About Gardner
Gardner was an automobile maker based in St. Louis Missouri between 1920 and 1931.
Without a dollar in his pocket, Russell E. Gardner left his home state Tennessee for St. Louis in 1879. Three-and-a-half decades later he was a millionaire several times over. Russell Gardner had made it big in St. Louis by manufacturing Banner buggies before the turn of the century, and unlike many wagon builders, was well aware of what the automobile age meant to his business. He got started by building new Chevrolet bodies and alongside, his company was building wagons. By 1915 this had led to the complete assembly of Chevrolets in St. Louis and Russell Gardner was controlling all Chevrolet trade west of the Mississippi River states.
Russell Gardner sold his Chevrolet business to General Motors after his sons entered the Navy during World War I. After the war, the three decided to build their own automobiles. The Gardner Motor Company was established with Russell E. Gardner, Sr. as chairman of the board, Russell E. Gardner, Jr. as president, and Fred Gardner as vice-president. Their previous experience had been in the assembling of cars, so it was not surprising that the Gardner was assembled from bought-in parts. Lycoming engines were used throughout the years of production. A four-cylinder model with a 112-inch wheelbase and medium price was introduced in late 1919 as a 1920 model.
Sales in 1921 were 3800 cars, which increased in 1922 to 9000. In early 1924 Cannon Ball Baker established a new mid-winter transcontinental record from New York to Los Angeles in 7 days, 17 hours, and 8 minutes in a Gardner. They started to prepare to expand the product line and distributorship network. The plant's capacity was 40,000 cars annually, and by 1925 these included both sixes and eights. The fours were dropped in 1925, with both sixes and eights being produced in 1926 and 1927.
