Lake Motor

[Steve Slocombe]

A 61 cubic inch overhead valve V-Twin made in Milwaukee in 1920? Yes my Lake Motor brochure is now in the Virtual Library.

[pem]

Hi Steve, that is a great brochure. Very, very rare. Thanks for sharing. Lake Motor Co. was a short lived adventure. Pretty much a paper company. Incorporated October 1919 and out of business later in 1920. The Lake Motor is actually a Mack Motor with Lake on the cases instead. After Perry went to A.O. Schmidt Co. to work on their motor wheel in 1914 his Mack Motor either stayed with the Universal Machinery Co. in Milwaukee on St. Paul Ave. where it was built or he sold his rights to a unknown entity. Universal Machinery went bankrupt If I remember correctly in 1919. As far as I can tell very few Lake Motors were ever built. There were never ever any Lake motorcycles built as far as I know.

By January 1920 there is a new president of the Lake Motor Co. from Appleton, Wis. I have an ad(which I can't locate right now) that advertises a grand new business coming to Appleton, Wis. to make Lake Motors. Never happened. Never opened the factory as far as I can tell. Truly a flash in the pan.

It is very possible the Lake(Mack)Motor went to Mar-Tan Motor Co. in Milwaukee in 1922 when they started building an updated version of the original 1913 Mack Motor. I actually owned a 1922 Mar-Tan at one time. They were proprietary industrial motors(v-twin) used in everything from grave diggers to pumps, fans and you name it. 2 sizes of v-twins and singles also. Pretty cool.

later

Dick Werner

[Steve Slocombe]

Thanks Dick, very interesting. That was an advanced motor for 1920, and even more so for 1913. The Harley histories describe difficulties from a period of post-WW1 inflation, so maybe that did for Lake as well. Most of the early US motorcycle manufacturers were out of business by 1920. I can only think of Harley-Davidson, Indian, Excelsior, Henderson, Cleveland, Reading Standard and maybe Emblem still going by then, with Spacke perhaps still making engines.

[duffeycycles]

Steve did they give you credit on the info you gave to the Foundation library or did they credit the librarian like they did to everything I gave to the old library?

[Steve Slocombe]

I didn't ask for credit on the Lake brochure, and am not even sure where the library would show it. This nos brochure was a gift to me from the British VMCC, so maybe they have more than one in their library. And time for a correction, the Lake twin motor is 69 cubic inches, not 61, so perhaps aimed to take on Spacke rather than Harley.

[pem]

Here's a Lake motor and a Mack Motor. Both are not motorcycle motors I believe because of the shafts sticking out both sides of the motors. Plus blueprint of a Mack motorcycle motor I believe.

[Steve Slocombe]

Great pictures, thank you!

[pem]

I was rummaging around the forums and came across this post and realized I didn't post the photos of my Mar-Tan motor. It was a really nice original in great shape.

[exeric]

Those are some of the most beautiful early motors, Dick. Your Mar-Tan would be look great in a tri-car, similar to a Morgan. I have a friend in Europe that has done that with JAP motors he has found. . . . Lots of work, though

[pem]

I agree Eric. I had more than one person who said they wanted to machine the cases of my Mar-Tan to make it look like a motorcycle motor and then build a "Fantasy motorcycle" out of it. I like your friend's idea much better. They are only original once.