Vehicle Description
Chassis No. 1964
Engine No. 451964
The Kissel Motor Car Company of Hartford, Wisconsin, produced a
solidly engineered, well-designed luxury automobile favored by
America's wealthiest, most flamboyant personages during the Jazz
Age. Best-remembered of the Kissel offerings is the jaunty
two-passenger speedster, with its bee-tailed rear end and cut-down
doors, an automobile practically designed to accompany a raccoon
coat and a flask of Canadian Club. Most often seen in Chrome Yellow
with black fenders, it was popularly known as the "Gold Bug," a
name suggested in a Kissel-sponsored advertising contest.
The Gold Bug offered here, a Model 6-45 of namesake cylinders and
horsepower, was acquired in 1921 by Charles T. Bent of Rhode
Island, who promptly used it to take his new wife on their
honeymoon to Niagara Falls - which must have made quite an
impression on the newly christened Mrs. Bent. The Kissel remained
with the Bent family for 37 years, and at one point was actually
used by the couple's daughter, Beatrice, as her college automobile.
In 1958 it was sold to antique dealer Ralph Murphy, then passed to
George Hall, who began a restoration completed by the next owner,
Eugene E. Husting of Boston. Mr. Husting exhibited the car at
several Veteran Motor Car Club of America gatherings, as well as in
the club's museum at what is now the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in
Brookline, Massachusetts.
Shortly thereafter the Kissel was acquired by the famed Harrah's
Automobile Collection, which had been seeking a Gold Bug for its
growing fleet. Bill Harrah was wont to occasionally upgrade
examples in his collection and was especially keen to acquire the
first or last of a series. This Gold Bug, being an early car, was
thus supplanted in 1962 by the earliest known example. It went on
to change hands several times through the coming years, most
prominently residing with Alfred Koller, in whose ownership it
enjoyed a body-off restoration at the hands of Penn-Dutch of York,
Pennsylvania and became an AACA Senior award-winner.
Since 2014 part of the Academy of Art University Automobile
Collection, the Kissel still shows very well, with only minor
cracking visible in the paint at the rear of the body; the
interior, of crushed leather, has a very comfortable appearance,
like a favorite easy chair. Halliday spring-loaded bumpers, a
period accessory, add a charming touch, as does, of course, a
Kissel signature feature - the folding "trap seat" on the side of
the body, providing a mount for a riding mechanic or a particularly
thrill-seeking passenger. It is accompanied by a small history file
that includes correspondence with the Bent family and Kissel
historians while in the Academy of Art University's ownership.
Just as in the 1920s, there is, simply, no more jazzy-looking
car!
Addendum & Administrative Notes
Please note that this lot is titled as Model Year 1922.
