The Hackett was an automobile built in

Jackson, Michigan Jackson is the only city and county seat of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534, down from 36,316 at the 2000 census. Located along Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127, it is approxi ...

, United States, by the Hackett Motor Car Company from 1916 to 1919. Englishman Mansell Hackett had founded the Disco Starter Co. in Detroit. As an ancillary business, he bought small, near-defunct American automobile manufacturers, and either split them up and sold the parts, or refurbished them as a whole. One of these companies was the Argo Motor Co owned by

Benjamin Briscoe Benjamin Briscoe (May 1867–26 June 1945) was born in Detroit, Michigan, and was an automobile pioneer and industrialist. Briscoe entered business for himself at age of 18 with capital of $472, organizing the firm of Benjamin Briscoe & Co. to ...

. Mansell decided to keep this enterprise, and become a car manufacturer himself. So, it was reorganized as the Hackett Motor Car Co. Some financing came from a ship building family in Ferrisburg, which resulted in J.S. Johnston becoming president of the company, and Hackett its general manager. The Hackett was an assembled car, powered by a four-cylinder, side-valve G.B.&S. engine with a Carter carburetor, and a displacement of 178.8 c.i. (3078 cm³). It delivered . The car had a conventional frame with a wheelbase of , and was quite obviously patterned after the

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At first, the Hackett was offered as a 5-passenger

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

and a 4-passenger roadster, each priced at $888. In 1918, the latter was replaced by 2- and 3-passenger variants, and a 5-passenger "All Seasons Touring", which meant either a touring car fitted with a removable "winter" or "California" top (as period Dodge cars were offered¨with), or a fixed roof with removable side panels and windows for summer use. Following a forced production interrupt due to war material shortages, operations were transferred to

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. Chief engineer Fred M. Guy worked since 1910 on a "valveless" engine with rotating, gear driven discs, thus eliminating camshaft and valve springs. He and Otto W. Heinz had a four-cylinder prototype working in 1919, when the company was closed after another, ill-fated reorganization. Mansell returned to his earlier business of manufacturing starters, and Guy and Heinz went to

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, and ...

where they joined forces with Apex Motor Corp., builder of the

Ace An ace is a playing card, Dice, die or domino with a single Pip (counting), pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit (cards), suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large a ...

car. Here, the Guy engine was reworked into a six-cylinder power plant, and saw limited production. Later, it led to the founding of the Guy Disc Valve Motor Co. in Ypsilanti. The premises in Grand Rapids were sold to the Lorraine Motors Corp., were a

Herschell-Spillman The Allan Herschell Company specialized in the creation of amusement rides, particularly carousels and roller coasters. The company manufactured portable machines that could be used by traveling carnival operators. It was started in 1915 in the ...

powered, medium-sized car was built initially. Plans of David Dunbar Buick of building a larger Lorraine with an engine developed by him, using the IOE principle incorporated in the very first

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did not materialize. In total, there were only about 118 Hackett cars built.

References

Literature

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hackett (Automobile) Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan