New Unknown Milwaukee V-twin

[pem]

Well it is unknown to me and I have been researching Milwaukee motors for over 20 years. Even Herb said he had never heard of one. It is a Mar-Tan or Mar Tan made in Milwaukee between 1922 and 19??. Principal player was A.E.
Martin, Wisconsin Senator, businessman and all around good guy. I was lucky enough to find a fair amount of history
about Martin and his motor. A.E. Martin first got into the foundry business in 1905. Same year as Harley-Daividson's first production motorcycle. He and his partners went through numerous name changes and ownership until in 1922 his new company was organized as Mar-Tan Motors, Inc. They built a varity of different sized motors, singles and twins, for a varity of different purposes. Pretty much the same thing Perry Mack did with his Mack Motor in 1913. In the teens Martin's company built cylinders for Hartley-Davidson.

I picked it up less than a month ago near the Canadian border north of Duluth. Good chance it came from the area of the iron mines. I have since found an owners manual at the Smithsonian Inst. and an owners manual for the magneto too. Mag is a German Bosch FFVR. It was described to me by a fellow club member as a "baby racing Bosch". Carb is Tillitson model V?. Part of the bowl cover is missing and has to be replaced. Motor has a govenor and is wet sump. Intake is aluminum and it has a brass fan bracket. It is rope pull start. It has a huge flywheel and is definitely a stationary motor. You could order them for boats, cyclecars, pumps, conveyors, fans, airplanes, etc. Just like a Mack. This one has the same mounting bosses as a Mack and the same layout on the cam gear cover. The intake and exhaust maniforld is bolted on and Mack and Waverley motors had pipe type fittings. The heads on the Mar Tan also had extra finning for cooling just like the Waverley motor. It also has fins the entire length of the cylinder unlike Mack motors. This just might be the evolution of the Mack motor.

It is in running condition and all original. I'd like to get it going one of these days.

Dick

[tst]

That is cooler looking than the one I found
Tim

[sirhrmechanic]

Very neat machine. Guessing it's for running pumps or similar static equipment?

But very interesting find and looking forward to hearing more about the history and background.

Cheers,

Sirhr

[milw.pirates]

if you go to a web site called Smoke Stak.com you will find 3 or 4 other owners of this motor

[c.o.]

That engine screams of Perry Mack influence. What a great find!!!

[HarleyCreation]

Holy smokes, what a fantastic find! I think you and cory are right and this is yet another variation of Perry E. Mack's fabulous overhead-valve motorcycle engine technology! This time under the name "Mar-Tan" and a V-twin no less.

Beautiful!

No, I had never heard of this job before, but the photos say it all.

Dick, are you going to keep this thing intact and preserve it as a rare piece of early Milwaukee-made V-twin history and technology? Or sell it to somebody who will cut it up and make another "fantasy bike" around it that never existed in the first place? (Jeez, I can already see the fancy script "Mar-Tan" lettering on the gas tank!)

This baby looks to be in near perfect condition as if a few pulls on the starter rope would get it running! Sounds like you are going to run it. Cool! How about the original dirt and grime? Are you going to clean it or leave it perfectly original with A.E. Martin's fingerprints still on it? Maybe Perry's fingerprints too, you never know.

[pem]

Hi Herb, my plans are to keep it as it is. They are only original once. No plans to clean it up. I adjusted the
valves last night. All the bolts and nuts are free. No rust. That makes things much easier. It looks like it was run yesterday. The guy I bought it from said it sat in his garage for 19 years. Before that I don't know.

Milwaukee Pirate, I saw that info too on Smoke Stak.com and I believe they were talking about the singles. I saw a single last weekend at the Baraboo swapmeet for sale. Only thing is they are butt ugly and about 3-4ft. high with a big
base. I passed. To make things even more interesting I met a guy who has a v-twin Mar Tan that is 1/3 smaller than
mine. He said other than being smaller is looks the same. I also received another email from a man this morning
that also has a v-twin Mar Tan. Full size. Now that makes 3 Mar Tan v-twins we know about.

Dick

[Slojo]

Or sell it to somebody who will cut it up and make another "fantasy bike" around it that never existed in the first place?

Herb

I was already eyeing it up and sharpening my hack saw. Look at those OHVs This motor would make a cool racer in a belt drive twin HD chasses .

joe

[jurassic]

All fantasies fulfilled.

[rwm]

you could do something like this

[pem]

That is a very cool Reading Standard. What is the year? Was that a production motor?

Dick

[HarleyCreation]

I was already eyeing it up and sharpening my hack saw. Look at those OHVs This motor would make a cool racer in a belt drive twin HD chasses .

joe

What name would you put on the gas tank?

"Martan-Davidson"?

The ohv top is very enticing. Dick, is it correct that the lit says there are ball bearings inside this motor?

What is this thing: A racing utility motor?

[HarleyCreation]

Hi Herb, my plans are to keep it as it is. They are only original once. No plans to clean it up. I adjusted the
valves last night. All the bolts and nuts are free. No rust. That makes things much easier. It looks like it was run yesterday. The guy I bought it from said it sat in his garage for 19 years. Before that I don't know.

In this case, I think that may be the right decision. Even not cleaning it. It's just so darn perfectly complete and nice as it is.

Did the guy you bought it from say where he got it?

I saw a single last weekend at the Baraboo swapmeet for sale. Only thing is they are butt ugly and about 3-4ft. high with a big
base. I passed.

Was the big single equipped with overhead-valves or another config?

To make things even more interesting I met a guy who has a v-twin Mar Tan that is 1/3 smaller than
mine. He said other than being smaller is looks the same. I also received another email from a man this morning that also has a v-twin Mar Tan. Full size. Now that makes 3 Mar Tan v-twins we know about.

Dick

The mini-twin sounds really cool. All this shows there are a few of these Mar-Tan V-twins banging around out there, but they remained largley below the radar screen because they are not exactly a motorcycle engine. But still so much like a Mack or Waverley motor that it boggles the mind--plus made in hometown Milwaukee.

[pem]

Hi Herb, the guy said he picked it up near the iron mines n. of Duluth with another motor. He also had a beautiful WWII radial airplane engine and a bunch of hit & miss stuff. That radial was huge. Looking at the base that my motor had on it I can only guess what it was used on. Could have been anything.

The single I saw had an exposed exhaust valve similar to my motor but the intake appeared to be an atmospheric type valve. Like I said very ugly. I should have taken a photo.

The more I look at it the more I am convinced it is an evolution of the Mack motor. The Lake motor went out of business almost as soon as it started in 1919 and the Mar Tan came out in 1922. The Lake was a direct copy of the Mack and the design may have been sold to Mar Tan or Perry may have sold his original design to Mar Tan. Who kmows. Perry was deeply involved at Briggs & Stratton at this time having just designed the B&S motorwheel and now working on B&S's small engines and a boatload of other inventions. He ended up with over 20 inventions while he was with B&S plus at least 2 Canadian patents.

Yes, this motor had "self-aligning ball bearings" and "Bunting Bushings used for all Bronze Bearings" and the manual said it has "oversize bearings" and the motor could be supplied with "either two or three bearing crankshaft, cast iron or aluminum crank case and with any type of ignition." Motor was 23" high, 18" wide and 17" deep. Weighed 150lbs.
Bore 3 3/8" x stroke 3 29/32". 69.9 cu.in. 12 Hp @ 1,750 rpm.

It had the "Baby racing Bosch magneto" so who knows what you want to call it. Racing utility motor sounds kind of
odd though. I think your pushing it there Herb.

Dick

[c.o.]

It had the "Baby racing Bosch magneto" so who knows what you want to call it. Racing utility motor sounds kind of
odd though. I think your pushing it there Herb.

Dick

Ah.... come on Dick... that thing looks fast just sitting there!!! I can hear it now.. "my pump will put out more water than yours!!!"