Devin Enterprises

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Devin Enterprises was an American automobile manufacturer who was based in El Monte (California) from 1955 to 1964 . Founder was Bill Devin . Devin was mainly known for its elegant GRP bodies, but also offered complete automobiles.

Bill Devin

Bill Devin was born in Rocky, Oklahoma, USA in 1915. The well-known American motorsport journalist Henry N. Manney once described him as the "Enzo Ferrari from the Okie Flats". Bill Devin's father ran an auto repair shop and later a Chevrolet dealership, and the curious Bill was into automobiles long before his father brought him over to his father's business. Bill Devin started building cars early in his life. He was also a very well known and successful racing driver.

In 1954, Bill Devin decided that he could build cars at least as well as anyone, especially the Europeans. He converted a chicken coop into a workshop and began to construct the legendary Devin-Panhards. He worked with polyester bodies, which was still very innovative in the early 1950s and a development by NASA. Devin learned the art of making car bodies with polyester very quickly. He used this new material specifically to reduce the weight of his racing cars.

Another milestone was the Panhard engine, which he further developed and which was equipped with an overhead camshaft driven by a belt. Devin forgot to patent the idea because he hated working on paper.

The next chapter in the life of Bill Devin is probably the most famous. The attractive Devin bodies, available individually in several variations, were based on the design of the Ferrari 750 Monza or the Erminis . A wide variety of chassis could be equipped with these bodies, from the small Crosley to the Triumph TR2 / 3 to the Allard powered by a Cadillac engine. At Devin, the bodies were not modeled in a single large shape, but were created by joining variants of smaller individual parts; This means that the bodies can be easily adapted to a wide variety of chassis sizes. Devin quickly became the largest and most successful producer of these bodies. With his dealer network, he delivered these bodies to Europe, North, Central and South America and even to South Africa.

Devin's competitors in the US at the time were companies like Byers, Almquist, Alken, La Dawri, Microbond, Fiberfab, Fibersport, Atlas, Kellison, Alied, Conquest, Victress and Microplas, most of which have long been forgotten. The name Devin held up and it stood for top quality at low cost. Devin bodies were always very smooth and the finishing was better than competing products.

Based on the success of the bodywork, Bill Devin also built complete cars with their own tubular space frames. The Devin C based on the Chevrolet Corvair and the Devin D (D stands for German) based on the Porsche 356 and VW Beetle. With the Devin SS, Devin realized his dream of building fast, high-performance complete vehicles. The Devin SS became a famous and successful car on many racetracks, but it was not financially successful.

Models

Devin SS

Devin SS (1958)

1955 was presented as the first model of the SS (Super Sport). Its chassis with 2337 mm wheelbase came from Ireland . A two-seater roadster body was mounted on top. The overhead V8 engine of the Chevrolet Corvette with a displacement of 4638 cc developed 220 bhp (162 kW) and provided acceleration from 0-100 km / h in 4.8 s and a top speed of 225 km / h. The engine power was passed on to the rear wheels via a manual four-speed gearbox from Borg-Warner . Due to the high sales price of US $ 5950, only 15 copies could be sold until 1958.

Devin Panhard

Devin modified a Panhard Dyna Z with its two-cylinder boxer engine with 851 cm³ displacement by adding modified cylinder heads from the Norton Manx . The two overhead camshafts were driven by toothed belts . The competition vehicle won the 1956 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) championship.

Devin D

Devin D Porsche

1959 Devin tried with the much smaller model D . The wheelbase of the Volkswagen chassis was 2083 mm and air-cooled four-cylinder boxer engines from Volkswagen or Porsche were installed at the rear . The VW engine had a displacement of 1191 cm³ and developed 36 bhp (26.5 kW) at 3700 min −1 , the Porsche engine had a displacement of 1586 cm³ and delivered 70 bhp (51 kW) at 4500 min −1 . The retail price of the VW engine version was $ 2950. The production numbers until the model is set to be 46.

Devin C

In 1961 Devin provided the chassis and body of the Model D with the six-cylinder boxer engine from the Chevrolet Corvair . Also this engine was air cooled and scooped from 2376 cc an output of 80 hp (59 kW) at 4400 min -1 . The result was called Model C . It was built until 1964; the production figures are also not known in this case.

Other models

1957 Devin-MG (1957), today with a 4.6 liter V8 from the Devin SS
  • Devin F (based on the Triumph TR3 )
  • Devin GT
  • Devin MG
  • Roosevelt-Devin
  • Bandini with Devin body

Web links

Commons : Devin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • John Gunnell (Ed.): Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975 . 4th edition. Krause Publications, Inc, Iola, Wisconsin 2002, ISBN 0-87349-461-X (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Silodrome: A 1956 Devin TRIUMPH Racer
  2. ↑ Small before Big Pull at Devinsportscars.com (English) ( Memento from April 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ The Devin Panhard at Devinsportscars.com (English) ( Memento from April 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )