Diamond Automobile Company (Indiana)

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Ricketts Automobile Company
Diamond Automobile Company
legal form Company
founding 1909
resolution 1911
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat South Bend , Indiana , USA
management Joseph W. Ricketts
Branch Automobiles

Diamond Automobile Company , previously Ricketts Automobile Company , was a US-American manufacturer of automobiles from Indiana .

Company history

The Ricketts family came from the United Kingdom . She was based in South Bend in the 1900s . There is evidence of automobile production from 1905, but no evidence. Vehicles were advertised from May 1907. 1908 began production of automobiles for the 1909 model year. The brand name was Ricketts . The Ricketts Automobile Company was founded in 1909. Thomas Ricketts, who ran the company, died in May 1909. Joseph W. Ricketts succeeded as president. Sales were bad. Ricketts said the name was viewed as derogatory. In January 1910 he changed the company name to Diamond Automobile Company . In February 1910 he changed the brand name to RAC , the initials of the old company name. However, the brand name Diamond has also been passed down since 1910 .

In October 1910, a fire in the paint shop destroyed 32 partially completed vehicles. In December 1910 financial problems became known. Bankruptcy followed in May 1911 .

There was no connection to the Diamond Automobile Company of the same name from Delaware , which had operated a few years earlier.

vehicles

A smaller model with a four-cylinder engine and a larger model with a six-cylinder engine were on offer . The engines came from Brownell Motor Company . They drove the rear axle via a three-speed gearbox and a cardan shaft .

In 1909 Model D had a six-cylinder engine with 50 hp . The chassis had a 307 cm wheelbase . The only structure was an open touring car with seven seats. In addition, there was the Model F . Its four-cylinder engine was specified with 30/35 hp. The wheelbase was 292 cm. Five-seat touring cars, roadsters and five-seat business wagons have survived.

From 1910 to 1911 the six-cylinder model was called the Model G-6 . The wheelbase was lengthened to 338 cm. The four-cylinder model was the Model H . The engine now developed 35 hp. The wheelbase was 307 cm. There was a choice of a touring car with five seats, a baby tonneau with four seats and a roadster with four seats.

Model overview

year model cylinder Power ( hp ) Wheelbase (cm) construction
1909 Model D 6th 50 307 7-seater touring car
1909 Model F 4th 30/35 292 5-seater touring car, 5-seater roadster, business wagon
1910-1911 Model G 6th 50 338 7-seater touring car
1910-1911 Model H 4th 35 307 5-seater touring car, 4-seater baby tonneau, 4-seater roadster

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes, Henry Austin Clark Jr .: Standard catalog of American Cars. 1805-1942. Digital edition . 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola 2013, ISBN 978-1-4402-3778-2 , pp. 1292-1293 (English).
  • George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 3: P-Z . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 1333 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. Beverly Rae Kimes, Henry Austin Clark Jr .: Standard catalog of American Cars. 1805-1942. Digital edition . 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola 2013, ISBN 978-1-4402-3778-2 , pp. 1292-1293 (English).
  2. George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 3: P-Z . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 1333 (English).