Introduction

The K-R-I-T Motor Car Club and Registry provides historical information and support to present and future K-R-I-T-ers, interested in the K-R-I-T Motor Car Company. During its relatively short six-year life from 1909-1915, the K-R-I-T Motor Car Company of Detroit, MI, produced approximately 6000 low-cost, high-quality roadsters, runabouts, touring cars, surreys, coupes, covered delivery cars, and underslung roadsters. The K-R-I-T Registry can only account for two runabouts, three roadsters, and a little over a dozen touring cars world-wide today. Due to the relatively few K-R-I-Ts which remain, it is unlikely any more will be found. But the goal is to verify and document those which have been either positively or tentatively identified. With such a small number remaining, this shouldn’t be a difficult task to complete, yet there are many holes left to fill.

Visitors to this site are encouraged to provide information and updates to data presented here, including leads on K-R-I-T cars, copies of owner’s manuals, parts manuals, stories, pictures of their cars, etc. Please feel free to contact the K-R-I-T website manager, George Cole. K-R-I-T-ers are also encouraged to visit and participate in the K-R-I-T Forum, under the Horseless Carriage Club of America (HCCA) section of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Forums.

History

Ken Crittendon learned the automotive trade working as a design engineer for Henry Ford, and the Regal Car Company. Like so many others at the time, he felt he had a better idea. With meager funding secured from several investors, he left Ford in 1909 at the ripe old age of 23, and set out on his own. Apparently quite fond of his nickname, Crit, he took a liberal spelling of it, K-R-I-T, as his company’s name.

He became K-R-I-T’s Vice President of Engineering. The former C. H. Blomstrom Manufacturing Company's factory on the corner of Wight and Lieb Streets in Detroit was acquired to build the first cars as 1910 models. The K-R-I-T name was eventually shortened to just KRIT. Early success led the K-R-I-T Company to optimistically pursue major international sales to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

From the beginning, the K-R-I-T Motor Company had financial problems, and in 1911 Walter S. Russel of the Russel Wheel and Foundry Company led a syndicate to purchase control. A six-cylinder engine was offered in 1913, but interest and hence, production, was minimal. KRIT tried offering bodies to other companies, but again, they were unable to market them. More changes were made to streamline the body in 1915, but it was not enough. With the outbreak of World War I in Europe, K-R-I-T’s overseas market collapsed, forcing the company into bankruptcy.

After the demise of the KRIT Motor Car Company, Kenneth Critteiden briefly returned to work for Henry Ford, before being hired by Walter P. Chrysler, and eventually retired as the Chrysler Corporation Vice President of Manufacturing.

As post-World War II anti-Nazi fever spread across Europe and the U.S., most of the few remaining 30-35-year-old K-R-I-T cars were most likely scrapped to preclude any association with them.

K-R-I-T Motor Car Factory

The K-R-I-T Logo

More than the cars they built, the K-R-I-T Motor Car Company will be remembered for their logo. Krit selected a Hooked Christian Cross, now known as a swastika, to represent the company. He added the letters K, R, I, & T at the head of each cross arm. For centuries, this symbol was believed to bring good-luck. Some American Indian tribes called the symbol the Four-Leged Cross, with legs respectively representing love, light, life, and luck, representing good luck and good fortune. Unfortunately, it brought neither to the K-R-I-T Motor Car Company. Not until two and a half decades later did the symbol take on a sinister meaning, as the logo for the Nazi party.

1910 K-R-I-T cars had the emblem without the K-R-I-T lettering, embossed on a brass tag, riveted to the top front of the brass radiator. Each square wheel grease cap had the same emblem with the K-R-I-T lettering.

1910 K-R-I-T Radiator Badge

1910 K-R-I-T Wheel Grease Cap

1911-1912, and early 1913 K-R-I-T cars had the Hooked Christian Cross embossed into the top front of the brass radiator and on each round wheel grease cover.

1911 K-R-I-T Radiator Badge

1911 K-R-I-T Wheel Grease Cap

Starting in 1913 until the end of production, cars had the lacquered emblem affixed to the radiator, but kept the same K-R-I-T logo round wheel grease caps.

1913-1915 K-R-I-T Radiator Badge

However, the location and application of the emblem is of little significance today. The issue is with the perceived and completely misplaced Nazi association of the K-R-I-T emblem.

The Cars

Model A Roadsters and Model K 5-passenger touring cars were offered beginning in 1910. Only one powerplant was offered:

Liquid cooled, 220 cu-in 4-cylinder cast enbloc, developing 22.5 horsepower,

mated to a 2-speed, sliding gear transmission. Touring cars were fitted a 3-speed version of the same transmission. Within several years, all cars offered the 3-speed transmission.

In 1911, an $800 runabout, $975 5-passenger surrey touring car, and $1275 coupe were added to the lineup.

Options included a windshield, mohair top, and gas lamps with either a Prestolite tank or gas generator. Purchased separately at $115, or as a package, $100.

1911 K-R-I-T Model A Runabout

1911 K-R-I-T Model K Surrey Touring

1911 K-R-I-T Model KC Coupe

1n 1912, the lineup was expanded to include a second roadster model, a covered delivery car, and a Model U underslung roadster.

1912 K-R-I-T Model A Roadster

1912 K-R-I-T Model KR Roadster

1912 K-R-I-T Model K Touring

1911 K-R-I-T Model U Underslung

Eventually, all models were fitted with the same 3-speed transmission.

6-cylinder engines were offered in 1913 but were not popular and quickly dropped.

Roadsters and runabouts had a 96-inch wheelbase, while other models were 106 or

108-inches.

Engines, transmissions, and most other drivetrain, chassis, and body components were made in-house at the K-R-I-T factory.

The crankcase, gearcase, and various attached components were cast aluminum. These helped reduce the roadster weight to ~1200-pounds.

Specifications

Engine: 220 cu in, 4 cast enbloc cylinders

Horsepower: 22.5

Bore and stroke: 3 ½ x 4 inches

Two valves per cylinder

Clutch: multiple disc

Drive: shaft and bevel gear

Transmission: sliding gear 2 or 3 speed, with reverse

Gasoline tank: 15 or 20 gallons

Cooling: water thermosyphon

Radiator: vertical tube

Steering: worm and sector gear

Ignition: Bosch magneto

Lubrication: splash feed

Frame: pressed steel

Wheelbase: Model A: 96-inches, Model K: 108-inches

Track: 56-inches

Tires: 32 x 3-inches

Front axle: one piece I-beam

Rear axle: semi-floating

Dash: Circassian walnut

Standard equipment: oil lamps, gas lamp brackets, horn, tools, and tire repair equipment.

K-R-I-T Performance and Racing

Like most manufacturers of the time, Crittendon felt the need to prove his cars through performance demonstrations. The K-R-I-T test track had a slight incline over railroad tracks, preceded by a speed bump. One test driver discovered if he hit the bump at just the right speed, the car would go airborne over the tracks, landing 35 to 40-feet away. He did this repeatedly, with no damage to the cars. This image was used to promote K-R-I-T’s durability.

Just like the not-to-long-ago NASCAR mindset…Wins on Sundays lead to selling cars on Mondays. K-R-I-Ts took an aggressive role in proving their worth. K-R-I-Ts won hill climb races in Earsley, AL, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Washinton DC in 1910, and although outclassed in Morristown, NJ, came in second, ahead of nine other cars. In 1911, a K-R-I-T received a perfect score in the Cleveland Endurance Run, and came in second in Wisconsin, the most severe competition at the time. It also won the Dead Horse Hill Climb in Worcester, MA, in August and the Port Jefferson, Long Island Hill Climb. In the 1911 Glidden Tour, a K-R-I-T completed 1,492 miles with only one penalty for straightening a bent axle after a wagon backed into one of its front wheels. These accolades undoubtedly contributed to buyers’ confidence in K-R-I-T motor cars, and increased sales.

1913 Model KR, Roadster - Kelvin Finlay

Specifications