• A rare and short-lived British marque
• Present family ownership since 1990
• Last participated in the London-Brighton Run in 2018
• Requires recommissioning

The Motor Manufacturing Company (MMC) was successor to The Great Horseless Carriage Company, which had been founded in 1897 by the infamous entrepreneur and fraudster, Harry J Lawson, and was part of his British Motor Syndicate. Lawson had sought to establish a monopoly of motor manufacturing in Britain by obtaining as many related patents as possible, starting with those of the German Daimler company. His efforts, like those of the Selden patent's owners in the USA, would be frustrated by the courts.

The Great Horseless Carriage Company shared the Motor Mills in Coventry with Daimler's British offshoot and commenced production in 1897 using Daimler engines and gearboxes, while the bodies and wheels were of its own manufacture. Reorganised as The Motor Manufacturing Company in 1898, it continued with Daimler based designs alongside rear-engined types designed by railway engineer George Iden. Motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles were added to the portfolio and MMC also supplied its engines to other manufacturers.

In receivership in 1904, MMC relocated to Parkside in Coventry and the company staggered on for the next few years, producing a handful of cars, before being reorganised again in 1907. MMC moved to London but its new owner's ambitious plans came to nought and it effectively ceased to exist in 1908.

Representing the marque at the height of its success, this MMC was found in a barn in Peckham, Kent in 1932 by a Mr Kenneth Harlow, and participated in numerous London-Brighton Runs carrying the registration 'LO 4445'. A Mr J Hamilton-Fish purchased the MMC in the mid-1960s and continued its long run of London-Brighton entries. He changed the registration to 'A 883' and also removed the front part of the body with its bench seat because of its poor condition and the numerous repairs. He obtained a 1900 brougham carriage, which was fitted to the car and is still in place today (the boot section remains original). Other modifications were made at around this time including fitting a better carburettor (believed original carburettor with car). The MMC went to a museum in the USA in the late 1970s, passing to the vendor's father on its return in 1990. Sadly, the history file did not return with it. The car last participated in the London-Brighton Run in 2018 and has not been driven recently; recommissioning will be required before returning it to the road. A new drive chain and related parts is included in the sale. Offered with a VCC Dating Certificate (copy) issued in June 1991.