The Short-Lived Automobile with the Superhero Name

These late 1920s threaded hub caps belong to an automobile whose name is reminiscent of a crusading crime fighter with an interesting backstory: The Falcon-Knight.

It was produced in Elyria, Ohio, by the Falcon Motors Corporation. The president was John A. Nichols, Jr., a man whose previous position had been that of vice-president in charge of sales for Dodge Brothers. Newspapers reported at the time that Falcon Motors had “the personal endorsement and financial support” of John Willys, and there is little doubt that Willys was the actual decision maker.

The Falcon-Knight was powered by a six cylinder 45-hp Knight sleeve valve engine with 2-15/16 x 3-7/8 bore and stroke. A printer/publisher named Charles Knight designed the sleeve valve engine to address the problems of the widely used poppet valve engine, specifically the noise and the need for regular maintenance in the form of valve grinding to restore compression. The Knight engine was an internal combustion engine that replaced the poppet valves with moving metal tubes, or sleeves, that slid up and down between the piston and cylinder wall. As they moved, carefully machined ports cut into the sides of the sleeves aligned at exact moments to let the fuel/air mixture in and exhaust out. They glided on a constant supply of oil and operated almost silently.

In Europe, luxury auto builders utilized the Knight engine in relatively small numbers, each hand built by master craftsmen. It had been rejected by the largest American automakers due to the complexity and expense of production until John North Willys became involved. The Falcon-Knight was the third car Willys produced with the patented Knight sleeve valve engine, the first being the Willys-Knight and the second the Stearns-Knight which Willys had purchased in 1925.

In the poppet valve engine, carbon build-up would necessitate a valve grinding job; in the Knight engine, the carbon polished the cast iron of the sleeves to a smooth finish. The carbon functioned as a self-renewing seal and caused the sleeve valve engine to run smoother and quieter at 40,000 miles than brand new.

The sleeve-valve engine had to be honed with absolute accuracy. If too tight, the engine would seize up; if too loose, the engine would lose compression. Willys revolutionized factory machining, and the mass production of an engine requiring such precision was an incredible accomplishment.

In August of 1927, Falcon Motors introduced a sporty new Falcon-Knight and graced it with the fantastic moniker of “Gray Ghost” (long before Batman was inspired by the crimefighter with the same name). The Gray Ghost was silver-gray in color with darker gray fenders and gray leather interior. This roadster could accommodate two passengers in front and two more in the rumble seat, and it had collapsible, waterproof tops, one for each compartment, wire wheels, and even a dual-tone horn.

In May of 1928, the legendary Cannonball Baker, the inspiration for the Cannonball Run, set a new transcontinental speed record in a Falcon-Knight Six, making the trip from Washington D. C. to Los Angeles in 73 hours and 47 minutes. Baker held the previous record, too, and he beat it by six hours and eight minutes in the Falcon-Knight.

The Falcon-Knight was only manufactured in 1927 and 1928 with a few more assembled with leftover parts in 1929. Manufacturing quietly ceased by March 1st of that year, and the Willys-Knight was also gone by 1933. A number of factors contributed to the demise of the sleeve valve engine. The heavy sleeves had rpm limitations, and the heavy oil consumption needed to prevent disastrous metal on metal friction was expensive and resulted in undesirable blue exhaust smoke. The labor costs involved in the precision manufacturing of the sleeve-valve made it difficult to compete against the poppet valve engines that were becoming better and cheaper, and the luxury market disappeared virtually overnight with the stock market crash and the Great Depression.

As seen in the picture below, the Falcon-Knight was just a great-looking car all around. Thankfully, a small number of survivors like this one have been saved and serve as beautiful evidence of this fascinating chapter in American automotive history.