The Davidson-Cadillac armored car was developed on a

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

chassis by

Royal Page Davidson Royal Page Davidson (October 9, 1870January 16, 1943) was an American scholar, educator, professor, and inventor. He is associated with helping to organize Northwestern Military and Naval Academy in Highland Park, Illinois. He reestablished it ...

and the cadets of the

Northwestern Military and Naval Academy Northwestern Military Academy (founded 1888) was a high school in Linn, Wisconsin which was founded by Harlan Page Davidson. Originally located in Highland Park, Illinois, the school was relocated to the town of Linn, Wisconsin on the south shore o ...

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located o ...

. The first vehicle was developed in 1909 and by 1915 the academy had a fleet of eight vehicles consisting of a scout car, two communications cars, a kitchen car, a hospital car, a balloon destroyer, a quartermaster's car and a fully armoured car. To convince the military that a mechanized army was the way to go, Davidson and some cadets drove the fully armoured car along with seven support cars for 34 days from the academy to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915) being held in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Sources

* New York Times - July 18, 1915 - "This Armored Motor Car is now touring across the continent." * American men of mark (1917), ''A Thousand American Men of Mark Today'' * Chilton company (1975), ''Automotive Industries'', Item notes: v.77 1937 Jul-Dec * Clemens, Al J., ''The American Military Armored Car'', A.J. Clemens, 1969 * Delta Upsilon fraternity (1902), ''The Delta Upsilon Decennial Catalogue

903 __NOTOC__ Year 903 ( CMIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * King Berengar I of Italy proceeds to issue concessions and privileges to the Lo ...

' * Hunnicutt, R.P., ''Armored Car: A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicle'', Presidio Press (2002), * Marquis-Who's Who (1950), ''Who was who in America. 1943-1950'', New Providence, New Jersey * Marquis-Who's Who (1967), ''Who was who in America: A Companion Biographical Reference Work to Who's who in America'' * Quaife, Milo Milton, ''Wisconsin: Its History and Its People 1634-1924'', Volume 4, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company (1924) * Randall, Frank Alfred, ''Randall and Allied Families'', Raveret-Weber printing company (1943) * Stern, Philip Van Doren, ''A Pictorial History of the Automobile'', Viking Press (1953) * Tucker, Spencer, ''Tanks: An Illustrated History of Their Impact'', {{ISBN, 1-57607-995-3 * Willcox, Cornélis De Witt, ''The International Military Digest Annual: A Review of the Current Literature of Military Science for 1915-1918'', Cumulative Digest Corporation (1916) Armoured fighting vehicles of the interwar period Armored fighting vehicles of the United States Armoured cars