SOLVED - What car #490 - 1952 Multiplex

[@re]

Recognize this?

Please, respond below and let us know the make and model designation of the car posted here.

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[Allemano]

VW based?

[jotage21]

Multiplex Motorette 1952

[Ray B.]

@re, you do find some good ones these days!

[@re]

Well, thank you - it still appears that they're not quite good enough, because they don't go unsolved for long!

A 1952 Multiplex Motorette it is.

[Arunas]

Could I just ask if that car was manufactured by Multiplex Manufacturing Company, Berwick, Pennsylvania (1953-1954) because I have really never seen that picture before 

[Allemano]

Quote from my book:


Multiplex (USA)

A two-seat sportscar which came in 1952, and went in 1954
after just three had been made. Tunes Willys engines, an
87bhp F-head 'four' or a 124bhp 'six', and Willys running gear
wer fitted to a tubular frame.

[Arunas]

Quote from my book:


Multiplex (USA)

A two-seat sportscar which came in 1952, and went in 1954
after just three had been made. Tunes Willys engines, an
87bhp F-head 'four' or a 124bhp 'six', and Willys running gear
wer fitted to a tubular frame.

Thank You! So that means it is no way related with Multiplex 186, right?

UPDATE: Sorry if I'm too curious, but I have found an article (I really don't remember where it is taken from) in my hard drive that describes Multiplex marque as following:

"Most early American sports cars had big V-8 engines, but the 1953 Multiplex bucked the trend with small Singer or Willys engines. Designed by Fritz Bingaman, they were built by Multiplex Manufacturing in Berwick, Pennsylvania. They used a simple ladder frame with independent front suspension, and the prototypes had crude, slab-sided aluminum bodies. After testing the first cars in sports car races, production was started with fiberglass coupe or roadster bodies copied from the Italian Cisitalia sports cars. Price was a little over $4,000 and bare chassis could also be ordered."

As one can see it also mentiones Willys engines, so the confusion is still there (and I still believe this marque that my article and Allemano's article describe is NO WAY RELATED to that one in puzzle)...

[Allemano]

It's all I know about the car/make!

[Arunas]

It's all I know about the car/make!

I bet the book You quoted doesn't have a picture of that marque's car and really doesn't have that puzzle car, right?

[Allemano]

It shows the very same pic like the one which was posted here!

[Arunas]

It shows the very same pic like the one which was posted here!

Yes indeed (That means I have found it)!  That's very strange and thank You one more time!

[@re]

Well, I've been back to check my sources, and I can't really say where I got that Motorette name from, but there is probably a good reason. What I do know, though, is that one of my books also says this about Multiplex:

Multiplex Mfg Co, Berwick, Pa.
The Multiplex 186 was a short-lived sports car powered by a 2-litre 4-cylinder or 2.7-litre Willys F-head 6-cylinder engine. The chassis had independent front suspension.

This is not the source that the picture came from, though. Interpret this as you like...

[Ray B.]

I am not sure that this is the same company. Here is a picture of the car produced by the Multiplex Manufacturing Co of Berwick, PA, and it's not the same styling at all.

[Quiller]

The Multiplex car you've posted there uses an Allied Fiberglass body, itself a copy of the Cisitalia 202.

Here's some info:

"Mickey Thompson, along with his hot-rodding buddy, Bill Burke, decided to borrow HOT ROD and MOTORTREND magazine publisher, Robert Peterson's, new Cistalia 202 coupe. Apparently unbeknownst to Peterson, they took a plaster mold from the Cisitalia coupe at the shop of customiser George Barris while the Cisitalia was awaiting a new paint job. In the Summer of 1952, the two then enlisted the help of experienced  'glass man Roy Kinch to help with the making of permanent molds and the lay-up of the production bodies. The name of the new venture was called the "Atlas Fiber-glas Company", but was soon changed to "Allied Fiberglass" after the the former name came into conflict with another fiberglass producer.
The first bodies produced were dimensionally exact to the Cisitalia and were thus installed on small car chassis's like MG and Triumph.
A while later, a larger body was produced that could fit over domestic chassis's with 56"-60 track and 98-102" wheelbase. A few of these larger bodies were mounted onto Kurtis 500KK kit car chassis. These aforementioned cars are the most sought after Allied bodied cars.
Bill Burke built an Allied coupe with a tube chassis and Ardun-Merc engine and held the sportscar class at Bonneville for many years.
It is rumored that Mickey Thompson built a Allied coupe to race in the 1955 La Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico, but never ran it due to the race being cancelled.
The exact amount of bodies and completed cars that Allied produced is unknown, but many have guessed at around 50 total.
Allied supplied finished bodies to Mulitplex Mfg in Pennsylvania (a builder of railroad cars) who built three finished cars between 1952-54."

[Ray B.]

I know. This has been explained by others above with less details.
The point is that I, and those other puzzlers, are less and less sure that these two cars come from the same manufacturer.

EDIT: A little research and Google books gave me the solution. I was wrong, and @re is right, his puzzle car is probably the first 1952 Multiplex, and fits very well with what the book says "... a squarish and gaudily decorated convertible..." The book states clearly that the company's next move was another and more "decent" car, the 186.
The only thing were @re may be wrong is that it probably wasn't called the Motorette (this doesn't fit with what seemed to be the company's goal). There was an American "Motorette" in 1946-1948, and I guess his source wrongly mixed the two makes.

[Paul Jaray]

I forgot to add what I have got on this:
in the Standard Catalog there is the Multiplex entry on page 850.
1952 Multiplex (the car of the quiz)
This was Multiplex second entry into the car building business. Their firs was in the early teens. The postwar Motorette (ndr: I think they are referring to the Multiplex, not to the Motorette 1946-1948 featured in the previous entry right above this one and that's the reason of @re's reply) was a roadster made of Studebaker, Willys and other production car parts. a Willys six-cylinder motor was used.
1953-1954 Multiplex (the Cisitalia-like one)
Multiplex only made three cars during the early 1950s. Their second and third, designated '186' models, were much better and more professional-looking than the first. They had a very strong italian accent in their styling. Willys F-head engines of four- or six-cylinders were souped-up some before being installed in the fiberglass bodies.

Just for the record, the first Multiplex was active in 1912-1913 with a 50hp touring model.

Wherever the Multiplex Motorette definition comes from, I think it is originated from the mistaken text above. Both cars (the puzzle's one and Ray's one) are from the same make, the one from Allemano's and Aruna's texts.
Here's what's in the Beaulieu:
Multiplex
The Multiplex was an early American experiment in small-displacement sportscars. The prototype was designed and built by Fritz Bingaman, and had a tubular chassis with double a-arm front suspension. It was fitted with a homely aluminium body and a Singer 1500cc engine. After developing it at race tracks, production models of the Multiplex 186 were sold. They had Willys 4- or 6-cylinder engines with more attractive fiberglass coupe or roadster bodies styled after the Italian Cisitalia sportscars. Price in 1954 was in the $4000 range. Multiplex would also sell bare chassis without engines.

[Otto Puzzell]

The Multiplex 186 dates from 1953, not 1952. Here is a period pic.

I think the puzzle pic shows the car when it was fitted, temporarily, with a Harley V-Twin

[Allemano]

Though not the prettiest car of all time it looks so much better with Brooklands screens.

[Carnut]

Rear view: