Land Speed Record Holder and 3 Time America's Most Beautiful Roadster winner, Ermie Immerso, started in the exhaust business in the early 1960's and quickly became an industry leader in the header and exhaust business with the Thunderbird Brand and by building private label product for many iconic industry companies. Ermie Immerso Enterprises, has always been a platform for new technological, engineering, and manufacturing solutions. Specializing in exhaust parts, the company serves primarily the street rod and muscle car markets, providing all components needed to build a custom exhaust system at the best value for the money. Today Patriot Exhaust is the performance brand of PerTronix, Inc., a company with over 60 years of experience in the automotive industry.
Rebranded as Patriot Exhaust Products, company expanded the product line while strengthening the existing products including Headers, Side Pipes, Exhaust Tips, and the Smithy's Mufflers- the Original Hot Rod Muffler! Patriot continues to be a favorite for owners and top builders of Street Rods, Customs, Pick Up Trucks, and Muscle Cars.
PERFORMANCE IN THE FAST LANE
Patriot Exhaust manufactures superior exhaust systems for the Street Rod, Custom and Muscle Car aficionado. Developed by enthusiasts, Patriot drives the product line with an eye on quality and a mindfulness for value surpassing the competition in our lane.
Patriot Exhaust products continue to offer the best value for the dollar of any header brand in the industry. Known for years as the primary exhaust supplier to the Street Rod, Custom and Muscle Car enthusiasts, Patriot continues the tradition of supplying quality exhaust products to the automotive market.
Patriot Exhaust headers come in raw steel finish or chrome coating. All Patriot headers and side tubes are now available finished with an affordable Hi-Temp Black Coating. An alternative to these types of finish, durable and easy-to-maintain metallic ceramic coating protects substrate metal and significantly extends the life of a header.
Patriot’s extensive range of accessories includes header flange gaskets and flange kits, mandrel bent pipes in various combinations of tube length and diameter (including Patriot Exhaust side pipes), formed collectors, and flange kits.
Patriot Exhaust are excited to be a Pertronix Performance Brand and look forward to continuing a 40 plus year tradition of supplying quality products and excellent customer service.
THE EVOLUTION TO PERTRONIX PERFORMANCE BRANDS
1970
Originally known as Per-Lux, the company was founded in 1962, primarily a manufacturer of driving and fog lights for the heavy-duty truck market. In the early 70s, a Per-Lux engineer developed an electronic ignition system that would replace the points and condenser in distributors. After patenting the product, Per-Lux started manufacturing the Ignitor® with sales and marketing emphasis on the forklift and industrial engine markets. Soon the Ignitor was introduced to the automotive market, offering its superior performance and in 1985 the first replacement electronic distributor was introduced. In 1991, Tom Reh acquired the Ignition Division and PerTronix was born with a total commitment to the ignition market. In the years that followed, the reliable, high quality, competitively priced Ignitor took over the industry with Sales of Over 4 million units to date. The expertise and industry knowledge within PerTronix had the team setting their sights on new product segments and so began the legacy of PerTronix Performance Brands.
1991
PERTRONIX IGNITION
With the tremendous growth of the performance industry in the 90s, PerTronix began to shift their emphasis to their automotive product offering. This substantial growth, along with the addition of their Flame-Thrower® coil and spark plug wire product lines made it necessary for PerTronix to expand production and relocate to a brand new 22,000 square foot custom manufacturing facility in 1997. Today, PerTronix is renowned for their Ignitor Series points replacement kits, HEI performance modules, Flame-Thrower HEI, Billet and Cast Distributors, Ignition Coils and Spark Plug Wire sets. Ignitor kit sales have exceeded 4,000,000 units. The recent release of their Innovative Digital HP Ignition Box represents their continued commitment to lead the Ignition Industry.
2000
PATRIOT EXHAUST
In 2000, PerTronix entered the Exhaust business by acquiring the company when Ermie decided to retire. PerTronix knowledge of the Performance Industry, combined with Employees with extensive backgrounds in the exhaust business made this seemingly unlikely pairing a well-matched addition.
2005
THE ORIGINAL DOUGS HEADERS
Since 1958, the Original Dougs Headers has been an industry leader in the Muscle Car Performance Header business. Top Name Drag Race cars across the nation proudly wore the Dougs Logo and Performance & Truck Enthusiasts followed suit making Dougs a formidable brand in the marketplace. In 2005, Doug decided to retire, and the company became a natural fit for PerTronix alongside their other Performance Brands. Dougs Headers had always prided themselves on fit and quality that were second to none. PerTronix has honored this philosophy over the years, continuing to expand R&D resources to meet the needs of the market and their customers.
2008
JBA PERFORMANCE EXHAUST
JBA is one of the most trusted names in the aftermarket exhaust industry because of their commitment to manufacturing excellence. Their product designs are original, innovative and always deliver. Power, quality, fit, durability, and emissions legality are what they are known for. In 1987, those qualities were not present in the header or exhaust industry, so JBA set out to build their own products to meet the needs of the growing street performance market. Originally developed for the 5.0L Mustang, JBAs replacement Cat4Ward headers were engineered with heavy-duty features, easy installation, a durable design, and emissions legal status that made them an instant hit with automotive enthusiasts across America. As demand grew and emissions regulation increased, they saw the need to broaden their product line to cover most popular GM, Ford, Dodge, Jeep, Nissan and Toyota vehicles. They have applied their manufacturing philosophy and build qualities to their entire product line to offer you the most complete line of quality 50 sate emissions legal exhaust products in the industry. Today they offer a variety of products to meet the demands of the performance enthusiast.
2015
COMPU-FIRE/SPYKE
From Ignition to Exhaust and back to Ignition, PerTronix performed a strategic move expanding their Volkswagen & Motorcycle markets in 2015 with the acquisition of the Compu-Fire and Spyke Brands of electrical performance products. Founded in 1993, Compu-Fire quickly became a leader in the Harley Davidson aftermarket for Performance Ignitions, Charging Systems, and High Torque Starters. They soon added Ignition Systems for Air Cooled Volkswagens and expanded into High Output Alternators and Starters as well. Seeing a need for High Output Alternators for the popular Honda Goldwing Motorcycles brought the 90 & 150-AMP alternators and High Performance maintenance free Battery into the mix. Since the mid-1990s Spyke, has been well known in the Harley Davidson aftermarket for innovative Performance Products. Under PerTronix Performance Brands leadership, Spyke concentrates on High Output Charging Systems, Heavy Duty Starter Drives and Jack Shaft Kits, High Flow Fuel Petcocks, and High Torque Starters, including the game changing Stealth Starter that is the industrys only fully enclosed stylized high torque starter. As Spyke says "If Yourre Not the Lead Dog, the View Never Changes".
2020
AEROMOTIVE
For over 26 years, Aeromotive has been committed to designing and manufacturing the highest quality fuel systems and components for OE applications and the automotive aftermarket. A brand backed by integrity and reliability, a passion for performance and a hands-on, real world approach drove Aeromotive to its position as industry leader. Since their previous acquisition in 2015, PerTronix has been searching for a strong automotive brand in its growth cycle with a strong culture that would align well with PerTronix Performance Brands and 2020 brought with it the acquisition of Aeromotive and Waterman Racing Components. Moving forward, their teams will foster collaboration on new product development, processes and best practices with each brand operating from their existing locations to benefit from the capabilities of their respective manufacturing facilities.
2021
TAYLOR CABLE
Taylor Cable is well-known for product quality and customer satisfaction in the automotive performance and racing markets. Founded in 1923 by John Taylor, the company became renowned for its invention of the universal battery cable as they know it today taking a product specific to an automobile application and reducing the need to manage the product line across multiple applications. With this success, it was not long before high performance ignition wire sets and wiring harnesses joined the Taylor Cable product line. Coming off a record sales year in 2020 and seeking to partner with only the best businesses in the performance automotive aftermarket, PerTronix and Taylor Cable made introductions and in early 2021, PerTronix Performance Brands acquired Taylor Cable. Taylor Cable’s strength in the performance spark plug wire market complements the PerTronix brand and rounds out their ignition product offering.