The Kissel brothers were manufacturers of small engines and
farm equipment in the little town of Hartford, Wisconsin, but in 1906 they
turned their attention to the emerging automotive market and founded the Kissel
Motor Car Company. The company, owned by Louis Kissel and his two sons William
and George, released its first Kissel Kar in 1907 and thereafter released
larger and more powerful automobiles with innovations like the first
illuminated dashboard.
The tagline "the all-year car" refers to Kissel's
removable hard top which allowed the driver and passengers to ride in relative
comfort during inclement weather. Interestingly, not long after this 1916 ad ran
in The Countryside Magazine, Kissel
would drop the "Kar" from its name due to anti-German sentiment
during World War I. Apparently the Kissels felt car spelled with a "K" just felt too Teutonic.
Kissel remained competitive until the financial Grim Reaper
arrived and the Great Depression culled all but the biggest and most efficient
automakers from the marketplace. Today it's believed that no more than twenty
two examples of pre-World War I Kissels are in existence.
No comments:
Post a Comment