REMEMBERING THE MARMONS; No, they're not from Utah, but from Indy.(Revs)

Byline: BOB TOMAINE

Being an auto executive's son has always had benefits, even 75 or 80 years ago when George Williams was president of Marmon Motor Car Co.

"He would bring cars home,'' said Bruce S. Williams, 86, of his father, at the Mighty Marmon Muster in July. "He brought home a beautiful Big Eight town car headed for, I think, the Queen of Denmark. He brought it home just to show the family. We drove it around a good bit and the poor old queen, she's getting a secondhand car.''

The Marmon Muster, which drew about 20 cars, featured several days of touring New York's Finger Lakes region, and included track time at Watkins Glen.

"I've never driven on a track like that,'' said Bruce R. Williams (no relation to George or Bruce S.), who drove his 1930 Model 8-79. "We've had this one at the Indianapolis track. That's interesting, but you're just going around.''

In 1911 Ray Harroun's six-cylinder Marmon Wasp won the first Indy 500. Marmon had built cars there since 1902, when chief engineer Howard Marmon began his automotive experiments in the family business, Nordyke & Marmon, manufacturer of milling machinery.

"They had no problem selling the first half-dozen cars they built just for the fun of it,'' said Ron Barnett, editor of the Marmon News. "Howard Marmon did a lot of innovation.''