Haynes Haynes-Apperson History

After the 1894 Pioneer, Elwood Haynes and brothers Elmer and Edgar Apperson built cars commercially as the Haynes-Apperson Company in Kokomo — the first automobile manufacturer in Indiana and among the earliest in the country. Output grew quickly for the era: roughly five cars in 1898, thirty in 1899, 192 in 1900, and 240 in 1901.

A Haynes-Apperson competed in the first automobile race in America — the 1895 Chicago Times-Herald race — raising the profile of the Kokomo builders nationally. The cars used a rear- or front-mounted horizontally opposed (flat) twin-cylinder engine, chain drive, and an unusual constant-mesh transmission. Surviving 1904 catalog cars include an 11-horsepower Light Car at about $1,550 and a larger 17-horsepower Tonneau at about $2,500.

The Appersons left in 1901 to form the Apperson Brothers Automobile Company, and the Haynes-Apperson name was retired in 1905 when Elwood Haynes reorganised the firm as the Haynes Automobile Company.