Engine: 315-cu.-in. L-head inline eight-cylinder
Engine Number: 28910
Horsepower: 105HP
Transmission: Three-speed manual
Brakes: Four-wheel mechanical drum
Wheelbase: 121.5 inches
Claimed Top Speed: 90 mph
Estimated Production: 14–17 completed

“A Car Worthy of Its Name”

Few American automobile names entered the market with as much cultural meaning as Rickenbacker. Introduced in 1922, the marque drew upon Captain Eddie Rickenbacker’s reputation as a racing driver and celebrated First World War fighter ace, associating its automobiles with speed, mechanical ability, and aviation. Although Rickenbacker contributed his name, standing, and advice, the company was principally developed by Barney Everitt, William Metzger, and Walter Flanders. The creators of E-M-F, their collective experience also encompassed the Wayne, Northern, Cadillac, and Flanders marques.

Rickenbacker automobiles debuted at the New York Automobile Show in January 1922. The initial models used a 218-cubic-inch, 58-horsepower six-cylinder engine with flywheels at both ends of the crankshaft, an arrangement promoted as reducing vibration. The company also became an early advocate of four-wheel braking, displaying an experimental chassis in 1922 and adopting the system on production cars in 1923. Although previously employed by specialized manufacturers such as Duesenberg, Rickenbacker helped introduce four-wheel brakes to the medium-priced American market.

For 1925, Rickenbacker introduced a 236-cubic-inch six producing a stated 68 horsepower and the new Vertical Eight “Super-fine.” Its 268-cubic-inch L-head engine, supported by a nine-bearing crankshaft, developed a reported 80 horsepower and provided the foundation for the marque’s most ambitious model.
The Super Sport debuted at the 1926 New York Automobile Show as a distinct high-performance automobile rather than another body variation. Period publicity described it as “America’s fastest stock car” and claimed a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour. Its boattail body incorporated Edmunds & Jones headlamps, turning cycle fenders, laminated mahogany airfoil bumpers, teak trim, safety glass, and a racing-influenced instrument panel.

Former Rickenbacker employee Whitman Daly recalled that at least 30 Super Sport bodies were ordered and painted, although historian Beverly Rae Kimes concluded that only approximately 14 to 17 automobiles were completed. The automobile in the Singleton Collection is both the only presently known intact Super Sport and the uniquely appointed example displayed at the 1926 New York show. Its 315-cubic-inch Vertical Eight was rated at 105 horsepower, while copper-plated fittings, custom Buffalo wire wheels, an airplane radiator mascot, and other specialized details distinguished it from the remaining production.

Delivered in 1927 to the Mellin and Moran Rickenbacker dealership in Michigan, the car remained with the family for more than four decades and later passed to John F. “Bud” Mellin. Its odometer recorded 11,616 miles when Harrah’s Automobile Collection acquired it in 1973. Thomas J. Lester purchased the car in 1983, and Eric and Vivian LaVine completed its restoration two years later. Its limited use and substantial surviving original material—including teak trim and copper-plated components—provided a firm basis for returning it to its documented show configuration. It subsequently passed through the Bob Pond and Klairmont collections before entering the Singleton Collection.

The Super Sport represented the ultimate apex culmination of Rickenbacker’s engineering and aviation-influenced design, reflecting the ambitions of the man whose name the car bears— making it truly “A Car Worthy of Its Name.”