Davis Motorcar Company

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Davis Motorcar Company was an American automobile manufacturer, which was based in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles from 1947 to 1949 . Founder was Glenn Gordon Davis.

"Divan"

The Davis D-2 "Divan" was a two-door coupe with four seats (all on the front bench), three wheels and pop-up headlights . The aerodynamically designed aluminum body completely covered the two rear wheels and carried a strongly curved windshield and rear window. The car was driven by a first front built side-valve four-cylinder in-line engine of '' Hercules '', the displacement cm³ of 2175 a power output of 46 hp (34 kW) at 3000 min -1 pulled. In the later built copies a four-cylinder engine was instead Continental 2655 cc and 58 hp (42 kW) at 3000 min -1 installed. The wheelbase of the car was initially 2743 mm, later 2781 mm. Its length was uniformly 4712 mm.

Because of its only three wheels, the car tended to tip over when cornering (even if a Hollywood stuntman was reportedly used who tried in vain to tip the car over to demonstrate stability), and the factory specifications for top speed (187 km / h) and consumption of the US $ 995 vehicle were unrealistic.

Although a lot was invested in the marketing of the "Divan" and numerous dealers and supporters could be recruited, the vehicle, contrary to announcements, never went into series production and there were increasing indications that the project was a fraud that only turned over money should without cars being produced. After the delivery of vehicles to dealers and the payment of the employees failed, Glenn Davis was sued by both parties (dealer and employee). In 1949 he faced a lawsuit for fraud and delayed bankruptcy and was convicted despite pledges of innocence. Only 13 or 15 copies of the "Divan" were made.

Prototype "494"

In addition, three prototypes of an equally three-wheeled quarter-ton military vehicle with five seats, often referred to as "494" after the beginning of the serial numbers, were built.

  • A "Divan" in the National Automotive and Truck Museum , Auburn, Indiana

  • A "494" "in the National Automotive and Truck Museum , Auburn, IN

literature

  • John Gunnell: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975 . Krause Publications, Iola (WI) 2002, ISBN 0-87349-461-X .

Web links

Commons : Davis Motorcar Company  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files
  • Davis Registry (as of August 19, 2012)
  • Davis , Dayerses: All the cars of all the world in one place ..., (as of August 19, 2012).
  • Davis . , Chuck's Toyland, (illustrations from brochures, etc. / as of August 19, 2012).