K-R-I-T Motor Car Company
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Company type | Automobile Manufacturing |
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Industry | Automotive |
Genre | Touring cars, roadsters[1] |
Founded | 1909 |
Defunct | 1916 |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | United States |
Products | Vehicles Automotive parts |
K-R-I-T (or simply "Krit") was a small automobile manufacturing company (1909–1916) based in Detroit, Michigan.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Krit_Motor_Car_Company_Factory.png/220px-Krit_Motor_Car_Company_Factory.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/KRIT_1913.jpg/250px-KRIT_1913.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/1911KRIT.jpg/250px-1911KRIT.jpg)
Its name probably originated from Kenneth Crittenden, who provided financial backing and helped design the cars. The emblem of the cars was a swastika (a symbol that was not yet associated with Nazism, Nazi Germany, Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, or antisemitism). Krit occupied two different sites during its history: the first one it took over from the Blomstrom car, and in 1911 moved to the works that had been used by R. M. Owen & Company who had moved to become Owen Magnetic. The cars were conventional 4-cylinder models and many were exported to Europe and Australia. The outbreak of World War I seriously damaged the company and it failed in 1915. A few cars were subsequently assembled from remaining parts.
In 1911 the KRIT Motor Company was purchased by Walter S Russel of the Russel Wheel and Foundry Company.[2]
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1912 KRIT motor car Advertisement
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1917 KRIT Motor Car Co. - Patterns available
Surviving examples
- 1913 K-R-I-T "KT" 5-Passenger Touring at the National Automobile Museum.
See also
References
- ^ Imperial Automobile Company. Pawtucket, Rhode Island: The Automobile Journal Publishing Co. 1912.
- ^ http://blogs.detroitnews.com/history/2000/01/15/once-teeming-with-auto-plants-detroit-now-home-to-only-a-few-nameplates/