| h i s t o r y |
IMPCO (an acronym from its original name Imperial Machine Products Company) was founded in 1958 by Herbert V. Hills and Richard Baverstock in a small Quonset hut in South Gate, California.

The company was born out of the need for faster and more energy efficient car and speed boat racing. The first product developed and sold was the CA300A carburetor, known as the "IMPERIAL", which is still sold today.

In 1967, the company was moved to Cerritos and became a wholly owned subsidiary of AJ Industries (Alaska Juneau Mining Company). IMPCO purchased BEAM Products Company in 1986, Garretson Equipment Company in 1997, J & S Products and Algas Carburetion in 1998. Along the way, several of IMPCO's distributors, such as Technisch Bureau Media in The Netherlands, Mikuni in Japan and Ateco PTY in Australia were purchased, becoming global affiliate locations.

The company’s name was changed to IMPCO Technologies, Inc. in the early 1990's. In 2005, IMPCO merged with BRC Gas Equipment, and in 2006, a holding company called Fuel Systems Solutions (FSS) was created to umbrella both companies. Also, in 2006, IMPCO moved to a new state of the art facility in Santa Ana, California.

IMPCO has grown to become a truly global business with offices, distributors and customers in every major continent in the world. With our patented Spectrum Fuel Management Industrial Systems, our state of the art Multi-Point Sequential Gaseous Phase Injection Automotive Systems, our Certified Industrial Engines Packages, in addition to our traditional gaseous fuel carburetion components, IMPCO Technologies, Inc. is poised for unprecedented growth and we are very excited about the future.

• Chronology
IMPCO’s Founder and First President
Herbert V. Hills started Imperial Machine Products Company (IMPCO) with the profits from his machining company, Avalon Machine Screw Products. He was Technical Sales Representative for Century Carburetion, traveling the world in support of technical services and customer applications, before leaving to start his own company.


IMPCO’s 1st Vice President
Richard Baverstock worked for Century Carburetion just before the start of WWII when he joined the Navy. After the war, he went back to Century as head designer, bringing the“3C” carburetor to the marketplace. He received royalties for the sales of this mixer even after going to work for Imperial Machine Products.

IMPCO’s Racer/Instructor
Don Bass was Imperial Machine Products Company’s fi rst employee, hired after three years on the Nascar circuit with Dodge and Mercury racing teams. Using his extensive knowledge as an engine and fuel specialist, he established IMPCO’s racing programs. Don also produced and taught IMPCO’s global training classes. Don was instrumental in the development of the “Clean Air Car” used to promote propane as a motor fuel by the Propane Gas Association. He also established IMPCO in Off-Road, Marine and Drag racing sports.

IMPCO’s Hot-Rod Pioneer
Ak Miller’s main contributions at IMPCO were testing and validation of product designs. He did this using IMPCO fuel components and systems in his race vehicles. Ak had a passion for speed, he set the fi rst alternative fuel land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1948 hitting 128 mph in the non-supercharged class. A Pike’s Peak Hill climb win in 1958 and the fi rst jet powered lakester to run at Bonneville Salt Flats were among Ak’s many accomplishments. He co-founded the NHRA in 1951. Later in his career Ak Miller assisted in the design and testing of turbo-charging systems for large, stationary engines used by both Caterpillar and Cummins.

 
On February 6, 2009 we celebrated our 50th Anniversary and launched the IMPCO Technologies Automotive Division  at our world headquarters in Santa Ana California.

Event video, pictures and literature can be found here.

View our Short Film 50 Years of Innovation



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  IMPCO is a registered trademark brand of IMPCO Technologies Inc.