1915 Apperson Touring Jack Rabbit Model 6-45
edited by David Barth, 10 January 2009.
Courtesy The Forney Museum of Transportation at 4303 Brighton Blvd., Denver,
Colorado. Photos were taken in January 2009.
In 1889 Elmer Apperson and his younger brother, Edgar, opened their Riverside Machine Works in Kokomo, Indiana and soon
gained a reputation as the best mechanics in town. In 1893 Elwood Haynes offered them a proposition. He owned a
one-cylinder, two-cycle Sintz marine engine and wanted help building a car. On 4 July 1894, the car had its first
test run.
The idea of a partnership between Haynes and the Apperson Brothers never happened because Haynes wanted to produce a
luxury car and the Appersons wanted to produce a moderately priced car, building 50 cars a year, costing from $1,000
to $1,500. Haynes and the Appersons split in 1901, and the Apperson Brothers Automobile Company was established in
November of that year. The first Apperson car was delivered in July 1902 with a Sintz engine.
Apperson applied the name "Jack Rabbit" to many of the models they produced. The Model 6-45 cost $1,785 and weighed
2,790 lbs.
On July 20, 1926, Edgar Apperson sold the company and retired to Arizona. His younger brother had died in 1920 in
Los Angeles. It is believed that only seven Apperson cars exist.
