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 features as lights and radiator (engine cooling), radiators. It is generally considered to ...
American
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 ...
manufacturing company established by
Pierce Davies Schenck that produced cars from 1907 to 1914. The
Great Dayton Flood
The Great Dayton Flood of 1913, part of the Great 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 Ohio Gener ...
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" – especia ...
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
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, as Chief engineer.
The first Speedwells had
Rutenber four and
six-cylinder 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 suddenly fell almost ...
, the decision was made to build cars on one
chassis
A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
of 120 inches with a four-cylinder engine built by Speedwell. Production for the 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 on ...
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
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
and the only one to use concealed door hinges and place the horn under the hood. The one-chassis policy did not prevent the company from offering Speedwells 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 freight, 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.
After Pierce Schenck turned his interest to malleable iron and Gilbert Loomis left Dayton,
Cyrus E. Mead designed a
rotary-valve engine that Speedwell put into production in addition to its standard
poppet-valve car, resulting in both types being offered. In 1913, however, Mead was killed in an automobile accident, leaving others, less familiar with the engine, to try to attend to the need for refinements to is design.
In March 1913, the
Great Dayton Flood
The Great Dayton Flood of 1913, part of the Great 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 Ohio Gener ...
put the Speedwell plant out of action for several months. When deliveries slowed down as a result, and with rotary-valve models not selling well, dealers left in large numbers. 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.
Production models
* Speedwell Model II F Special
See also
*
Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
, an early Dayton automobile manufacturer
*
Dayton Electric, an early Dayton automobile manufacturer
*
Stoddard-Dayton an early Dayton automobile manufacturer
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
Cars discontinued in 1914