The D. C. Johnson Story

When David Johnson was young, he was always fixing things, bicycles, radios, cars you name it.  Dave Joined the U. S. Coast Guard as a radio technician when his Uncle Sam came knocking in the early 1950’s.  After serving his country, he studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington. 

After a few years at the Boeing Space Research Lab in Seattle, he moved to Southern California to work at Douglas Aerospace in their Advanced Physics Lab. 

Just like when he was a kid, Dave could always be found tinkering with some gadget or invention on the side as well.  In 1978, he brought some extra work home as a supplement to the “Day Job”. Soon there was enough work that his wife and three grown sons pitched in from time to time.  The “Side Jobs” had become a business, and a new company was born.  D. C. Johnson.

In 1981, Dave was asked to design an Air/Fuel control unit similar to the OEM units for European cars. The OEM parts did not always fit the European spec. cars, and many cars sold for use in Europe were finding their way to the US.  By mid 1982 D. C. Johnson was producing two models of these Air/Fuel control units, and demand for them kept increasing.  D. C. Johnson & Associates was soon incorporated, and in 1983 began selling complete emissions control conversion kits and conducting training classes for the installation and compliance process.  This market continued to grow for the next several years, until emissions regulations in Europe became similar to those in the US.  Now the European Automobile manufacturers began to install the same emissions components on the cars whether they were to be sold in the US or Europe.  This development, coupled with a drop in the exchange value of the US dollar vs. the German Deutschmark and the so called “Grey Market for European Automobiles” was back to small numbers of rare and exotic models again.

D. C Johnson & Associates Inc. closed at the end of 1986. Dave is no longer with us, but his legacy remains.

Although many of the original D. C. Johnson Air/Fuel control units remain in reliable service after more than 30 years, some installations may need rework, repair of the wiring or repair to the control unit. Today dc-johnson.com has been created as a tribute to the ingenuity of Dave Johnson, and to provide information and support for people who maintain and repair cars equipped with the original D. C. Johnson and Associates Inc. products.

D. C. Johnson

Dave Johnson in 1964

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