Carter Carburetor, Former American carburetor manufacturer
Carter Carburetor was an automotive parts company in St. Louis, Missouri that manufactured carburetors to deliver fuel and optimize engine performance. The plant consisted of several large connected buildings with production and storage spaces across approximately 500,000 square feet and operated from the 1920s until 1984.
Founded in 1909 by William Carter, who initially worked on bicycles before developing carburetors, the company was sold in 1922 to American Car and Foundry. Peak years came in the 1950s with innovations like the first American four-barrel carburetor and later the Thermo-Quad for Chrysler's most powerful engines.
The closed site in St. Louis is under ongoing environmental remediation and not fully open to the public. Cleanup efforts involved removing contaminated soils and asbestos materials as well as neutralizing chemical residues like PCBs and TCE that left the site unsafe.
The company developed a waterproof carburetor for the Willys Jeep that could withstand water splashes and keep vehicles running while crossing rivers. Notably, it also manufactured carburetors for competitors like Rochester, sometimes stamping only its own name on identical components.
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