Gardner Front-Drive Six (prototype) History

In January 1930 Gardner announced what would have been its most technically advanced car: a front-wheel-drive six-cylinder model on a 133-inch wheelbase, clothed in a low-slung body built by Baker-Raulang. The chassis featured Lockheed hydraulic internal-expanding brakes and two-way hydraulic shock absorbers — equipment that remained unusual on American cars at the time. Rated at 80 hp from its Lycoming six, the car represented a genuine engineering ambition.

The timing was catastrophic. The Great Depression had already collapsed the luxury segment, the Sears mail-order distribution arrangement Gardner had planned fell apart when the stock market crashed, and New Era Motors — another partner in the front-drive project — imploded in October 1930. Only two prototypes were completed; the design never reached customers. The episode illustrates how close Gardner came, in its final year, to a genuinely innovative product it could not afford to build.