Founder William Carter started experimenting with automotive carburetors while running a successful bicycle shop.

His first, a cast brass model, could meter and deliver fuel more accurately than many competing units.

Carter also produced the first American four-barrel carburetor, used for Buick’s 1952 straight-eight, and followed by the WCFB on the 1955 Chrysler C300.

This was eventually superseded by the AFB ("Aluminum Four-Barrel") and AVS ("Air Valve Secondaries") models.

In Carter's final years in the early 1980s, they also produced Weber carburetors under license, such as the three-barrel Type 40IDA sold as replacements (or fuel injection retrofits) for 1960s and 1970s Porsche 911 S. In 1984, with fuel injection having replaced carburetors on most cars, the plant closed.