The Mors automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 factory was an early French car manufacturer. It was one of the first to take part in automobile racing, beginning in 1897, due to the belief of the company founder, Émile Mors, in racing's technical and promotional benefits. By the turn of the century, automobile racing had become largely a contest between Mors and Panhard

Panhard

Panhard is currently a French manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its current incarnation was formed by the acquisition of Panhard by Auverland in 2005. Panhard had been under Citroën ownership, then PSA , for 40 years...

.

Mors was one of the first automobiles to use the V engine

V engine

A V engine, or Vee engine is a common configuration for an internal combustion engine. The cylinders and pistons are aligned, in two separate planes or 'banks', so that they appear to be in a "V" when viewed along the axis of the crankshaft...

 configuration. The Mors 60 horsepower Grand Prix

Grand Prix motor racing

Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...

 car was powered by a 10 liter V4

V4 engine

A V4 engine is a V form engine with four cylinders and three main bearings.-Automobile use:Lancia produced several narrow-angle V4 engines from the 1920s through 1960s for cars like the Lambda, Augusta, Artena, Aprilia, Ardea, Appia, and Fulvia....

 side valve

Flathead engine

A flathead engine is an internal combustion engine with valves placed in the engine block beside the piston, instead of in the cylinder head, as in an overhead valve engine...

 engine, with magneto

Magneto

A magneto is a type of electrical generator.Magneto may also refer to:* Magneto , permanent magnetic alternating current rotary generator* ignition magneto, magnetos on internal combustion engines...

 ignition, which could reach 950 rpm. The car had a steel chassis and a four-speed transmission

Transmission (mechanics)

A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...

 which drove the rear wheels via chain drive

Chain drive

Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles...

, and rear-wheel brakes. In 1902, Mors added damper

Shock absorber

A shock absorber is a mechanical device designed to smooth out or damp shock impulse, and dissipate kinetic energy. It is a type of dashpot.-Nomenclature:...

s (shock absorber

Shock absorber

A shock absorber is a mechanical device designed to smooth out or damp shock impulse, and dissipate kinetic energy. It is a type of dashpot.-Nomenclature:...

s) to their cars, which represented a great leap forward given the quality of the roads and racetracks at the time. With this car, Henri Fournier was able to win the highly significant Paris-Berlin race, with the drive chain breaking immediately afterwards.

Mors ended racing in 1908. Plans to return to auto racing were cancelled due to World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

André Citroën

André Citroën

André-Gustave Citroën was a French industrialist. He is remembered chiefly for the make of car named after him, but also for his application of double helical gears.- Life and career :...

 became chairman of Mors in 1908 and restored the company's viability. In 1925, Citroën bought Mors outright and closed it down, using its factory for the production of his Citroën

Citroën

Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...

 automobiles.

The marque was resurrected briefly when a few small electric car

Electric car

An electric car is an automobile which is propelled by electric motor, using electrical energy stored in batteries or another energy storage device. Electric cars were popular in the late-19th century and early 20th century, until advances in internal combustion engine technology and mass...

s were made during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 by a subsidiary

Subsidiary

A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...

 electrical company of Émile Mors.

Central Automobile Company

Central Automobile Company was the U.S. importer of Mors automobiles in New York, New York in the very early part of the 20th century.

The 1904 Mors 18-H.P. Model was a touring car

Touring car

A touring car, or tourer, is an open car seating five or more. Touring cars may have two or four doors. Often, the belt line is lowered in the front doors to give the car a more sportive character. They were often fitted with a folding roof and side curtains. Engines on early models were either in...

. Equipped with a tonneau

Tonneau

right|thumb|260px|1903 [[Ford Model A |Ford Model A]] rear-door TonneauTonneau cover , describes a hard or soft cover used to protect unoccupied passenger seats in a convertible, roadster, or for a pickup truck bed. Hard tonneau covers open by a hinging or folding mechanism while soft covers open...

, it could seat 4 to 6 passengers and sold for a high US$8000. The vertically-mounted water-cooled straight-4

Straight-4

The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....

, situated at the front of the car, produced 18 hp (13.4 kW). A 4-speed transmission was fitted. The pressed steel-framed car was quite modern, with a cellular radiator (with fan) and a throttle control. The Mors 11-H.P. Model sold for US$5000.

American Mors

The St. Louis Car Company

St. Louis Car Company

The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887–1973, based in St. Louis, Missouri.-History:...

 also manufactured the American Mors. After manufacturing the St. Louis and Kobusch cars, the latter of which looked like a Mors, the St. Louis Car Company acquired an official license

License

The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...

, blueprints, and plans from the Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

ian factory to manufacture Mors cars in the U.S. After making the American Mors for three years, the company turned to the manufacture of a car of their own design, the Standard Six

Standard Six

The Standard Six was an American automobile manufactured in St. Louis, Missouri by the St. Louis Car Company from 1909 until 1910. The company initially built Mors cars under license as the "American Mors", beginning in 1906; it turned out an overhead valve 50hp six of 6965 cc under its own...

.

Sources

• Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (January, 1904)
• Georgano, Nick (Ed.). The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile (Volume 2). Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000. ISBN 1-57958-293-1
• Kimes, Beverley Rae, & Clark Jr, Henry Austin. Standard Catalog of American cars: 1805-1942 (Third Edition). Iola, WI: Krause, 1996. ISBN 0-87341-428-4