Haynes Light Twelve History

Haynes unveiled a twelve-cylinder car at the New York Automobile Show in January 1916, entering production that August — making the small Kokomo firm one of the earliest American makers of a series-production V12, close on the heels of Packard's Twin Six. It was marketed as the 'Light Twelve.'

The car used a 5.8-liter (approximately 5,840 cc), 60-degree overhead-valve V12 engine rated near 60 brake horsepower, driving through a three-speed manual gearbox on a 127-inch wheelbase. The first cars were the Models 40 and 41: the Model 40 came as a five-passenger touring car or three-passenger roadster; the Model 41 as a seven-passenger sedan.

The Light Twelve was a prestige flagship for a maker better known for its sixes, and it stayed in the catalog through 1922. It was always a low-volume car — fewer than roughly 650 were built across its run — and it could not reverse the company's decline against larger, better-capitalised rivals.