Of course AC spark plugs were used in GM’s concept cars: AC (ACDelco) was a division of GM. But did you know that AC were the initials of Albert Champion, who gave his name to that eponymous spark plug company. So how did that all happen?
Curiously, Albert Champion had been a bicycle champion in France when he came to the US in 1905, to import French electrical components. He joined the Stranahan Brothers in starting the Champion company, specializing in spark plugs. But his deal with the Stranahans left him without any control over the company, so in 1908 he went to see William Durant at Buick. They decided that they could produce a similar spark plug themselves cheaper, which fed right into Billy Durant’s obsession with vertical integration.
They called the company “Champion Ignition Co” which soon had to be changed when the Stranahans firmly informed them that was off limits. So they changed it to AC Spark Plugs, reflecting Champion’s initials.
But AC wasn’t yet a division of GM; it was under the United Motors umbrella, one of Durants companies set up to provide parts not only to GM but also to other manufacturers. Only in 1918 was AC sold to GM for $45 million, and in 1927 it became a division of GM.
United Motors also included Alfred Sloan’s Hyatt Roller Bearing Co. He was made president of United Motors, and eventually took on the same role at GM in 1923.
This was a new one to me – we can add Champion and AC to that fairly short list of second acts (Ransom Olds going from Oldsmobile to REO and Harry Stutz leaving his company to start HCS are two that come to mind.) Surely there are more.
Henry Ford…and the dude that started both Cadillac and Lincoln, his escapes me now, it’s too early here on the west coast. 🙂
Henry LeLand ?
(Need more cawfee in me)
August Horch is one of these; he founded Horch in 1899 which became a well-regarded German luxury car in the prewar era, but was forced out of the company after a dispute with his partners a decade later. So he founded a new firm which needed a new name. Horch means “listen” in German, so he decided to go with the Latin translation of his name: Audi.
Both companies wound up merging with each other along with two others to become Auto Union, which later became the modern Audi.
That path is somewhat convoluted-
Ford made several tries at auto manufacturing, and quit one attempt after arguing with investors over product. He took “Ford Motors” with him, so Henry Leland took over and changed the company name to Cadillac (as noted by Mark Reimer).
Later on, Henry Leland left Cadillac and formed Lincoln, which Henry bought when Leland encountered financial difficulties.
Walter Chrysler and William Durant come to mind.
David Buick, with a plus for his dabbling in “porcelain” making a nice tie-in.
David Dunbar Buick initially made his fortune by creating the process of porcelainizing cast iron using vitreous enamel. with his fortune behind him, he founded the Buick Motor Company. When Buick became part of GM, D. D. Buick wasted away his fortune on other dubious inventions, short-lived car companies, and investments, dying a poor man.
1920’s Commentator Theodore F. McManus said that “Fame beckoned to David Buick. He sipped from the cup of greatness, and then spilled what it held.”
It would be an interesting long list of entrepreneurs who went on after having lost (or surrendered) the rights to using their own name.
Chevrolet.
J. L. Hudson, who was never even involved with the Hudson Automobile Co!
James W. Packard
7 Studebaker brothers.
John & Horace Dodge
Charles W. Nash
Thomas B. Jeffery
Hon. C. S. Rolls
Andre Citroen
Edsel B. Ford [Posthumously]
. . . I’m sure there are hundreds more, especially for cars pre-1930
And there are those who never even knew automobiles existed, but had their name used anyway:
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, founder of Detroit.
Fernando DeSoto
Abraham Lincoln.
The Roman god Mercury [I know, it’s a bit of a stretch!]
Probably the worst example of someone who never gave his permission to use his name and likeness, was the Odawa war chief, better known as Pontiac.
…Winnebago, Tioga, Cheyenne, Cherokee…Cherokee…Cherokee…
Cherokee: Yep, just this year the Chief of the Cherokee Nation asked Stellantis AGAIN to stop using the name. That said, in 1974 when the very successful line of SUVs were introduced, the Cherokee Nation was very happy to have their name associated with Jeep, as Jeeps were said to be the number 1 vehicle found on Cherokee lands. What they didn’t mention was that most of the Jeeps owned by the generally poor Cherokee population, were well-used examples, many not in operating condition
Now for Tioga & Winnebago, That’s a different story.
The original Tioga RV company was named after Tioga County, PA where they were located, as some of their early brochures point out. Other print stuff suggests they were named in honor of a small river that cuts thru the county.
Now Winnebago IS named after the Winnebago Indian tribe, and their various models like Brave and Warrior, were introduced to honor the tribe as well. I owned a Winnebago years ago, and on a trip across the USA, we stopped at the factory for a tour [It’s still a very popular tour today!].
After the tour and on the way out of town, we stopped for lunch at a local eatery run by a tribal non-profit. I asked them how the tribe felt about them using the name, and I was informed the company employs a large percentage of tribal members, and it’s the biggest contributor of civic deeds and money in the area. The lady in charge of the eatery said it was the Winnebago company that introduced the tribe to people all over the world.
Nikola Tesla should be on that last list. So perhaps should Charles Goodyear, who made the vulcanization of rubber practical thus enabling tires to exist, and didn’t live to know there was a huge tire company named for him.
la673,
Yes, Nikola Tesla is a very under-rated inventor, probably because he was on the verge of insanity for most of his life, but he gave us AC power and fought Edison for years over which was better, A/C or D/C.
I have a Czech Tatra T2-603 car, and it has an original Tesla brand radio in the dash, made by the Czech electrical products company called PAL. It’s marked with block letter on the front “TESLA”. I love telling modern Tesla owners that I have a Tesla brand radio in my car, and they always tell me no one ever branded their radios like that. 2 local Tesla owners actually offered to bet me money that they were right. Easiest $20 [each] I’ve ever made!
As to Charles Goodyear, his biography is fascinating, and a must-read for anyone interested in the history of rubber.
I didn’t know there were Tesla-branded radios in cars before, but I found exactly two of them online so they’re clearly some still out there. I don’t think today’s Tesla brands their audio systems, which is rare these days when everyone wants to co-opt some famous audio gear manufacturer for their sound systems.
Back of radio:
My relatives are Slovak (actually more of them over there than in the US…just my Grandparents and an Uncle emigrated), and we visited them over there (some have come to visit us in the US as well)…and back in the 90’s when we first went over, I noted the Tesla branded electronics…radios and TVs…so when the US car came out I did wonder how they could brand it the same as the pre-existent company, though of course the electronics weren’t sold in the US. Wonder if the Tesla vehicle company offers any of their vehicles over there…if so, seems there’d be confusion over the brand between the two companies.
Ia673,
Can you let me know the links to the Tesla radios?
billmccoskey@aol.com
Thanks!
George Hurst is another.
“A. Cee…..T-I-O-N”!
(TV commercial jingle for these spark plugs, circa 1962);
Always amazes me the vast amount of 1960’s automotive trivia that was stored in my impressionable young grade school car-crazy mind.
The early histories of entrepreneurs is always fascinating, and so it is with Albert Champion. When he was a teenager, Champion got a job as a messenger (i.e.,. delivering messages on a bike) for Clément Cycles, a Paris bicycle manufacturer. The company’s owner was impressed at Champion’s riding ability, and suggested that he try bicycle racing, which was then very popular. And that’s how he got his racing career started.
Bike racing did, indirectly, lead Champion to spark plugs. He eventually progressed from bikes into racing motorcycles – and being mechanically inclined, he spent a lot of time modifying his bike, which included designing a new spark plug for it. He also spent some time racing automobiles in the early 1900s before he devoted all his time to his new company.
Here’s a picture of Albert Champion from his bicycle racing days:
When I was growing up in Flint, Michigan, the AC Spark Plug water tower was a landmark and touchstone from many parts of the city. I honestly didn’t know until later on in adulthood that “AC” were a person’s initials, any more than I would have thought “GM” stood for, say, “Gary Miller”.
Sometimes a two letter brand name just sounds better, or more modern. The South Korean brand LG stands for Lucky Goldstar.
Lucky (a white goods company) and Goldstar (appliances and electronics) were originally separate companies before they merged.
The artwork on those ads is beautiful. Definitely suitable for framing.
+1
Does anyone know who the artist(s) are? I’m guessing not AF/VK.
AC site was one monster of a complex in Flint.
It’s nothingness now.
…or at least the last time I passed through a year or two ago nothing was happening.
I think I learned about Albert Champion from a write-up in Hot Rod back in the 1970s. This post fills in the details and why he left Champion to start AC. Great stuff.
“Only in 1918 was AC sold to GM for $45 million” In today’s dollar, that’s $815,265,894.04. That seems like an excessive amount.
I don’t know about the details, but AC was part of United Motors at that point, and as such, the total value included more than just spark plugs.
It was a very complicated deal, with United Motors shareholders getting large amounts of GM stock… so I suspect that $45 million (if accurate) includes the total of the GM stock that was provided to United shareholders.
Actually I did know, one of the pieces of useless information my dad passed in to me, he began work at a GM dealership in the 30s when all the pioneering information was still well known,
I read a biography about Albert Champion a few years ago; it was pretty good, so I’ll leave a picture of it here for anyone else who is interested.
Additionally, I love the ads – I have the Corvair Monza GT one, and it makes the rotation of ads around my house.
What has puzzled me for about 50 years is how, legitimately, could the government decide that Ford had a monopoly with Autolite plugs and forced Ford to divest Autolite, but GM, with about twice the market share of Ford, owning AC was fine and dandy.
“with about twice the market share”
and therefore twice the lawyers with which to fight their battles.
Great article with good information Paul. One thing I have always wondered about is why the 1969 Camaro speedometer and tachometer had the AC logo at the bottom of the gauge. Did AC dabble in gauges for a short time? Anyone out there know why?
Glenn,
By 1969 AC was part of AC/Delco and made instruments as well. For reasons likely lost forever, GM told AC to brand the parts, and they did! It’s also possible the internal speedo and tach sections were offered to other manufacturers, like trucks, so they were branded for advertising purposes.
Thank you for the reply, Bill. Another trivial thing I remember is the Volkswagen Beetle and Mercedes Benz having their gauges branded VDO in the 70’s. I wonder if they got the idea for doing that from AC?
Glenn,
In Europe it was very common even in pre-ww2 times to see the instrument maker’s ID on the instrument faces. Behind the face of the instrument, the main mechanical pieces were often the same for multiple manufacturers and models. Depending who ordered the parts, companies like VDO, Smiths, Lucas, Bosch, or Veglia would attach the face plate and needle, then package it in that car manufacturer’s cardboard box.
Until dashboards began to be styled in the 1980s, many European instruments were available “off the shelf” in round or rectangular shapes, to standard sizes. Auto manufacturers could simply pick what they wanted out of catalogs!
Even those tall thin speedometers found in Mercedes cars in the 1960s were based on existing horizontal speedos already in production! Put a new face on it with vertical numbers, and viola, a new style was born!
I have 1948 and 1962 Lucas complete 5-ring parts books listing all the instruments and even lamp assemblies, horns, turn signal kits, and more. And some were available without the face plate, only the needle there in front.
My grandfather retired from AC. I have a pair of AC spark plugs that appear to be earings due to their size and small loop attached at the top. They are only 3/4 inch long, and chrome except where the white ceramic is. The ceramic says AC on one side and the number 2 on the other side. They’re actually quite nice and remained in my mothers jewelry box since I was a child. Does anyone know the history of them. I think they are pretty rare.
AC-Delco was founded 107 years ago in 1916 as United Motors. Known as United Motors Service through 1960. Known as United Delco from 1961-1974. On September 1st, 1974, GM had the big merger, and created the AC-Delco we know of today. Many companies/divisions of GM under the United Motors Service/United Delco/AC-Delco flag. Such as AC, Delco-Remy, Delco-Battery, Klaxon, Guide Lamp, Harrison, Hyatt, Rochester (Northeast), Fisher Body, Delco Moraine, Delco Products, just to name a few.
Years ago I heard that on leaving the company that bares his name, Albert Champion couldn’t sell spark plugs under his name, so he named his new company AC. I checked online and here is what the AC Delco website says in part [my comments in brackets]:
In 1904, Champion moved to Flint, Michigan where he founded Champion Ignition Company for the manufacturing of spark plugs. With the help of investors, Champion was able to turn his racing hobby into a successful business. Unfortunately, problems with the investors soon lead to a break up. Champion soon found himself without a company [or legal right to his name on spark plugs]. The investors continued to manufacture the spark plugs under the Champion name, but Champion himself was out of a job.
In 1908 [after developing a superior type of spark plug], with the backing of the Buick Motor Co., Champion began a new company called the AC Spark Plug Company. Albert Champion was appointed president. In 1916 Alfred P. Sloan formed United Motors Corp. and eventually acquired Buick and AC Spark Plug.
In 1921, Champion founded the Flint Faience & Tile Company. The tile company was one of the best Arts & Crafts tile companies in the United States, known for their glossy, painted tiles. They fired decorative tiles in the same kilns as spark plugs, [after first decorating the unfired tiles] in a building adjacent to the Harriet Street factory. This was done so they could avoid shutting down the kilns when they were finished with spark plug production, because repeated cycles of cooling and reheating would damage the kilns.