Rickenbacker was a Vintage Era

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

manufactured in

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Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, from 1922 until 1927. The car is best known for pioneering production of

four-wheel brakes A brake is a machine, mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for Acceleration, slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of ...

History

The company was established by Barney Everitt and Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, with Rickenbacker serving as Vice President and Director of Sales. Everitt's former partners

Walter Flanders Walter Emmett Flanders (March 4, 1871 – June 18, 1923) was an American industrialist in the machine tool and automotive industries and was an early mass production expert. Early life Flanders was born March 4, 1871 in Rutland, Vermont, the son ...

and William Metzger were also involved. Rickenbacker used his

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, 94th Fighter Squadron emblem depicting a

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally m ...

inside a ring. The 'Hat in a Ring' emblems were located both on the front and the back of the cars. The Rickenbacker was designed by engineers Harry L. Cunningham and E.R. Evans. It had a 3,482cc side-valve six-cylinder engine developing 58- hp, which ran very smoothly due to two flywheels, one at each end of the

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...

. The first Rickenbackers were displayed at the January 1922

New York Automobile Show New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. One of the display cars featured experimental four-wheel brakes. 1925 Rickenbacker D6 Sedan, front left (Hershey 2019)

The company made sporting

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

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sedans A sedan or saloon (British English) is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of the word "sedan" in reference to an automobile body occurred in 19 ...

, and roadsters. Four-wheel inside brakes were introduced in 1923. Prices in 1923 ranged from $1,485 for a phaeton to $1,985 () for a sedan. Several automobile companies began using four-wheel brakes but some companies not offering them began a promotion campaign suggesting they were unsafe, which probably hurt the new Rickenbacker company's sales. The death of Walter Flanders in an automobile accident in 1923 slowed company momentum as well. In 1924 a coach-brougham enclosed body style was introduced that would grow to represent 60% of Rickenbacker sales. The six-cylinder engines was up-rated to 60-hp and was joined in 1925 by an 4,401cc eight-cylinder engine developing 80-hp. The model was named ''Vertical Eight Super Fine'' which referred to the advanced proprietary engine and the high quality of the cars. Eddie Rickenbacker resigned from the company in 1926 due to internal discord in the company's leadership. Although 1927 saw new models, designated the ''6-70'', ''8-80'', and ''8-90'', Rickenbacker cars had increased in price and sales were poor. Before the company closed down due to bankruptcy in 1927, more than 27,000 cars had been built. The manufacturing equipment was sold to

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

and transported to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, somewhat ironic since Rickenbacker renounced his supposed German heritage (he was actually of Swiss ancestry) in light of

. This transaction was reflected in Audi Zwickau and Dresden models, using six- or eight-cylinder Rickenbacker engines.

File:Rickenbacker car ad.png, 1922 advertisement in the New York Tribune File:Rickenbacker-1925-11-20-hearsolte.jpg, 1924 advertisement in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

File:Car rigged with two pistols to measure a Bureau motorist’s reaction time in applying his brakes.jpg, Measuring a motorist reaction time with four wheel braking using two pistols File:Measuring a motorist's reaction time.jpg, Measuring a motorist reaction time with four wheel braking

In popular culture

*A 1924 model was featured prominently in the ''

Mr. Bevis "Mr. Bevis" is episode thirty-three of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. It first aired on June 3, 1960 on CBS. This episode is one of only four to feature the "blinking eye" opening sequence, and the first to feature ...

'' episode of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

''.

External links

Rickenbacker Motors Info WebsiteRickenbacker automobiles at ConceptCarzToo Much Too Soon article Hemmings MagazineRickenbacker 8 Coupe at Heritage Museum and GardensRickenbacker came up with an innovation that all cars use today but it destroyed the company- NPR Radio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rickenbacker (Car) Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Audi Defunct manufacturing companies based in Detroit Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1921 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1927 Vintage vehicles 1920s cars Cars introduced in 1921

History

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In popular culture

See also

External links

References