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Martini 12/16 CV
Car : Martini 12/16 CV
Year : 1909
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :80×110 mm
Cylinder capacity : 2212 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 16
Maximum speed : 40 mph
Wheelbase :-
Suspension : front and rear: semi-elliptic leaf- springs
Martini was founded in Frauenfeld by Friedrich von Martini and it specialized in sheet pressing and the manufacture of rifles. In 1902 it began to construct cars, specifically the French Rochet-Schneider (though having previously made an attempt at independent manufacture in 1897 with a car powered by a rear mounted twin-cylinder engine and again in 1908 with a vis-à-vis with a front mounted engine). The early years were troubled; Martini moved in 1903 to St Blaise in the canton of Neuchâtel. In 1906 the factory was sold to an Englishman, Deasy, and he in turn handed it over to a group of Swiss bankers in 1908, in which year it was renamed the Société Nouvelle des Automobiles Martini.
The 12/16 had a monobloc engine with overhead inlet valves and shaft drive, features that placed it amongst the most up to date cars of the time. The company again ran into difficult times which it attempted to overcome first by handing over half the shares to the German firm Steiger, then by buying the manufacturing rights to the Wanderer and finally by producing a luxury car entirely designed by Martini. However, nothing succeeded in saving the company and it went into liquidation in 1934.
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