C4 Corvette fitted with Paxton SN-86 supercharger.
Paxton Automotive is a United States-based manufacturer of superchargers for automotive use. The company is the major proponent of the centrifugal type supercharger. Early products were offered under the McCulloch name. Some Paxton superchargers have been factory fitted, but most units sold have been aftermarket installed. Paxton products are possibly best known for their frequent use in performance-modified Ford Mustangs.
Inventor Robert Paxton McCulloch began producing superchargers to his design in 1937 for the Ford Flathead V8, a popular engine for performance modification at the time. The company estimates that around 5,000 were built before World War II stopped production.
In 1956, McCulloch set up a separate Paxton Superchargers division, selling it off in 1958. Supercharged engines were used for one successful year in NASCAR racing, after which forced induction was banned from the sport. For this purpose, Paxton superchargers were fitted as the rare (211 produced) F-option for the 1957 Ford Thunderbird.
A short run of Shelby Mustangs were fitted with Paxton superchargers, and Ford dealers offered Paxton superchargers as a dealer-fitted Ford Mustang option from 1965 to 1972. Paxton still provides supercharger kits for older Mustangs as well as more recent models.
Still in business as a subsidiary of Vortech, Paxton now supplies complete supercharging kits for popular performance-modified cars, as well as bare superchargers for more customised installations.
One of the more unusual applications for the Paxton brand superchargers was as an air pump in the air purifying CO2 scrubbers of U.S. Navy submarines.
See also
Paxton Phoenix, a rear-engine coupé prototype developed in 1953
Packard was an American luxury automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Detroit-built Packard in 1956, when they built the Packard Predictor, their last concept car.
Edsel was a brand of automobile that was marketed by the Ford Motor Company from the 1958 to the 1960 model years. Deriving its name from Edsel Ford, son of company founder Henry Ford, Edsels were developed in an effort to give Ford a fourth brand to gain additional market share from Chrysler and General Motors. Established as an expansion of the Lincoln-Mercury Division to three brands, Edsel shared a price range with Mercury; the division shared its bodies with both Mercury and Ford.
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the firm was originally a coachbuilder, manufacturing wagons, buggies, carriages and harnesses.
The Studebaker Golden Hawk is a two-door pillarless hardtop personal luxury car produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, between 1956 and 1958.
The Packard Hawk is a model of automobile. It was the sportiest of the four Packard-badged Studebakers produced in 1958, the final year of Packard production.
The Studebaker-Packard Hawk series were cars produced by the merged Studebaker-Packard corporation between 1956 and 1964. All but the 1958 Packard Hawk were badged Studebaker. Described by the company as "family sports cars", they were all two-door, four-seat coupes and hardtops. They were an evolution of the long wheelbase (120") 1953 C/K models designed by Robert Bourke, lead designer with the Raymond Loewy Agency. The 1962 redesign as the GT Hawk was by another famed stylist, Brooks Stevens.
The 1957 and 1958Packard lineup of automobiles were based on Studebaker models: restyled, rebadged, and given more luxurious interiors. After 1956 production, the Packard engine and transmission factory was leased to the Curtiss-Wright Corporation while the assembly plant on Detroit's East Grand Boulevard was sold, ending the line of Packard-built cars. However, Studebaker-Packard executives hoped to keep the Packard name alive until a fully restyled model could be funded, developed, and produced. These cars were built in hopes that enough would be sold to enable the company to design and build a completely new luxury Packard.
The Shelby Mustang is a high-performance variant of the Ford Mustang built by Shelby American from 1965 to 1967 and by the Ford Motor Company from 1968 to 1970.
McCulloch Motors Corporation is an American manufacturer of chainsaws and other outdoor power tools. The company was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1943 by Robert Paxton McCulloch as a manufacturer of small two-stroke gasoline engines and introduced its first chainsaw in 1948, the Model 5-49. McCulloch and its brand are owned by Husqvarna.
The Studebaker Lark is a compact car that was produced by Studebaker from 1959 to 1966.
Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Saleen became public through a reverse merger. It is listed on the OTC Bulletin Board and is controlled and majority owned by Saleen brand founder Steve Saleen.
The Chevrolet Corvette (C1) is the first generation of the Corvette sports car produced by Chevrolet. It was introduced late in the 1953 model year, and produced through 1962. This generation is commonly referred to as the "solid-axle" generation, as the independent rear suspension did not appear until the 1963 Stingray.
Robert Paxton McCulloch was an American entrepreneur from Missouri, best known for McCulloch chainsaws and purchasing the "New" London Bridge, which he moved to Lake Havasu City, Arizona — one of the cities he founded.
Roush Performance is an American automotive company primarily involved in the engineering, development and manufacturing of high-performance components for street and competitive racing applications. The company's namesake is automotive mogul Jack Roush, who owns and operates the firm. Founded in 1995 by Roush, it provides automotive engineering from racing to street cars.
Ford and several third-party companies offered many modified versions of the highly popular Mustang in order to cater to specific portions of the marketplace outside of the mainstream. High-performance enthusiasts seek more powerful, sharper handling, sports cars, while collectors and purists seek limited production and alternate or nostalgic styling, such as is commonly found on many commemorative editions. Still, others were made purely for experimental concepts such as the McLaren M81 (turbo) and SVO, which later influenced production model design. Most variants include both performance upgrades, and unique cosmetic treatments that are typically minimal to maintain the familiar appearance of a stock Mustang. Although most of these Mustang variants were aimed at enthusiasts, an exception was the Special Service Package, which was designed specifically for law enforcement.
The Paxton Phoenix was a rear-engine coupé prototype developed in 1953 by Robert P. McCulloch's Paxton Automotive of Los Angeles, California, a division of his chainsaw business.
The Saleen S-281 is a variant introduced between the 4th and 5th generations of Ford Mustang which was produced by the American manufacturer Saleen, Inc. By 2005, Saleen departed from being a company of modifying existing Ford Mustangs as well as various other Ford automobiles, and became an Original equipment manufacturer. This was easily distinguishable with the body work designed by Phil Frank on the S-281's as well as the various other models offered by Saleen.
The first generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a two-seat convertible produced by Ford for the 1955 to 1957 model year, the first 2-seat Ford since 1938. It was developed in response to the 1953 Motorama display at the New York Auto Show, which showed the Chevrolet Corvette. The Corvette in turn was developed in response to the popularity of European sports cars among Americans.
ProCharger is the supercharger division of Accessible Technologies, Inc. (ATI), a supercharger and industrial turbomachinery manufacturer located in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Inovair is the name of the company’s industrial products division.
The sixth generation Ford Mustang (S550) is the current iteration of the Mustang pony car manufactured by Ford. In departure from prior Mustang models, the sixth generation Mustang includes fully independent rear suspension on all models, as well as an optional 2.3L EcoBoost turbocharged and direct injected four-cylinder engine. The new Mustang was introduced as a 2015 model year vehicle, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Ford Mustang, which was revealed as a 1965 model year vehicle on April 17, 1964.
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