Apperson Brothers Automobile Co. (1902-1924)
Apperson Automobile Co. (1924-1926)
Kokomo, Indiana
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| This is an Apperson radiator emblem (c1915) mjs Size: 100mm wide 64mm high MM: Greenduck |
In 1893 the Apperson brothers, who ran a successful machine works in Kokomo, agreed to make a gasoline powered automobile for Elwood Haynes. The first car made a test run on 4th July 1894 and the Haynes-Apperson Company was set up in 1898 (see Haynes-Apperson).
The Apperson Brothers split from Haynes in late 1901 and formed the Apperson Brothers Automobile Company and the first Apperson car, a 16 hp two-cylinder touring model, appeared in 1902. A four-cylinder touring model was added in 1903 and the two-cylinder model was dropped from 1904. The soon to be famous, Apperson Jack Rabbit was introduced in 1907 as a sporty runabout with a cylindrical gas tank at the rear, but later became a model designation offered in several body styles. A 55 hp six-cylinder Apperson model was added in 1908.
The first Apperson V-8 appeared in 1916 when Apperson ceased production of their four-cylinder models. The most attractive Appersons were the specials designed by C.T.Silver in New York. These cars carried the Silver name in 1918 only but the Silver styling continued into the 1920's.
Apperson sales grew over the years, reaching a peak of just over 1800 in 1916. Sales then began to fall. The company was reorganized as the Apperson Automobile Company in 1924 but it was all over by 1926.
Emblems
The earliest Apperson cars did not carry an emblem but an original photo of an Apperson Model B from 1905 clearly shows a radiator emblem, see below:
Unfortunately, the emblem cannot be identified from the photo. The emblem is almost certainly a brass emblem and may be the same as the rare brass emblem shown below but I cannot confirm this:
Apperson sales grew over the years, reaching a peak of just over 1800 in 1916. Sales then began to fall. The company was reorganized as the Apperson Automobile Company in 1924 but it was all over by 1926.
Emblems
The earliest Apperson cars did not carry an emblem but an original photo of an Apperson Model B from 1905 clearly shows a radiator emblem, see below:
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| This is an original photo of an Apperson Model B showing a radiator emblem (1905) |
Unfortunately, the emblem cannot be identified from the photo. The emblem is almost certainly a brass emblem and may be the same as the rare brass emblem shown below but I cannot confirm this:
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| This is an Apperson Bros radiator emblem (dates unknown c1905-1907) mjs Size: 138mm wide 46mm high |
If you have better details of this Apperson radiator emblem, which may have been used until about 1907, please send details in order to update this post.
It is possible that Apperson cars displayed a brass script on the front of the radiator from about 1906 but, again, I cannot confirm this. See example brass Apperson radiator script below:
The Apperson Jack Rabbit was introduced in 1907 and large brass emblems in the form of a leaping rabbit were then attached to the radiator core. These large emblems can be found with the rabbit facing left or right, and usually display the "Apperson" name but were sometimes plain, see examples below. These radiator emblems are rare.
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| This is an Apperson radiator script (dates unknown) mjs Size: 185mm wide |
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| This is an Apperson Jack Rabbit radiator core emblem (c1907) mjs Size: 303mm wide MM: None |
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| This is an Apperson Jack Rabbit radiator core emblem (c1907) ehm Size: 303mm wide |
Apperson Jack Rabbit cars continued to have an emblem mounted at the top of the radiator in addition to the radiator core emblem, see the example in the original photo below:
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| Apperson Jack Rabbit showing two radiator emblems (1909) ms |
The radiator top emblem in the photo shown above from 1909 appears to be a wide oval shaped emblem. The detail of this emblem cannot be seen from the photo but may have been similar to the extremely rare Apperson Jack Rabbit emblem shown below:
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| Early Apperson Jack Rabbit radiator emblem (c1909) ehm Size: 145mm wide 50mm high |
Early Apperson Jack Rabbit cars also displayed the Apperson name on the sill plate, see example below:
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| This is an Apperson Jack Rabbit sill plate (c1909) mjs Size: 392mm wide 38mm high |
I do not know exactly when the first enamel radiator emblem was used on an Apperson car but a round radiator emblem is shown on an Apperson factory illustration of the radiator for the Model 4-55 for 1913, which was built in 1912.
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| This is a factory illustration of the Apperson 4-55 radiator showing the emblem (1912) ms |
The emblem is the blue and white enamel Apperson radiator emblem shown below. This Apperson radiator emblem is very rare.
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| This is an Apperson radiator emblem (1912) ms Size: 70mm wide 60mm high MM: Unknown |
The larger, more interesting Apperson radiator emblem shown at the top of this post and again below was certainly in use by 1915 and may have been used earlier. This Apperson radiator emblem is also very rare.
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| This is an Apperson radiator emblem (c1915) mjs Size: 100mm wide 64mm high MM: Greenduck |
The Apperson V8 was introduced in 1916 and may have carried the "Apperson 8" Jack Rabbit script shown below on the radiator but I cannot confirm the dates of use of this very rare radiator core emblem.
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| This is an Apperson Eight radiator core emblem (c1916 date uncertain) ehm Size: 240mm wide |
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| This is a smaller Apperson Jack Rabbit radiator core emblem (c1917) mjs Size: 190mm wide |
By about 1918, the V8 Apperson carried a small round radiator top emblem and displayed a radiator core emblem incorporating a Jack Rabbit jumping through a figure"8", see examples below. These Apperson radiator emblems are scarce.
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| This is an Apperson radiator top emblem (c1918) mjs Size: 29mm diameter MM: Unknown |
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| This is an Apperson Eight radiator core emblem (c1918) mjs Size: 190mm wide 120mm high |
In 1918 only, the following radiator emblem was displayed on the Silver Special model designed by C.T. Silver in New York. This Silver Apperson radiator emblem is extremely rare.
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| This is a Silver Apperson radiator emblem (1918) mjs Size: 44mm diameter MM: D L Auld |
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| This shows the radiator of Edgar Apperson's car (1920) acdm |
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| Detail showing the radiator grille emblem on Edgar Apperson's car (1920) acdm Size: approx 235mm wide MM: Unknown |
The Apperson radiator emblem shown above is unusual and extremely rare. It incorporates the most common Apperson radiator emblem, as seen below:
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| This is an Apperson radiator emblem (c1920 dates unknown) mjs Size: 82mm wide 38mm high MM: D L Auld |
The Apperson radiator script shown below follows the same design as the "Apperson" name on the radiator emblem shown above indicating that these two emblems were most likely used together:
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| This is an Apperson radiator script (c1920) ehm Size: Unknown |
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| This is an Apperson radiator emblem (c1920) mjs Size: 73mm high 55mm wide MM: Robbins |
The design of the Apperson radiator emblem shown above was changed around 1923, as shown below. This Apperson radiator emblem is very rare.
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| This is an Apperson radiator emblem (c1923) mjs Size: 73mm high 55mm wide MM: Unknown |
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| This is a detail showing the radiator emblem and rabbit mascot (1923) ehm |
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| This is an Apperson Jack Rabbit hub emblem (c1910) ehm |
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| This is an Apperson hub emblem (c1923) ehm |
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| This is an Apperson hub emblem (c1923) proxibid Size: 64mm diameter |
If you can help with more precise dates of use for any of the Apperson radiator emblems shown in this post, please let me know in order to update this post.
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