The paddock at the August VSCC Prescott hill climb is often blessed with the sight of a row of Edwardian specials with different chassis, all powered by 8.2-litre Curtiss V8 aero engines from World War I. Our Snapshot is of an American K-R-I-T chassis with one of these engines, taken at VSCC Prescott on 6 August 2022 between Rolt’s and the Semicircle.
When in 2024 we jokingly suggested to the owner that he would have difficulty in finding spares or technical advice since nobody else uses the same engine, he told me that he in fact DOES have a problem – since all the other cars are fitted with Curtiss OX-5 aero engines, and his car is fitted with an OX-6 from 1916, originally used in an experimental hydroplane. It is therefore a marine engine with some different parts. This has not, however, stopped the car from being very effective up Prescott Hill.
K-R-I-T was a small company based in Detroit. It operated for only seven years, from 1909 to 1916. The name possibly originated from Kenneth Crittenden, who provided financial backing and helped design the cars. The radiator badge was a swastika, a symbol at the time not yet associated with the Nazi regime but a good luck symbol, with origins in the Hindu religion. The word swastika comes from Sanskrit: svastika, meaning ‘conducive to well-being’, and the right-facing symbol (used on a K-R-I-T) symbolises prosperity and good luck. The reason for using the swastika on a K-R-I-T thus becomes clear: it is linked to the name of the language, Sanskrit, which is the sacred language of Hinduism and an ancestor of all modern Indo-European languages including English.
Krit first took over the premises of the Blomstrom car company that closed in 1908. In 1911 it moved to the factory that had been used by R. M. Owen & Company. They in turn moved to become Owen Magnetic. K-R-I-T cars were conventional, with four-cylinder engines; many were exported to Europe and Australia. In 1913 the company introduced a six-cylinder car and tried to increase sales by engineering cars for other marques. The outbreak of World War I seriously damaged the company, and it failed in 1915. A few cars were then assembled from remaining parts.
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. It merged in the late 1920s with Wright Aeronautical to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
The OX-5 and its marine version the OX-6 were not particularly advanced, nor powerful, for their era, but they were popular after the war, with almost-new examples selling as low as $20 and therefore used by many civilians in boats as well as in aircraft.
This car and engine came over from the USA in 2005 in bits and has been put into superb working order by its owner.
Photo by Peter McFadyen. See his website: http://petermcfadyen.co.uk
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