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The brand name of motor cars was started as the Maxwell-Briscoe Company of Tarrytown, New York. The company was named after founders Jonathan Dixon Maxwell , who earlier had worked for Oldsmobile, and the Briscoe Brothers Metalworks.
Maxwell was the only profitable company of the combine named United States Motor Company formed in 1910. Due to a conflict between two of its backers, the United States Motor Company failed in 1913. Maxwell was the only surviving member of combine. In 1913, the Maxwell assets were purchased by Walter Flanders, who reorganized the company as the Maxwell Motor Company, Inc.. The company moved to Detroit, Michigan. Some of the Maxwells were also manufactured at a plant in Dayton, Ohio.
In a short period of time, however, Maxwell over-extended and wound up deeply in debt with over half of their production unsold in the post World War I recession in 1920. The following year, Walter P. Chrysler arranged to take a controlling interest in Maxwell. Maxwell Motors was re-incorporated in West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state of the United States, known as The Mountain State. While many consider it part of the South, many in the state's Northern Panhandle feel a greater affinity for Pittsburgh, while those in the Eastern Panhandle feel a greater affini with Walter Chrysler as the chairman.
In 1925 Walter Chrysler formed the Chrysler Motors CorporationThe Chrysler Corporation is a United States-based automobile manufacturer. History The company was formed by Walter Chrysler on June 6, 1925, with the remaining assets of Maxwell Motor Company. In 1928 Chrysler founded the De Soto brand at the medium-high. That same year the Maxwell line was phased out and the Maxwell company assets absorbed by Chrysler. Several early models of Chrysler cars were built largely on the design of earlier Maxwells.
The Maxwell is perhaps most famous as the vehicle driven by comedianA comedian (also comedienne female) is a person who attempts to make people laugh through a variety of methods, normally through joke telling. However, other comedians rely on methods such as slapstick (for example, Laurel and Hardy), or prop comedy to ge Jack BennyJack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 December 26, 1974) was a comedian, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the most prominent early stars of American radio and television. Often cited for his impeccable comic timing, Benny was a on his radioFor other uses see: radio (disambiguation Radio is a technology that allows the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of light. Radio waves Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation, and are and televisionSee TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television p programs, decades after the Maxwell ceased production. It was a running joke on the programs that Benny was a miser driving an outdated, noisy, barely-functioning jalopy. On Benny's radio program voice artist Mel Blanc portrayed Benny's Maxwell sputtering, chugging, and gasping with various comic vocal sound effects. (Contrary to the portrayal on Benny's show, the Maxwells were rated as fairly good automobiles in their time.)