APPERSON

Apperson Brothers Automobile Co. (1902-1924)

Apperson Automobile Co. (1924-1926)

Kokomo, Indiana

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:

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:

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 plated brass Apperson radiator script below: 

This is an Apperson radiator script (dates unknown)     mjs
Size: 185mm wide

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.

This is an Apperson Jack Rabbit radiator core emblem (c1907)     mjs
Size: 303mm wide   MM: None

This is an Apperson Jack Rabbit radiator core emblem (c1907)     ehm
Size: 303mm wide

The Jack Rabbit radiator core emblems shown above were sometimes nickel plated to suit the metal finish of the car. Some nickel plated Jack Rabbit radiator core emblems are slightly smaller, see example below:

This is a plated Apperson Jack Rabbit radiator core emblem (c1908) mjs
Size: 290mm 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: 

 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:

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:

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.

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.

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.

This is an Apperson radiator emblem (c1915)    mjs
Size: 100mm wide 64mm high    MM: Greenduck

The Jack Rabbit is white, but one part of the mostly hidden back leg of the Jack Rabbit in the emblem shown above is finished in blue enamel, see detail below:

Detail showing blue enamel on Jack Rabbit back leg

Given that the Jack Rabbit is white, it seems reasonable to expect all of the back legs to be finished in white enamel and indeed this emblem can be found with the Jack Rabbit back legs finished in white enamel, see example detail shown below:

Detail showing white enamel on Jack Rabbit back leg

However, the most commonly found version of this Apperson radiator emblem has two parts of the mostly hidden back leg finished in blue enamel, see example shown below:

This is an Apperson radiator emblem (1915)   hfc
Size: 100mm wide 64mm high   MM: Unknown (likely Greenduck)

Detail showing blue enamel on Jack Rabbit back leg

This may be due to different emblem makers used for this emblem, although the only maker's mark that I have seen is "Greenduck", which suggests possible errors made in the enameling process.

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.

This is an Apperson Eight radiator core emblem (c1916 date uncertain)    ehm
Size: 240mm wide

By 1917 a smaller Jack Rabbit radiator core emblem was in use on six-cylinder models, see example below:

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.

This is an Apperson radiator top emblem (c1918)    mjs
Size: 29mm diameter   MM: Unknown

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.

This is a Silver Apperson radiator emblem (1918)    mjs
Size: 44mm diameter    MM: D L Auld

The following photo shows the radiator emblems displayed on a 1920 Apperson Eight, which was reputedly Edgar Apperson's own car and is now on display at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana.

This shows the radiator of Edgar Apperson's car (1920)     acdm

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:

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:

This is an Apperson radiator script (c1920)    ehm
Size: Unknown

The following enamel Apperson radiator emblem showing the Jack Rabbit is very rare and was also used from about 1920:

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.

This is an Apperson radiator emblem (c1923)    mjs
Size: 73mm high 55mm wide   MM: Unknown

This is a detail showing the radiator emblem and rabbit mascot (1923)   ehm

The following are examples of Apperson hub emblems:

This is an Apperson Jack Rabbit hub emblem (c1910)   ehm

This is an Apperson hub emblem (c1923)    ehm

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.