The 1931 Marmon Sixteen had an all-aluminum 491 cubic inch V16 engine rated at 200 horsepower, and the company that built it was in receivership by May 1933. This video tells the story of Howard Marmon, the Indianapolis engineer behind one of the most advanced American luxury cars of the classic era, and what actually happened to Marmon.

The title makes a big claim, so the video checks it. The Sixteen reached customers in 1931 and the company collapsed two years later, but only about 390 cars were built, and Marmon was already in debt when the Great Depression arrived. You will see how the Sixteen compared with the Cadillac V16 and the Duesenberg Model J, why aluminum blocks with steel cylinder liners were years ahead of their time, and how a Depression-era market closed the door on a car that deserved a better year.

In this video:
Howard Marmon and the Indianapolis company that won the first Indy 500 in 1911
The Model 34 and Marmon's early work with aluminum
Why Cadillac beat Marmon to the V16 market
How the Sixteen's engine, chassis and Walter Dorwin Teague styling came together
Production numbers, prices and the 1933 receivership
Marmon-Herrington, Howard Marmon's last years, and why surviving cars sell for close to a million dollars today

Every episode, we tell the story of one American engineer or inventor who built something that mattered and lost the credit, the company, or the time to finish the fight. Subscribe if that kind of history matters to you, and tell us in the comments which forgotten American car we should cover next.

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