1924 Gardner Model 5 Five Passenger Sedan

213.6ci Side Valve 4-Cylinder Engine
Single Carburetor
21.7bhp
3-Speed Manual Transmission
Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension
2-Wheel Drum Brakes

*Largely unrestored example
*St. Louis built automobile
*Twenties Family Sedan

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

The Gardner was a well-regarded car built in St. Louis, Missouri by the Gardner Motor Co. from 1919 to 1931. Russell Gardner had entered the car business in a slightly different route to many of his competitors. Having originally foreseen the likely transition away from the Banner buggies that he was building, he elected to supply bodies for Chevrolet cars, and it wasn't long before he controlled the entire Mississippi States region for them. After a few years, he would sell his business to General Motors, but when his sons, Fred and Russell Jr., returned from their Navy service, they decided to return to the motor industry and create their own brand using the family name. For the a little over a decade the Gardners built their own cars. Perhaps not surprisingly given their experience in assembling Chevrolets, theirs was always constructed using proprietary components. At the heart of them were Lycoming power plants. Gardner produced four- and six-cylinder models before launching its "Eight-in-Line" models for 1925. All 1928-29 Gardner models were straight-eights, although a six-cylinder line for 1930 was announced early in April, 1929.

Just shy of the heyday for Gardner, this is an example of their four-cylinder Model 5, which was in production from 1923 to 1925. Sitting on a 112-inch wheelbase and with 43hp Lycoming under the hood, in 5 passenger Sedan form it would have set its original owner back some $1,445. It was clearly a car built to a price, with painted radiator shell, solid disc wheels and very few 'bells and whistles', but one could be sure that the coachwork was both well designed and solidly constructed.

There is no documentation to support its path of the last 95 years, but it is likely to have been acquired by Mr. Spain in the peak period of his buying in the 1980s and early 1990s. Viewed today this car appears to be a much older restoration, or perhaps for its exterior a well preserved original, while the interior has been replaced at some point in tan fabric. It is not known when the Gardner was last run.