With all the aftermarket performance products available today, it would be very rare that someone who knows about performance has never heard of Mallory Ignition products. Like so many other companies, there’s always some interesting tidbits of information available that not many people would know unless they took a look into that company’s history.
Mallory gives you a brief look into their history with a video that they posted on YouTube, and there are some interesting facts about the company in the video. We hate to be the spoiler for a good video, but we’re going to spill a few of those facts right here because they are very interesting, and little known facts about Mallory.
The Mallory Research Company was formed in 1925 to design and patent the inventions of Marion Mallory, Sr. His designs caught on and the demand grew, so he focused on his ignition products and started the Mallory Electric company.
Mallory invented the first breakerless magneto, held patents in several countries. Did you know that for many years only one person held more patents than Mallory? His competition was Thomas Edison, you know, the guy who invented the light bulb!
One of Marion Mallory’s close friends was none other than Henry Ford. Mallory moved his company to Detroit to be closer the Ford Motory Company because he and Henry Ford designed the first ignition system for the 1932 Ford V8. Mallory supplied Ford with many of the original equipment ignition components through 1948.
Mallory also raced at Indianapolis for a couple decades, and won several races. Being involved in racing, he also held patents on shock absorbers, coils, carburetors and children’s toy race tracks, to name a few.
As you can tell, the Mallory name goes back pretty far into history, and as part of the Prestolite Performance Group their products include Mr. Gasket, Lakewood, Accel and Mallory Marine. So check out their video and see what else you can learn about the company that created the Mallory Firestorm, a programmable ignition system.