Powell Manufacturing Company

33°55′07″N 118°13′21″W / 33.9185166°N 118.2225673°W / 33.9185166; -118.2225673

Powell Manufacturing Company
Founded1926; 98 years ago (1926)
DefunctApril 1979 (1979-April)
HeadquartersCalifornia

Powell Manufacturing Company[1][2] (PMC) was a company based in southern California, widely known for its line of motor scooters that peaked in popularity in the late 1940s. From September 1954[3] to March 1957, Powell manufactured "Sport Wagon" pickup trucks and station wagons.[4]

In the 1960s and 1970s, they manufactured the "Powell Challenger" trail bikes.

The company originally began operations in 1926, and manufactured radios, then moving on to build approximately 1,200 pickup trucks, 300 station wagons, and three motor homes,[5] and tens of thousands of scooters and trail bikes. The manufacturing address was listed as 2914 North Alameda Street in Compton, California, which was two miles south of the General Motors South Gate Assembly factory, and they had a showroom listed at 12700 S. Western Avenue.[6]

  1. ^ Pickup Trucks : a History of the Great American Vehicle by Justin Lukach. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1998. ISBN 1-57912-011-3
  2. ^ Matras, John (February 16, 2004). "Name Is Familiar; Truck Is Not". New York Times. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  3. ^ Motor Life magazine, October 1955, pp. 46–49 Quinn/Peterson Publications
  4. ^ Benjaminsson, Jim. "Powell Sport Wagon - carlike SUV ahead of its time". Allpar.com. VerticalScope Inc.
  5. ^ Home on the Road: The Motor Home in America, Roger B. White, Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000. ISBN 1-56098-892-4
  6. ^ Powell Sport Wagon (sales sheet), Powell Motor Car Co., archived from the original on 2017-04-11