The Speedwell Motor Car Company was a

Brass Era The Brass Era is an American term for the early period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such things as lights and radiators. It is generally considered to encompass 1896 through 1915 ...

American

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

manufacturing company established by Pierce Davies Schenck that produced cars from 1907 to 1914. The

Great Dayton Flood The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 resulted from flooding by the Great Miami River reaching Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding area, causing the greatest natural disaster in Ohio history. In response, the General Assembly passed the Vonderheide Act to ...

of 1913 greatly damaged the Speedwell factory and inventory, and the company entered

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in c ...

in 1915 after having built an estimated 4,000 cars and trucks.

History

Pierce D. Schenck of Dayton established the Speedwell Motor Car Company with a $50,000 capitalization. He hired Gilbert J. Loomis, who had built Loomis cars in

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, as Chief engineer. The first Speedwells had Rutenber

four 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest ...

and

six-cylinder The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balan ...

engines on wheelbases of 116 and 132 inches. After the

Panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% fro ...

, the decision was made to build cars on one

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpar ...

of 120 inches with a four-cylinder engine built by Speedwell. By 1909 model year production quadrupled from the 25 cars produced in 1907. Schenck expanded his factory until there were nine buildings. The company rented factory space to the

Wright Company The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright Brothers, established by them on November 22, 1909, in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing o ...

to build its airplanes from February to November 1910, while the Wright Company built its own factory building in west Dayton. From 1909, the Speedwell's base price was $2,500, . Advertising stated "It would be folly to pay more," and “It would be unwise to pay less." The Speedwell was a well built car with a dedication to detail. Speedwell was among the earliest companies to market a torpedo and the only one to use concealed door hinges and place the horn under the hood. Although a one-chassis policy, it did not limit Speedwells being offered in several body styles, including some evocatively called Cruiser, Duck Boat and Speed Car. From 1910, Speedwell was manufacturing light and heavy duty delivery

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

as well. Most of the 4,000 Speedwells built during the lifetime of the company were sold from 1909 to mid-1912. In 1911, Speedwell built a closed two-door, dubbed a sedan, which was the first recorded use of the term. Pierce Schenck turned his interest to malleable iron, and soon after, Gilbert Loomis left Dayton. Cyrus E. Mead designed a rotary-valve engine and supporters bought into Speedwell Motor Car Company to get it into production. The Mead people pushed through a rotary-valve car, while the Speedwell people insisted that a standard poppet-valve car be offered as well, resulting in both types being offered. In 1913, Cyrus Mead was killed in an automobile accident, which meant that any refinements needed to the engine would no receive the expertise of its inventor. In March 1913, the

put the Speedwell plant out of action for several months. The dealer agencies for Speedwell was initially very strong, but dealers left in large numbers when their deliveries slowed down. The rotary-valve six-cylinder model was also not selling well. Bankruptcy was declared early in 1915. The Speedwell factory was leased to the Recording and Computing Machines Company and was later sold to the W. M. Pattison Supply Company. The repair parts and business of Speedwell was acquired by the Puritan Machine Company, headed by A. O. Dunk who made a practice of buying failed automobile companies. The factory site later hosted a Delco factory. The Speedwell factory buildings are not extant. About 12 Speedwells are known to be extant. File:1909 Speedwell ad in Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal.jpg, 1909 Speedwell advertisement File:1910 Speedwell 50 advertisement Saturday Evening Post.jpg, 1910 Speedwell 50 Special advertisement File:1911 Speedwell advertisement from Cycle and Automobile Journal.jpg, 1911 Speedwell advertisement File:1911 Speedwell Model H-F Special - Hand Book of Gasoline Cars.jpg, 1911 Speedwell Model H - F - Special File:1911 Speedwell advertisement from Literary Digest.jpg, 1911 Speedwell Torpedo File:1912 Speedwell Speed Car advertisement Literary Digest.jpg, 1912 Speedwell Speed Car advertisement File:1913 Speedwell Rotary Six Horseless Age advertisement.jpg, 1913 Speedwell Rotary Six advertisement File:1914 Speedwell Rotary - Hand Book of Gasoline Cars.jpg, 1914 Speedwell Rotary Model C File:1914 Speedwell Motor Age advertisement.jpg, 1914 Speedwell Rotary Six

References

Additional reading

*Curt Dalton, Roger L. Miller, Michael M. Self, and Ben F. Thompson, ''Miami Valley's Marvelous Motor Cars: From the Apple-Eight to the Xenia Cyclecar, 1886-1960'' (2007).

External links

Company history at RitzSiteSpeedwell at ConceptCarzNYPL Digital Collection - Speedwell Catalog
{{Commons category, Speedwell vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio Defunct companies based in Dayton, Ohio Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1907 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1915 1900s cars 1910s cars Brass Era vehicles Cars introduced in 1907

History

See also

References

Additional reading

External links