Page 7 - Champion Get the Facts booklets

1910 The company moves to 3
1915 Toledo, Ohio
1922
1937 The Champion X plug was an immediate success and OE
endorsements included some of the legendary names of early
American automobiles such as the Studebaker and the Buick, as
well as the ubiquitous Ford. In 1911, Ford bought 200,000 plugs
from Champion and, in 1913, Champion won Ford's entire spark
plug business. Since the American auto industry was establishing
itself in Detroit, 1,000 miles to the west, the Stranahans moved
the company to Toledo, just to the south.

Champion makes its
first acquisition

By 1914 there were a million motor cars on the road in the USA
so the Stranahans expanded and bought a small spark plug
factory in Detroit. That introduced the Stranahans to the Jeffries
brothers, Benjamin and Joseph, and their skills in the field of
insulator research and specialist production equipment, important
elements in the expansion of the Champion brand.

Champion expands outside
the USA for the first time

Thriving in the motorists' paradise of America, the brothers decided
to export back into Europe. Their first import and distribution
venture is to Great Britain, with its headquarters in Pall Mall and
its warehouse in Rotherhithe, followed by another import business
in France.

Champion begins manufacturing
in Britain

Although much slower to get off the ground in Britain, thanks to
the volume car production plans of Williams Morris, between 1922
and the 1937 car ownership increased dramatically. The time was
right to set up the first ever manufacturing facility outside the
USA to supply the British and European automotive markets. It
was located in Feltham, just outside London.