Continental Motors

Continental Motors Company was a major American maker of internal combustion engines, best known as an independent supplier of engines for automobiles, tractors and trucks and for stationary equipment such as pumps, generators and industrial machinery drives. It was founded in Chicago in 1902 by the engineer Ross W. Judson and the businessman Arthur W. Tobin, took the name Continental Motor and Manufacturing Co. in 1905 and built a major plant in Muskegon, Michigan, later expanding to Detroit. At its peak in the 1910s and 1920s it supplied engines to nearly 100 automobile marques. It formed the Continental Aircraft Engine Company in 1929 to develop aircraft engines, supplied engines for Sherman tanks in the Second World War, and in 1965 passed to Ryan Aeronautical as majority shareholder before becoming part of Teledyne Continental Motors. Gray Marine Motor Company was bought by Continental in 1944.