Hackett Motor Car Company

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hackett Motor Car Company
legal form Company
founding 1916
resolution 1919
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat Jackson , Michigan , USA
management Mansell Hackett
Branch Automobile manufacturer

The Hackett Motor Car Company was a short-lived American automobile manufacturer in the late 1910s. The brand name was Hackett .

Company history

Hackett Four Touring (1916).

The Briton Mansell Hackett had set up the Disco Starter Company , which manufactured electric starters . He was also involved in buying up and restructuring bankrupt car companies. One of them, Argo , a manufacturer of cyclecars in Jackson (Michigan) and previously owned by Benjamin Briscoe , he retained and founded in September 1916, the Hackett Motor Car Company . Fred M. Guy became chief engineer, and production took place in the former Argo halls.

Hackett needed additional funds to finance it. The shipbuilder JS Johnston from the small town of Ferrysburg (Michigan) was the investor . He was given the presidency of the company early on. In 1918 there was a production interruption due to a lack of materials - a consequence of the conversion of the US economy to war production, which affected a number of companies. This time was used to move the plant to Grand Rapids (Michigan) . Production there resumed in 1919. 12 vehicles could be completed per week. However, the company ran into financial difficulties; a rescue attempt in October 1919 failed.

Advert for the Hackett Four (1917).

In total, only around 118 Hacketts are believed to have been built. At the same time, Guy and his assistant OW Heinz continued to work on a project that began around 1910 for a new type of motor with rotating valves . This disc valve motor is a variant of the slide motor in which valve disks mounted in the cylinder are operated by a main shaft in the cylinder head, which makes both camshaft and valve springs superfluous. A four-cylinder prototype was completed, but the engine could not be brought to series production in time. Guy took him to his next employer, the recently founded Apex Motor Corporation in Ypsilanti (Michigan) . In 1920, the six-cylinder Ace Six Model H with an engine based on this principle was actually produced there.

Guy and Otto then briefly pursued the project of their own car, which was to come onto the market as Heinz , but then switched to the production of their engine in the Guy Disc Valve Motor Company in Ypsilanti.

The production of Hackett were from Lorraine Motors Corporation acquired whose mastermind David Dunbar Buick was. Their product, the much larger Lorraine, also failed after a short time. It seems that Mansell Hackett was no longer involved in this project and focused on his traditional lines of business.

technology

The Hackett Four was an assembled car , that is, a “made-up” car with bought-in components and a fully-fledged, conventionally built passenger car of the US lower middle class . The engine was a side-controlled four - cylinder which was obtained from GB & S. in Buffalo (New York) . Its bore and stroke were 95.25 mm, respectively. 108 mm, which gives a cubic capacity of 3078 cm³ (187.8 ci).

According to the NACC measurement method used at the time , a power of 22.5 hp was calculated (not measured). Rating. The crankshaft had three bearings. A Carter carburetor was installed as standard. The transmission was obtained from Grant-Lees .

The chassis consisted of a conventional ladder frame with rigid axles from Walker-Weiss at the front and rear. The wheelbase was 112 inches (2845 mm), the gauge front and rear 56 inches (1422 mm). The Hackett received artillery wheels (31.5 inches at the front and 32 inches at the rear) and Ajax tires, but was also available with lacquered wire-spoke wheels by 1917 at the latest .

Market position

The car came on the market at the end of 1916 as the 1917 model in the variants "Four Passenger Roadster" and "Five Passenger Touring" at US $ 888 each.

This price was moderate, but could not compete with that of the Ford Model T : The "Tin Lizzie", which was visually revamped for 1917, had a four-cylinder engine with 20 bhp (15 hp) and a wheelbase of 100 inches (2540 mm). It cost only US $ 345 as a runabout and US $ 360 as a three-door touring (with a closed flank instead of a driver's door).

construction time model engine NACC rating
(tax PS)
wheelbase body List price Remarks
1916 Argo Four 4 cyl. 22.0 HP 2438 mm Touring (5 pl.) US $ 435
1917 Hackett Four 4 cyl. 22.9 HP 2845 mm Touring (5 pl.) US $ 888
1917-1918 Ford T 4 cyl.
20 bhp @ 1600
22.5 HP 2540 mm 3-door touring (5 pl.) US $ 360

The Hackett received new bodies for 1918 : the Roadster was replaced by the “Two Passenger Roadster” and “Three Passenger Roadster” and the “Five Passenger Touring” was supplemented with a “Five Passenger All-Seasons Touring”. Unfortunately, there are no explanations for this model. It is conceivable that it was delivered with a removable winter top , an attachable roof similar to the hardtop known from the post-war period , which replaced the normal hood in the cold season and significantly increased the utility of the draughty vehicle. A winter top was advertised as an option at US $ 110 as early as 1916.

Other manufacturers such as Dodge also had versions with Winter Top , also called California Top , in their regular catalog. In contrast to the hardtop, the replacement of these roofs required a lot of time and was not carried out spontaneously. Alternatively, a fixed roof with removable side windows and B-pillar is also available for the All-Seasons Touring , similar to the White Permanent Top available as an accessory .

Technically practically unchanged, the Hackett continued to be built until the end of 1919.

Model overview

construction time model engine wheelbase body List price
1917 Four 4 cyl. / 3078 cm³ 2845 mm Roadster (4 pl.) US $ 888
1917 Four 4 cyl. / 3078 cm³ 2845 mm Touring (5 pl.) US $ 888
1918-1919 Four 4 cyl. / 3078 cm³ 2845 mm Roadster (2 pl.)
1918-1919 Four 4 cyl. / 3078 cm³ 2845 mm Roadster (3 pl.)
1918-1919 Four 4 cyl. / 3078 cm³ 2845 mm Touring (5 pl.)
1918-1919 Four 4 cyl. / 3078 cm³ 2845 mm All-seasons Touring (5 pl.)

Remarks

  1. The NACC ( National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ) was a manufacturer organization that created the first standards for motor vehicles in the USA.
  2. Predecessor formula for SAE-PS . NACC ( National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ) was an association of the automobile industry founded in 1913 and the successor to the ALAM ( Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ), which introduced the first standards in US automobile manufacture in 1903. The benefit is calculated; Cylinder bore ² × number of cylinders; the result is divided by 2.5. SAE-PS was later developed from this formula , it is also the basis of the British tax-PS at that time.
  3. These data were compiled from BR Kimes / HA Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (1996) and carfolio.com: Specifications Hackett 4 Touring (1917)

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog (1996), p. 666
  2. mychurchgrowth.com: Ace 1920-1922
  3. a b Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog (1996), p. 694
  4. ^ A b c History of Early American Automobile Industry; Chapter 24: 1916. In: Early America Automobiles. Archived from the original on October 30, 2013 ; accessed on December 6, 2014 .
  5. a b Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog (1996), p. 581
  6. Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog (1996), p. 62

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Editor) and Henry Austin Clark, Jr. "The Standard Catalog of American Cars", 2nd edition, Krause Publications, Iola WI 54990, USA (1985), ISBN 0-87341-111-0
  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Editor), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalogs of American Cars 1805–1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI (1996), ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9 ISBN 0-87341-428-4 . (English)
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present ; Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover) 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 (English)
  • Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America ; Editor SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA (2005), ISBN 0-7680-1431-X (English)
  • National Automobile Chamber of Commerce : Handbook of Automobiles 1915–1916. Dover Publications, 1970.

Web links

Commons : Hackett Motor Car Company  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files