Apperson Eight History

Apperson followed the industry's move to eight cylinders with a 90-degree V-8 — a roughly 5.5-liter unit — introduced around 1914, making the small Kokomo firm an early adopter of the layout that would define the American luxury car. The V-8 became Apperson's mainstay and was marketed under a rotating set of names as fashions changed.

From 1916 the company promoted its roadsters and tourings as the 'Roadaplane'; a 1917 'Silver-Apperson' was renamed the 'Anniversary' after 1919, and surviving cars are catalogued as the Model 8-20 'Anniversary Eight'. These were handsome, well-finished cars, but Apperson was now competing against vastly larger, better-capitalized makers.

The death of Elmer Apperson in 1920 broke the brothers' lifelong partnership and, by most accounts, robbed the firm of direction. Sales slid through the early 1920s; a rumored reunion with the old Haynes company came to nothing, and Apperson folded for good in 1926 — even as it introduced four-wheel brakes on its final models.