Maxwell Model 40 History

Introduced for 1913, the Maxwell Model 40 was a larger four-cylinder car offered as a touring car and roadster, positioned above the company's new low-priced Model 25. It was powered by a 298-cubic-inch T-head four rated at roughly 40 brake horsepower — surviving serial numbers suggest the Model 30 and Model 40 together were built only in modest numbers. Its name reflected the upmarket end of Maxwell's range during the period when Walter Flanders had reorganized the firm as the Maxwell Motor Company and moved production toward Highland Park, Michigan.

The Model 40 is the kind of mid-decade Maxwell that survives today in the hands of antique-car restorers, but it was a transitional product: Maxwell's future lay with the cheaper, higher-volume Model 25, and the larger 40-class cars faded as the company concentrated on its budget four-cylinder.