Jun 10
1915 Chandler Speedster by Pettingell
Pettingell Machine Co. of Amesbury, Massachusetts also built some coachwork. What model would this 1915 be?
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Reply to Hupp31…
Reply Replies (7)
· Jun 10
Cool photo! I have never heard of that coachbuilder. Doing a newspaper search all I find is advertisements looking for machine operators. Basically between 1910 and 1925. This is the only reference to auto body building I could find from July 1916 in the New York Herald.
DEMAND FOR BIG FACTORIES.Massachusetts Plant Bought by Auto Body Makers.Joseph P. Day has sold for the Standard Woven Fabric Company at Walpole, Mass., its factory property at Framingham, Mass., to the Pettingell Machine Company.The plant is twenty-one miles from Boston and twenty-three miles from Worcester. The buildings were completed in August, 1913, and were vacated by the Standard Woven Fabric Company when they acquired the large plant of the Walpole Rubber Company, which they are now operating.The Pettingell Machine Company will use the property for the manufacture of automobile bodies. The Pettingell Machine Company operates a plant at Amesbury, Mass.
· Jun 10
There was a Hemmings article about them showing a few cars of various brands.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/pettingells-long-lost-custom-bodies/
· Jun 10
So far I have only seen this photo in the Chandler Book. Where did you find it? I'm so glad you did!
1915 Chandler Model 15B Speedster was built for George A. Crittenden. Thus far I have not been able to find anymore information. Would love to learn more and see more pictures of this 'gentleman's speedster'.
· Jun 10
I first found it on Coachbuild.com doing a Chandler search. Then I found it again in the Hemmings article.
· Jun 10
From Coachbuilt.com: The Pettingell Automatic Power Hammer (models #1 and #2), which dramatically sped up sheet metal forming. Panels that took days by hand could be done in under an hour. It became widely used in auto body shops, aircraft production, and naval work.
· Jun 10
Interesting that they supplied machinery to Fisher Body Corp.
· Jun 10
With such a small body, built of aluminum, this speedster must have been pretty quick.