The Imperial Automobile Company of

Jackson, Michigan Jackson is a city in Jackson County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 31,309 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along Interstate 94 in Michigan, Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127 in Michigan, U.S ...

, 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 categoriz ...

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

bespoke ''Bespoke'' () describes anything commissioned to a particular specification, altered or tailored to the customs, tastes, or usage of an individual purchaser. In contemporary usage, ''bespoke'' has become a general marketing and branding concep ...

Coachwork A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, motor coaches, and railway carriages. The word ...

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

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

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

truck plant. In 1914 a six-cylinder engine was introduced. Car production lasted until 1916. In 1915, Imperial merged with Marion from

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

to form Mutual Motors Company. Under this new name, they stopped production of Imperials the following year. The new cars produced in Jackson were called

Marion-Handley The Marion-Handley was an automobile built in Jackson, Michigan by the Mutual Motors Corporation from 1916 to 1918. History Mutual Motors Corporation was formed by combining the Imperial Automobile Company and Marion Motor Car Company. The '' ...

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