Rickenbacker (car)
The Rickenbacker Motor Company was an American automobile manufacturer from Detroit, which existed from 1922 to 1927. Founders were Barney Everitt, William Metzger, and Walter Flanders, who had previously operated the EMF Company, and also the well-known racing driver and fighter pilot Eddie Rickenbacker.
History
In January 1922, the company introduced at the New York Automobile show in front of their first car, the Six. The as a 4- seater coupe, 5 - seater touring car or 5- seater sedan available midsize car was equipped with a six-cylinder engine 's own production. The engine had a displacement of 3572 cc and made 58 bhp (43 kW). It had three main bearings and ran quiet and low vibration because it ever had a flywheel at both ends of the crankshaft. The manufacturer guaranteed a top speed of 96.5 km / h ( 60 mph ).
A sensational new feature in 1923 was the four-wheel brakes, the first in a U.S. American middle class vehicle. Duesenberg had brakes on all wheels, although earlier offered the luxury cars were for most Americans but unaffordable.
A severe blow to the company was the death of Flanders in a traffic accident 1924. 1925 brought Rickenbacker the first eight-cylinder engine, the Eight, out, a side-valve engine with seven main bearings and 4391 cc displacement, the (59 kW) made 80 bhp. And now, the six-cylinder engine with 3867 cm ³ was who brought it to 68 bhp (50 kW).
The sales figures of the Rickenbacker automobile had never been particularly high. But the end of the year 1925, the earnings situation was so bad that in January 1926 had to be asked a bankruptcy petition. Eddie Rickenbacker left the company in the following September and Metzger had to say goodbye. The only remaining founder Everitt presented on December 1, 1926 before the model range for 1927 and promised to make 500 copies in the old year. Six - and eight-cylinder engines had been reinforced and now contributed 70-95 hp ( 51-70 kW). In February 1927, the company had to close its doors. Overall, in 5 years, about 34,500 automobiles emerged.
1928 bought Jørgen Rasmussen Skafte to the production facilities for the most recently produced six and eight- cylinder engines and had them transported to Germany. He wanted to open an engine factory under his own name, but found no takers among the German automobile manufacturers, with the exception of his own shortly before the bought Audi plants. 1929-1932 originated about 100 pieces Audi Type T with 3.9 liter R6- Engine and 400 piece Audi Type SS with 5.1 L R8 engine.
Models
Production figures
Source
- Kimes, Beverly Ray & Clark jr. Henry Austin: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942, Krause Publications, Iola WI (1985 ), ISBN 0-87341-045-9