MORA

Mora Motor Car Co. (1906-1911)
Newark, New York

This is a Mora radiator emblem (c1906-1909)    mjs
Size: approx. 120mm wide 57mm high

Sam H Mora established the Mora Motor Car Company to build the Mora motor car, which began in 1906 as a 24 hp four-cylinder model in touring and roadster body styles with a six-cylinder model being offered in 1908 and 1909. In 1907, a Mora was driven over 8,000 miles without its hood being raised. Thereafter the Mora was advertised as the "World's Record Sealed Bonnet Hero". The most popular model was the four-cylinder Racytype, which was announced as a limited production car but production figures probably did not exceed this for any Mora model.

In July 1910, it was reported that the creditors of the company were concerned over payments. Bankruptcy followed and, by 1911, it was all over for Mora. Sam Mora relocated to Cleveland and formed the Mora Power Wagon Company for the manufacture of commercial vehicles.

Emblems

The earliest original photo I have found of a Mora car is from The Automobile in March 1906 and appears to show a radiator emblem, see below:

Mora Light Four car showing radiator (1906) 

Close up showing possible radiator emblem

This "emblem" has not been seen elsewhere and given the poor quality of the photo it is likely that this dark mark on the radiator may have been caused by some distortion or reflection in the radiator tank top but I cannot confirm this. If you are aware of or have better details of a Mora radiator emblem in 1906, please let me know, in order to update this post.

There are several original period photos of Mora cars dated 1907. Most of these original photos do not show any "Mora" radiator emblem or radiator script, see example shown below:

Mora motor car showing no emblems (1907)   dpl

However, original photos of Mora cars from 1907 include examples showing the "Mora" name impressed into the brass radiator tank top, see the original 1907 photo of a Mora radiator shown below:

Mora radiator showing radiator emblem (1907)  hcg

This is the impressed brass Mora radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Mora radiator emblem is very rare.

This is a Mora radiator emblem (c1907-1909)   mjs
Size: approx. 120mm wide 57mm high 

The "Mora" name was also displayed on the brass hubcaps, see example shown below:

This is a Mora hubcap (c1908)    moroz

From about 1907, the Mora Motor Car Company used the slogan "Mechanically Right", which appeared in a ribbon under the name "Mora" in the style of a logo in advertisements, see example shown below:

Mora advertisement showing "Mechanically Right" logo (1908)  ms

From about 1908, Mora cars also displayed the "Mora" name in this logo style on a large brass script attached to the radiator core, see examples shown below. Original Mora radiator scripts are very rare.

Mora advertisement showing radiator script (c1908)   ms

Sam H Mora in his Mora car (c1908)  americanautomobiles

Close up showing rad emblem & script (1908)

The design of the brass Mora radiator script used on the Mora Four models changed to a finer more detailed style in about 1909, see original period photos shown below:

Mora Four cars at trade show with finer "Mora" scripts (c1909)  dpl

Mora Four car showing finer radiator script (c1910)   dpl

Close up showing Mora rad emblem & script (c1910)  dpl

Mora introduced the Mora Model 20 roadster in late 1909 for the 1910 model year. The Mora Model 20 had a new Renault style hood and radiator, which did not carry an emblem, see example shown below:

Mora 20 roadster with Renault style hood (1909)    sam

The Mora Model 20 did display the "Mora" name on the hubcaps and on Mora nameplates/serial plates usually located on the dash or under the driver's seat, see examples shown below:

Mora Twenty hubcap (1909)    sam

This is a Mora nameplate/serial plate (c1909)   sam