Rickenbacker was a Vintage Era

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

manufactured in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, from 1922 until 1927. The car is best known for pioneering production of four-wheel brakes.

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 and William Metzger were also involved. Rickenbacker used his

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 94th Aero Squadron emblem depicting a

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

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 reciprocating engine, piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating Shaft (mechanical engineering), shaft containing one or more crankpins, ...

. The first Rickenbackers were displayed at the January 1922 New York Automobile Show. One of the display cars featured experimental four-wheel brakes. The company made sporting

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

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move a ...

sedans A sedan (American English) 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 ''sedan'' in reference to an automobile body oc ...

, 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 engine 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. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

and transported to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, which was 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 , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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'' episode of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

''.

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 Cars discontinued in 1927

History

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In popular culture

See also

External links

References