1917 Maxwell Roadster

1917 Maxwell Roadster

Side view of Maxwell Roadster

Advert for the Maxwell

The Maxwell was a brand of automobiles manufactured in the U.S. from about 1904 to 1925. The brand name of motor cars was started as the Maxwell-Briscoe Company of Tarrytown, New York. The company was named after founders Jonathan Dixon Maxwell, who earlier had worked for Oldsmobile, and the Briscoe Brothers Metalwork’s. Benjamin Briscoe, an automobile industry pioneer, was president of the company at its height in 1914. Many of the innovations such as using a shaft drive instead of the usual chain drive helped bring the Maxwell to the forefront of car manufacturing. 



In 1907, a fire destroyed the Tarrytown, NY factory; Maxwell-Briscoe constructed what was then the largest automobile factory in the world in New Castle, Indiana. The factory continued operations until 2004 as a Chrysler plant until its demolition.

 Maxwell along with Stoddard-Dayton, Courier Car Co, Columbia Automobile Company, Brush Motor Car Company, formed the United States Motor Company formed in 1910. But due to a conflict between two of its backers, the United States Motor Company failed in 1913 after the failure of its last supporting car manufacturer; the Brush Motor Company. Maxwell became the only surviving member of the combine.

In 1913, Maxwell was purchased by Walter Flanders, who reorganized the company under the name, Maxwell Motor Company, Inc. He moved the company to Detroit, Michigan. Some of the Maxwell’s were still manufactured at the two plants in Dayton, Ohio. For a time, Maxwell was considered one of the three top automobile firms in America along with Buick and Ford. By 1914, Maxwell had sold 60,000 cars.



In a short period of time, however, Maxwell over-extended and wound up deeply in debt with over half of their production unsold in the post World War I recession in 1920. The following year, Walter P. Chrysler arranged to take a controlling interest in Maxwell. Maxwell Motors was re-incorporated in West Virginia with Walter Chrysler under control as the chairman. Around the same time that all of this was happening, Maxwell was also in the process of merging with the ailing Chalmers Automobile Company who were have financial problem of their own. Chalmers ceased production in late 1923.

In 1925, Chrysler would form his own company, the Chrysler Corporation. That same year, the Maxwell line would be phased out and the Maxwell Company would be absorbed by Chrysler Corporation. The Maxwell would continue on in another form however, because the new line of 4-cylinder Chrysler's which were introduced for the 1926 model year were created largely by using the design of earlier Maxwell’s. And these former Maxwell’s would undergo yet another transformation in 1928, when a second reworking and renaming would bring about the creation of the first Plymouth.

About 750 Maxwell’s are known to exist today. The Maxwell has become one of the most iconic cars as it was feature on the Jack Benny radio and television show thorough out his career.

Footnote: One day I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Schwanke tell one of our guests a story. He told the gentle man that he had been stop by a fellow who had stop in and took a tour of the museum and was told by the manager at the time (not me) that Mr. Schwanke had purchase the 1917 Maxwell from Jack Benny. Which is not true but here is what the fellow was told.

Jack Benny was going through Willmar and got a flat tire and was so mad that there was not any filling station open to fix his tire. Mr. Benny got upset and wanted to sell the car. So when Mr. Schwanke heard about this he offers to buy the car from Mr. Benny. Mr. Benny took the offer and went out and bought another car then went on his way. The story sounds so good the fellow believe it. Of course Virgil told him it was not true. But he still tells the story of what the manager at that time told people.

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