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The Paxton
name has been synonymous with automotive performance for nearly
five decades. The company produced the original production
centrifugal supercharger and has made its mark in every decade
as a leader in high performance applications. Paxton Automotive
continues to build on that legacy with the highest quality
supercharger systems available on the market today.
Popular
Paxton Supercharger kits..
NEW
PAXTON WARRANTY PROGRAM
JULY 27 2007: Paxton Automotive Corporation has announced
its 3-year/36,000 mile powertrain limited warranty. This will
be available as an option with complete, fully calibrated
systems sold and installed in the US and Canada by a select
group of Paxton installers. Please contact Paxton or your
local Paxton dealer for further information.
The legend
of the Paxton superchargers dates back to the inventor Robert
Paxton McCulloch. The original McCulloch supercharger began
production in 1937 for flat head Ford engines. Over 5,000
units were sold in the late 30s. The early 1940’s shifted
production to wartime endeavors and supercharger production
was discontinued. The idea for new supercharger capable of
quiet operation, low-end boost and self contained lubrication
emerged in the late 1940s. In 1953, McCulloch released an
all new supercharger to the public.
The new
McCulloch supercharger utilized a planetary ball drive that
offered a 4.4:1 step up ratio from the input shaft to the
impeller. It was lubricated with a mechanical oil pump and
a self contained reservoir of transmission fluid. The supercharger
offered a maximum of 5 psi and significant bottom end power
with the aid of a variable rate input pulley. The V-belt system
allowed the pulley diameter to essentially change based on
engine RPM and power needs. The McCulloch ball drive supercharger
was used on a wide variety of vehicles at the time including
the Kaiser Manhattan, the Packard Panther (five show cars
built), the Studebaker Golden Hawk, the 1957 Packard Clipper
(4,809 produced and rebadged as Studebakers) and the 1958
Packard Hawk (588 produced).
In 1956,
McCulloch set up a special automotive division, Paxton Superchargers
(his middle name), to handle the supercharger division. The
same year the company changed the name of the ball drive supercharger
to the VS-57 and developed a new variable rate supercharger
called the VR-57. The new supercharger incorporated a variable
rate internal planetary drive ratio that could alter the step
up ratio from 3.5:1 to 5.5:1. The variable rate was achieved
by a spring pack that would change the distance between the
ball races based on RPM. The supercharger experienced a one-year
victory in NASCAR causing officials to ban superchargers in
the sport. The supercharger was most notably used as the F-option
on the 1957 Ford Thunderbird (211 produced).
In 1958,
Paxton Superchargers was sold to the Granatelli brothers.
The design of the dated VS-57 was updated to a new model that
could withstand higher RPM and increased boost. The SN-60
required fewer components and eliminated the variable rate
components found in the VS-57 and VR-57.
In 1965, Carroll Shelby contracted with Ford to build a high
performance version of the fastback Mustang, the GT-350. Paxton
Superchargers worked in conjunction with Shelby to design
a limited production run of supercharged GT-350s. The vehicles
were produced in limited quantity from 1966 to 1969. The systems
were also available as a dealer option for Mustangs from 1965
to 1972.
Any questions
about kits, parts, installations or services are welcome.
Contact Bishop by phone at 866-867-8324 or e-mail bishop@bishopsales.com
and we will respond promptly. If you're in the neighborhood,
then drop by the shop at 1130 West 15th Street North Vancouver
BC and we will gladly give you a tour of our facilities, but
beware – there may be a Monster and ferocious horsepower
beasts in our shop when you visit! We really love to share
the fun with other performance enthusiasts who want to take
their cars to the next level of performance, appearance and
handling!
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