ALBERT CHAMPION Hemmings Cl***ic Car - JANUARY 1, 2006 - BY JIM DONNELLY http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2006/01/01/hmn_feature21.html If you're into researching automotive trivia, try to find out who developed the spark plug and you'll learn some interesting, if obscure, morsels of information. For example, some vague accounts credit Edmond Berger, an African-American who apparently emigrated from Togo, with creating an electrical "sparking plug" in early 1839. Records show, however, that Berger never obtained a patent for the device, and in any case, that was a good 40-odd years before functioning internal-combustion engines existed. Other sources give the credit to Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir, a Belgian-born French inventor who crafted a crude single-cylinder engine in 1859, which used an electric spark to ignite a mixture of air and gaslight fuel, most likely coal gas. The engine was quickly obsoleted by more efficient designs, most notably by Nikolaus Otto. Some give the nod to Sir Oliver Lodge, a British scientist who invented a rudimentary plug in the 1880s, and whose sons went on to found the Lodge Sparking Plug Company which, through mergers, became part of Morgan Advanced Ceramics in Rugby, Great Britain. Nikola Tesla, a Croatia-born engineer hailed by Time as one of the 100 most influential persons of the past century for his discovery of alternating-current electricity and rotating magnetic fields, apparently developed an "electric igniter" around 1900. The upshot of all this is that the humble spark plug may have had several fathers, but one man was responsible for expanding it into an element of everyday life. His name was Albert C. Champion. Born in Paris in 1878, Champion would not only establish the company that still bears his surname today, but form part of the newborn General Motors' earliest foundation, a product line that's virtually a household name today. As an adolescent, he found work as an errand boy at a Paris bicycle factory. It was at the very apogee of the 1890s global bicycling craze, and the factory encouraged Champion to take up racing. He was a prodigy and won championships in both France and the United States. Like many other compe***ive cyclists, he was immediately smitten with powered vehicles, and while in the United States, raced both cars and motorcycles. His most notable ride was the Packard "Gray Wolf," but Champion crashed it at the Brighton Beach course in Brooklyn and was seriously hurt. While convalescing in France, he intently studied automotive mechanics, focusing particularly on magnetos and other electrical components. With financial backing, he returned to the United States in 1905 and opened a small factory in Boston, where he began manufacturing spark plugs and selling imported magnetos. It was the first U.S. firm to make spark plugs using ceramic insulators-or, more accurately, insulators made from clay that Champion imported from France and had specially fired in a kiln-which protected the center electrode from grounding against metal as well as from moisture, engine heat and high voltage from the ignition coil. The Champion Ignition Company was an explosive success and a second plant was opened in Toledo, Ohio. In 1908, William C. Durant founded General Motors, and convinced Champion to start a new business in Flint, Michigan, producing spark plugs and other ignition parts for Buick, which was a founding GM brand. The new firm was called AC Spark Plugs, taking its name from Champion's initials. When Durant went on an acquisition binge, buying other automakers until indebtedness forced him out of GM in 1910, the demand for AC plugs grew exponentially. When Alfred P. Sloan began to reorganize GM in 1916, he transformed Durant's erstwhile electrical supplier into AC Division, a free-standing component of GM akin to its auto lines such as Chevrolet. Sloan then repositioned AC Division as a producer of spark plugs, speedometers and other equipment for sale to other car manufacturers, and not just a source of replacement parts for GM vehicles. Sloan ultimately named Champion president of AC Division, and during his term, AC bought majority interests of Sphinx Sparking Plug Company in England and Oleo Company in France, both established European manufacturers. According to archival materials at the Flint, Michigan, Public Library, the division's further growth was spurred when Charles A. Lindbergh used AC plugs during his historic solo flight across the Atlantic in May 1927, and later praised their reliability. Five months later, Champion and his wife sailed to Europe, to take their annual vacation and also visit the new AC factory that GM had just opened in Paris. While having dinner with friends at a Paris hotel, Champion abruptly collapsed and died within moments. The cause of death was determined to be a pulmonary embolism, although rumors persisted for years that Champion had been murdered, possibly as the result of a love triangle, despite police ***urances that no foul play had occurred. The story, however, continues. In 1916, Remy Electric merged with its main compe***ors, Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company of Dayton, Ohio, to form Delco-Remy Corporation, which GM also bought. AC Division later came to encomp*** Rochester carburetors, while Delco-Remy had evolved into GM's United Delco Division by 1971. Three years later, with the goal of consolidating and streamlining GM's parts operations, the two divisions were merged into ACDelco. In 1986, GM formed a new operating unit, Service Parts Operations, which remains ACDelco's parent company. Today, ACDelco manufactures about 70,000 replacement parts for both domestic and imported vehicles, and is active in motorsports sponsorship. And that other company named Champion? It's still here, too, a component of Federal-Mogul Corporation. This article originally appeared in the JANUARY 1, 2006 issue of Hemmings Cl***ic Car.
Now, my favorite part is how he DIED. Apparently the cabaret girl he married five months before was having an affair with a prize fighter, who followed them to a party in Paris to celebrate how his spark plugs carried Lindbergh across the ocean. Champion kissed his wife, the prize fighter became pissed, walked over and worked Champion over. Poor ******* died a few hours later - some say of an embolism, others a heart attack. THAT'S why he "collapsed" and died. Interestingly enough, when Champions wife was on her deathbed, the prize fighter came to see her. He broke through security, and the security guards, in turn, beat the hell out of him, and he dies 6 months later. Just desserts... ~Jason
Wanna call ******** on the prizefighter deal? THIS IS FROM THE AC-DELCO WEBSITE: Here's the actual link - scroll to the bottom and check out the last paragraph! http://www.acdelco.com/news/championteam/ A Champion Team by Lawrence R. Gustin Albert Champion, whose initials formed the "AC" in the AC Spark Plug brand, was one of the most colorful men in the auto industry and, by all accounts, a human spark plug. The beginnings of AC Spark Plug (now part of ACDelco) and General Motors have a lot in common—both are 100 years old this year, both were founded by William C. "Billy" Durant (Champion's financial backer and organizer of his firm) and both trace their earliest days to Buick Motor Co. and Flint, Mich. Champion, born in Paris on April 2, 1878, was an errand boy at the Clement bicycle plant, when his boss, noting the boy's speed and skill, suggested he enter a bicycle race. The boss had a good eye. Champion won major events in France in 1899 and 1904, and published reports say he won the European middle distance ***le and American and world championships. Champion was winning world-cl*** bicycle races on both sides of the Atlantic. Looking for more excitement, he turned to motorcycle and automobile racing, and was a phenomenon in both. He won 18 automobile races in France. And when he was the runaway winner of a 20-mile motorcycle race at Manhattan Beach, Calif., in 1902, a newspaper described him as "almost invincible." After he almost lost a leg when his Packard Gray Wolf careened through a fence in a race at Brighton Beach, N.Y., Champion concentrated on another of his enthusiasms—making gasoline engine equipment, notably spark plugs and magnetos. Durant was as charismatic as Champion, but in a quieter way. Durant got his start in vehicles with a ride in a horse-drawn road cart in Flint in 1886. Intrigued with the cart's patented spring suspension, he immediately bought the rights to build and sell the cart. From there his Flint Road Cart Co. grew into the giant Durant-Dort Carriage Co., the country's largest volume producer of horse-drawn vehicles. From carriage king to automaker was a short leap. He took control of another Flint enterprise, the nearly bankrupt Buick Motor Co., in 1904. Durant's selling, promotional and organizational abilities were enormous. Within four years, Buick had become the country's number-one producer of automobiles. Based on Buick's success, Durant founded General Motors on Sept. 16, 1908. By 1905 Champion was in Boston, making spark plugs and other automotive devices, backed by $2,000 from brothers Frank and Robert Stranahan. But Champion and the Stranahans argued and so, one day in 1908, he wandered into a Buick showroom in Boston and found Durant. Decades later, when a writer was researching a biography of Durant, his widow, Catherine, in her mid-80s, handed over a yellowed m****cript that was Durant's largely unknown autobiographical notes. In them were six pages of typewritten copy ***led "The A.C. Spark Plug." Durant had preserved his memories of his first meeting with Albert Champion as follows: In Boston, I was busy…getting my (Buick) salesroom in order and arranging details, when a gentleman appeared on the scene with a very neat gadget (unidentified but probably a magneto) which had much merit. It was not suited to the Buick because at that time the Buick was not a four-cylinder car. The gadget was well designed and showed good taste. I thought that anyone who could produce that kind of a device could do other worthwhile things as well. "Have you a factory?" I asked. "No, just a shop." "What are you making?" "Magnetos and spark plugs." "We do not use magnetos, but I am interested in spark plugs. Can you make a good one?" "I have just started in that line, but I worked for a number of years with Mr. Renault of Paris, France, and am following his methods, which have been most successful. I believe I can make good." Durant visited the man's small shop, a neat room on the third floor of a warehouse, with only a few tools. He asked if the Stranahans would sell out; Champion thought yes, if they could get their investment back, but two days later he was back, looking depressed. The Stranahans would sell the business but not transfer the name. "I told him I was not interested in the name—I was interested in spark plugs. But he said, ‘I am very much interested in the name. That's my name.' " For the first time, Durant asked the man his name, and reported this response in a heavy French accent: "Alber Cham-Pion." Durant took Champion to Flint, found space on an upper floor of the Buick factory and set him to work with 15 employees designing and making spark plugs. Spark plug operations began in Flint on Sept. 23, 1908—seven days after Durant incorporated General Motors. Once the product was ready, Durant organized Champion Ignition Co. on Oct. 26, 1908, with a paid-up capital of $100,000, and awarded Albert Champion a quarter interest of $25,000. Durant said that for a number of years, Champion received $500,000 in yearly dividends for his share in AC, and that at his death in 1927 his estate received $5 million in cash from GM, its parent company. The name Champion Ignition was changed on Feb. 15, 1922, to AC Spark Plug Co. to avoid confusion with Albert Champion's first company, Champion Spark Plug, which the Stranahans had moved to Toledo, Ohio. Both firms—AC Spark Plug and Champion Spark Plug—could trace their beginnings and their names to Albert Champion. Champion has been called one of the most colorful characters in the early auto industry. He died unexpectedly at age 49 on Oct. 27, 1927, in his home city of Paris, hours after he was punched by an ex-prize fighter in an altercation over Champion's wife.
And another: http://www.mycitymag.com/a-spark-of-brilliance-the-flamboyant-albert-champion/ A Spark of Brilliance The Flamboyant Albert Champion 0 BY JESSICA PRESSLEY SINNOTT ON MAY 1, 2014 A lover of fast machines and fast women, Albert Champion lived one of the most dramatic lives of any of the automobile barons. Champion was born in Paris on April 2, 1878. In 1899, he lived up to his name when he won the fourth Paris-Roubaix, one of the earliest and most challenging bicycle road races. His need for speed prompted him to switch to motorcycle and later automobile racing in Boston after he immigrated to America. Racing was a notoriously dangerous sport, and Champion was injured in a crash, which left him with one leg shorter than the other for the rest of his life. While racing brought ****e to life, fiscal concerns demanded industry. On the side, Champion began selling spark plugs, knowledge of which probably came from his French roots, as France was the dominant manufacturer of spark plugs in the early 20th century. He continued to race until 1904, when he won a race in the Parc des Princes during a business trip to Paris for his company, Champion Spark Plug. Despite the thrill of his win, he never raced again. It is said that while he was lying in his hospital bed, he saw a fellow racer brought in with gruesome injuries and it scared him off the sport forever. In 1908, Billy Durant, who had just created General Motors, happened to meet Champion one day while in Boston on business. Champion’s spark plugs, which were made with porcelain, intrigued him and he offered to purchase the business and move Albert to Flint. Lawrence Gustin and Terry B. Dunham, authors of The Buick: A Complete History, recount a humorous occurrence that illustrates Champion’s vainglorious character. “Champion was willing to accept” Durant’s offer, report the authors, “but a few days later mentioned that his backers… would not sell the Champion company name. Answered Durant: ‘I’m not interested in the name. I’m interested in the spark plugs.’ To which Champion replied ‘I am very much interested in the name – that’s my name.’” Champion did take his name with him in his move to Flint, although the Champion Ignition Company, as the new corporation was known, lasted only a few years. In order to avoid a lawsuit with the Champion Spark Plug Company back in Boston, which still exists today, Champion Ignition was renamed AC Spark Plug. The AC stands for Albert Champion, who apparently could not bear to go recognized. His name lives on today in those two company names: Champion Spark Plug, his original Boston company, and AC-Delco, which formed in 1974 as a merger between AC Spark Plug and United Delco. The fact that two companies bear Champion’s name is not an unusual occurrence in the automobile industry: a name often stuck, even when the eponymous individual moved on or sold his company (Buick is a prime example). It is said that the inventor’s temper flared as brilliantly as his spark plugs. In Champion’s factory on Harriet St. in Flint, Albert’s rage was famous for interfering with work. Gustin and Dunham say that his monumental temper “showed itself almost daily as he walked through his factory, firing employees for any reason – then complaining when the victims were not at work the next day.” Things got so bad that “after a while, an ***ociate followed Champion around, rehiring employees as fast as the boss fired them.” With a colorful character like this, it seems fitting that Champion’s death was dramatic and showy. On October 28, 1927, Albert was in Paris with his second wife, Edna, an attractive former chorus girl, for an automobile show. His death, in which he collapsed lifeless into the arms of a friend in a hotel banquet room, came only an hour after being struck by a former prizefighter. The Champion family claimed that Albert had caught the man with his wife. Years later, this same man tried to claim part of Champion’s fortune, testifying that he had entered into a common-law relationship with Edna Champion after Albert’s death. According to one report, as Edna Champion lay dying, the ex-prizefighter “flourishing a gun, broke through the gl***-paned door, shouting hysterically that his love was being kept prisoner. The guards beat him off and hurled him in the street.” Six months later, the ex-prizefighter was himself dead, his death attributed in part to the beating he had taken that night. Perhaps Albert smiled in his grave. Quick Facts: 1927: AC spark plugs were used in the plane that Charles Lindbergh piloted in his trans-Atlantic flight. 1932: Amelia Earhart’s plane was equipped with AC spark plugs when she made her trans-Atlantic solo flight. 1969: AC igniter spark plugs were used to fire the second and third stage rocket engines that took Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins to the moon. PHOTO COURTESY OF SLOAN*LONGWAY
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