Ch 7 Kissel: Daring Ambition
Kissel, a storied brand that hailed from snowy Wisconsin, stood out as one company that dared, year after year, to produce a car built for fun and adventure despite the ups and downs of an uncertain capitalistic economy. Imagine that!
The Kissel Motor Car Company was family-owned and operated in Hartford, Wisconsin. William and George Kissel started the business in 1906 with the support of two other brothers and backing from their father, the owner of a successful farm implements manufacturing business. The first Kissel Kars were assembled with outsourced components until sales success afforded them the opportunity to make their own parts and assemblies. This transformed their business model and would inform their work culture.
Kissels were built by hand to a very high standard of quality “in the German tradition,” aided by hiring gifted engineering talent imported from Germany. “Kissel Custom Built” was their advertising slogan and core belief. As touted in Kissel sales brochures, their cars were made
as if to individual order, under one roof, where
uniformly high standards of workmanship govern
every detail of design and construction.
This was the Kissel mandate: build or rework everything that went into their cars to meet their very own stiff requirements. And what they produced were magnificently hand-built beauties for an affluent middle class market.
Generations of Kissels
In 1909, Kissel rolled out the Kissel Kar G-9 Semi-Racer, an open-cockpit model that continued in some form until 1914.
1909 G-9 Semi-Racer. Accessories were removed for track use.
This street speedster concept was all the rage in this era, as it emulated many track-oriented competitors that were grabbing headlines in newspapers all over the country. Contemporaries in this category such as the Stutz Bearcat, the Mercer Raceabout, and the Marmon 32 Speedster were all winning in hillclimbs, on the roads, and on the tracks. And winning in the showrooms, too!
1912 Model 4-30 Semi-Racer, Wisconsin Automotive Museum.
Although Kissel offered sporting models that looked racy, the factory did not sponsor a track or endurance competition team, a faux pas at a time when these types of activities were major sources of public entertainment. Instead, Kissel focused on cruising and recreation, and even touted their speedsters as runabouts for doing chores or business. As worded in their brochure for 1913:
This model has found special favor with owners who
have bigger cars mostly devoted to family use, and who
wish a smaller lively car for business service.
A second generation of Kissels appeared in the late nineteen-teens and instantly became the talk of the nation at various auto salons, starting with (what became) the New York Auto Show in January of 1918 . The Kissel Kar Silver Special Speedster was named (in part) to acknowledge the design influence of its most enterprising dealer, Conover Silver, and the model proved to be an instant hit.
1918 Silver Special Speedster included in this press report of the New York Automobile Show held in January.
In 1919, after some judicious name changes, the phrase “custom built” was inserted to place an emphasis on the quality of Kissel automobiles. The Kissel Speedster was touted in its advertisements and press releases as possessing a “fleetness and power combined with rakishness and style.” This model continued in some form throughout the mid-1920s.
1923 Kissel 6-55 Custom Built Speedster.
The White Eagle Speedster was introduced in 1928 and represented both a final refinement of Kissel’s original speedster concept and an attempt to revive the company’s sales, as the 1920s had not been kind to the company.
This poster was issued in 1928 to announce the arrival of the White Eagle Speedster.
“White Eagle” was now applied to all models of Kissel, but the White Eagle Speedsters of 1928-1930 were a crowning achievement for the company, a model that also served as a harbinger of the luxo speedsters that would soon be offered by the likes of Packard, Auburn, and Duesenberg.
The white-painted bodies were fitted onto 132- and 136-inch chassis and motivated by a powerful inline-eight of 115 horsepower. With everything rubber-mounted, White Eagles were almost vibration-free. These were chariots of the gods.
Amelia Earhart was a Kissel owner, using her Gold Bug Speedster as a means to have fun and adventure, which made her biography a natural fit to the Kissel chapter. Amelia and her mother went on a cross-country tip in her Kissel, venturing into Canada before heading on to Boston to meet up with sister Muriel Earhart. One of Amelia’s close friends said that “Amelia loved her Kissel like a pet dog.”
Ch 8 Franklin: Air-Cooled to the End
Chance and a common location brought together two characters—an engineer and a businessman—both driving forces in late nineteenth century Syracuse, and from their partnership, the Franklin automobile came into existence.
Franklins stood out from other automobiles in that they began their existence using air-cooled engines, and they stuck to that implementation. Franklin’s core belief centered around producing a lightweight automobile, and this was another founding principal that made their automobiles irresistible.
Franklin’s “scientific light weight” philosophy.
Applying sound engineering and rock-solid marketing, Franklin flourished in the 1920s. Franklin hitched their wagon to the growing interest in aeronautics, as their engines were air-cooled like their cousins in the sky.
It helped that Franklin hired aeronautical pioneers like Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Frank Hawks to promote Franklin’s products. In fact, it was classic case of using famous personalities for marketing purposes; Franklin prospered.
1931 Franklin ad with a testimonial from the legendary airman, Captain Frank Hawks.
A special car, the Dietrich-designed speedster model, was the company’s high point. However, the Great Depression undermined Franklin and sent the company to the scrap yard.
Charles Lindbergh in a 1931 Franklin Dietrich Speedster.
Charles Lindbergh was world famous when his former U.S. Army commander, now an advertising executive, asked him to help promote the Franklin automobile. Lindbergh admired the car because it had an air-cooled engine and was light when compared to other vehicles in its class. Lindbergh’s bio piece is part of the chapter on Franklin; one of Lindbergh’s famous pitches for Franklin showed him driving a Franklin Dietrich Speedster.
Ch 9 Packard: Making a Stand
The Packard automobile began in the shops of the New York and Ohio Company, an electrical supply firm owned by the Packard brothers. James Ward Packard had been chastised by Alexander Winton for repeatedly returning his (Packard’s) Winton to be serviced due to bugs and breakdowns; no Lemon Law existed at this time!
So, the Packards decided to make their own car, and thus began the saga of Packard, a company that began in 1899 and made it to 1958. Imagine that!
1899 Packard.
Although initially compact in size Packard soon produced cars that were large and luxurious, but they were also well-engineered and dependable. Strategically relocating to Detroit, Packard’s reputation as a premier luxury automobile, preferred by bluebloods, captains of industry, leaders of nations, and the stars of Hollywood, would stand unblemished for decades.
James A Macauley was the President of Packard through many of its most successful years. MacAucley had hired Jesse Vincent in 1915, and in 1916 Vincent designed Packard’s first series of 12-cylinder cars, known as the Twin Six series.
Vincent was a gifted mechanical engineer who would design several performance engines and other new technologies for Packard. Vincent had speedsterism in his blood, was a racer at heart, and as chief engineer he also had the run of the Packard Proving Grounds, which had opened in 1928.
1928 Vincent-designed Packard Speedster prototype.
One of his go-fast creations included a Packard prototype speedster that would test new components that insinuated themselves into sporting models as well as production speedsters for Packard. However, Vincent’s work had no corroborated direct linkage to the three generations of Packard speedsters which are discussed in the book’s chapter on Packard.
1930 Packard 734 Speedster Runabout.
Vincent’s work no doubt inspired design teams to put forth sporting models, but none of these speedster creations received much press or advertising, and as such were produced in small quantities as concept cars or custom vehicles.
1933-1934 Packard Eleventh Series Twelve Model 1106 Sport Runabout Speedster. Quite the name, eh?
Looking on the bright side, this guaranteed that Packard speedsters would eventually attain cult status and become collectible classics. Just ask the man who owns one!
Thomas Hitchcock Jr. came from an American aristocratic family, and he could have led a quiet life enjoying wealth and leisure. Instead, Hitchcock dropped out of prep school at age 17, and with the help of family friend Teddy Roosevelt, signed up for air service in wartime France. Hitchcock was shot down, imprisoned by the Germans, only to jump from a prison train and escape to Switzerland.
Hitchcock was friends with F. Scott Fitzgerald and inspired two of Fitzgerald’s more famous characters. Hitchcock led an adventurous and productive life, and he drove a Packard 734 Speedster Roadster; his biography accompanies the chapter on Packard.
Next issue we’ll look at the last three chapters of the book. You won’t want to miss how this all wraps up!
=BOOK NEWS=
Speaking of the book, Classic Speedsters, this week the files were given their final read-through for any errors or omissions. At this time, the book is now in the hands of the printers, Friesens of Manitoba. Unlike other book publishers who have sent their materials overseas, we do not expect a shipping delay or a materials supply shortage. We are hoping for the completed book to be for sale by the upcoming holiday season at www.ClassicSpeedsters.com. Stay tuned, speedster friends!