It is a fascinating story:
In 1903, Fred Duesenberg went to work for Rambler in Kenosha, Wisconsin. After a year, he came back to his hometown of Mason City Iowa and announced plans to build his automobile. Along with his brother Augie, he designed and built a prototype in 1905, which he called the "Marvel". With attorney Edward R. Mason he formed the Mason Motor Car Company in 1906 to produce an automobile called The Mason. (Due to Mason putting up 2/3 of the money to get started, he got the naming rights)
Under the Duesenberg brothers guidance the Mason was built from 1906 to 1909 in Des Moines, Iowa.
The two brothers also designed the Mason engine which was a two cylinder opposed engine with 5 x5 bore and stroke, and overhead valves. The two cylinder Mason-Duesenberg engine was "One of the swiftest and strongest in the world!" according to the 1906 magazine ad below.
In mid 1909, Senator Fred L. Maytag (who had already made a fortune in farm equipment and washing machines) purchased the Mason Automobile Company, and the name of the car was changed to Maytag. The Maytag succeeded the Mason with very little change in the automobiles themselves. Mr. Maytag moved the factory to Waterloo Iowa, and stuck with it for 1 year. Then he sold his interest in the company back to Mason, who eventually sold it to investment bankers. The car used both names, Mason-Maytag and just Mason during this period. With the 2 cylinder engine quickly becoming obsolete, the Duesenberg brothers designed a 4 cylinder engine with an extraordinary power to weight ratio. But the company refused to use it, opting to purchase cheaper engines from an outside source for their new 4 cylinder model. Thus the Duesenbergs left the company and moved to St. Paul, MN in 1913, where they began building their 4 cylinder "walking beam" engine for race cars, marine, and aircraft use. (BTW, the reason they chose St. Paul, was so they could conveniently test at the new concrete 2 mile oval, the short lived Twin City Speedway.
https://minneapolisparkhistory.com/tag/twin-city-motor-speedway/ Even though the Duesenberg 4 cylinder was not used in the Mason passenger cars, it was used in the Mason racing cars and placed 9th in the 1913 Indy 500 )
Production of Mason-Maytags was very slim in 1913, and ended in 1914. The company went into receivership in 1915.
There are no known surviving 4 cylinder Mason-Maytags, and 17 known 2 cylinder cars, (or remnants thereof) with perhaps 7 or 8 wearing the Maytag Badge.
I was fortunate enough to have acquired this 1910 Model C, formerly of the Harrah Collection, in fully restored condition.
