The Imperial Automobile Company of

Jackson, Michigan Jackson is the only city and county seat of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534, down from 36,316 at the 2000 census. Located along Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127, it is approx ...

, was formed by the brothers T. A. and George N. Campbell in 1908, who also ran the Jackson Carriage Company.

History

Imperial produced

mid-size car Mid-size—also known as intermediate—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than compact cars and smaller than full-size cars. "Large family car" is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in ...

s with

four-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

engines; the bodywork and mechanicals were primarily off-the-shelf rather than

bespoke The word ''bespoke'' () has evolved from a verb meaning 'to speak for something', to its contemporary usage as an adjective. Originally, the adjective ''bespoke'' described tailor-made suits and shoes. Later, it described anything commissioned t ...

Coachwork A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

was done out-of-house by Beaudette Company, which also did work for

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

and

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

. In 1912 the Imperial factory burned down and the company moved into the old

truck plant. In 1914 a

six-cylinder The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balan ...

engine was introduced. Car production lasted until 1916. In 1915, Imperial merged with Marion from

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

to form

Mutual Motors Company The Marion was an automobile produced by the Marion Motor Car Company in Indianapolis (Marion County), Indiana from 1904 to 1915. Marion was also used for prototype automobiles in 1901 by the Marion Automobile Company of Marion, Ohio, which lat ...

. Under this new name, they stopped production of Imperials the following year. The new cars produced in Jackson were called Marion-Handley instead. File:1916Imperial.JPG, 1916 Imperial File:Imperial Auto Company Model 43 circa 1910.JPG, Model 43, circa 1910

References

Conceptcarz: 1910 Imperial Model 35
{{JacksonCars Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Brass Era vehicles Jackson, Michigan Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1908 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1916 1908 establishments in Michigan 1916 disestablishments in Michigan 1900s cars 1910s cars Cars introduced in 1908

History

See also

References