent crossed the Alps in a Martini as early as in 1904 — bringing a journalist along. The company was eventually sold to the UK and came back in to Swiss hands in 1907 as “Société Nouvelle des Automobiles Martini, Usine Nationale” — only to be taken over by a German company in 1924.

The Martinis seen in the intriguing shot shown here — the Alps again? — probably dates to Martini’s German-owned days when Martini cars were about to be marketed as Martini-Steiger cars, after its new German owner. We think the big tourer seen from the front must be a ‘Six’ with the 3.1-litre six-cylinder engine of 70hp, but can only guess about its body. Were these two Martini cars just tourists, or was there more to it than that? A rally? The Klaussenrennen? Is that a stopwatch around the man’s neck?

Or could this even be a prototype model that was on a test drive? The crumpled front wing indicates that it saw some tough action, while the oddly placed number plate, 6266, shows us that it must have been issued in Aargau, close to the German border. And then there’s that second car, with its Martini spare wheel cover. Could that have been a works vehicle that came to the rescue?

As always, we would love to hear from you!

Words by Jeroen Booij. Picture from the archive, source unknown.

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