After the Panic of 1907, the decision was made to build cars on one chassis of 120 inches with a four-cylinder engine built by Speedwell.

Speedwell was among the earliest companies to market a torpedo and the only one to use concealed door hinges and place the horn under the hood.

The one-chassis policy did not prevent the company from offering Speedwells in several body styles, including some evocatively called Cruiser, Duck Boat and Speed Car.

[8] After Pierce Schenck turned his interest to malleable iron and Gilbert Loomis left Dayton,[1] Cyrus E. Mead designed a rotary-valve engine that Speedwell put into production in addition to its standard poppet-valve car, resulting in both types being offered.

[9][10] In 1913, however, Mead was killed in an automobile accident, leaving others, less familiar with the engine, to try to attend to the need for refinements to is design.