The Davis Divan is a three-wheeled

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

built by the Davis Motorcar Company between 1947 and 1949. The brainchild of used-car salesman Glen Gordon "Gary" Davis, it was largely based upon "The Californian", a custom three-wheeled roadster built by future

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

racing car designer

Frank Kurtis Frank Peter Kurtis (born Kuretich; January 25, 1908 – February 17, 1987) was an American racing car designer. He designed and built midget cars, quarter-midgets, sports cars, sprint cars, Indy cars, and Formula One cars. He was the founder of K ...

for Southern Californian millionaire and racer

Joel Thorne Joel W. Thorne (16 October 1914 New York City – 17 October 1955 North Hollywood, California) was an American racecar driver, engineer, and playboy. He died when he crashed his private plane, after what witnesses described as "stunting", into ...

. After building two prototypes in 1947, Davis embarked on an aggressive publicity and promotional campaign for the car, which included numerous magazine appearances, a lavish public unveiling at the Ambassador Hotel in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, and a promotional trip across the United States. At the company factory in Van Nuys, employees worked frantically to build Divans, although the model was never put into mass production. Despite raising $1.2 million through the sale of 350

dealerships A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive mainten ...

, the Davis Motorcar Company failed to deliver cars to its prospective dealers or pay its employees promptly, and was ultimately sued by both groups. The company's assets were

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistr ...

in order to pay

back taxes Back taxes is a term for taxes that were not completely paid when due. Typically, these are taxes that are owed from a previous year. Causes for back taxes include failure to pay taxes by the deadline, failure to correctly report one's income, or ...

, while Gary Davis himself was eventually convicted of fraud and

grand theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

and sentenced to two years at a "work farm" labor camp. Only 13 Divans (including the two prototypes) were ever built, of which 12 have survived. The car featured aircraft-inspired styling details as well as disc brakes, hidden headlights, and built-in jacks.

Background

The Davis Divan was the brainchild of Glen Gordon "Gary" Davis, a used-car salesman from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. Its immediate predecessor was a custom three-wheeled roadster called "The Californian", which had been built in 1941 by future

racing car designer

for Southern Californian millionaire and racer

, who was the heir to the

Chase bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fin ...

fortune. For the single front wheel of "The Californian", Kurtis had taken inspiration from the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft, while he also fitted the vehicle with a

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

V8/60 engine and rear axle. In 1945, shortly after moving to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

, Davis purchased the car from Thorne. He paid just $50 for it, and while reports about the circumstances of the sale vary, one suggests that Davis may have deliberately crashed the accident-prone vehicle during a

test drive A test drive is the driving of a motor vehicle to assess its drivability or roadworthiness, and general operating state. A person who tests vehicles for a living, either for an automobile company, automotive media for review purposes, or a moto ...

to reduce its value to Thorne.

Development

Models and prototypes

After purchasing "The Californian", Davis intended to

reverse engineer Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

it with a group of newly hired engineers, including Peter Westburg from Douglas Aircraft Company. Together they built a 1/4th-scale model of the car, which they then photographed for a ''Hollywood Citizen-News'' story on July 22, 1947, in which they claimed their ability to build 50 of the cars a day and sell each for $995. Later that year, Davis secured an investment of $2,500 from the Bendix family, which enabled him to create Davis Motorcar Company; ever conscious of his and his project's image, he borrowed local designer Raymond Loewy's office to make his successful pitch. In 1947, Davis built two prototypes of what was intended to be an

economy car Economy car is a term mostly used in the United States for cars designed for low-cost purchase and operation. Typical economy cars are small (compact or subcompact), lightweight, and inexpensive to both produce and purchase. Stringent design const ...

, first the Davis D-1 (nicknamed "Baby") and then the D-2 ("Delta"), the latter of which featured a removable hardtop. While testing "Baby", Davis was able to achieve

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

marks with a

circumference In geometry, the circumference (from Latin ''circumferens'', meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. That is, the circumference would be the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out t ...

of just , demonstrating the vehicle's impressive

turning radius The turning diameter of a vehicle is the minimum diameter (or "width") of available space required for that vehicle to make a circular turn (i.e. U-turn). The term thus refers to a theoretical minimal circle in which for example an aeroplane, a g ...

Publicity and promotion

Looking to capitalize on the booming post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

American car market, Davis obtained significant coverage for his new car in prominent magazines such as '' Business Week'', ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'', and '' Parade'' as well as in a period

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

and a syndicated television crime drama, ''

The Cases of Eddie Drake ''The Cases of Eddie Drake'' is an American crime drama series which initially was shown in syndication in 1951, before airing on the DuMont Television Network during 1952. It was a crime drama originally filmed for CBS Television by Imppro, a s ...

''. In November 1947, the Davis Divan was publicly unveiled at the Ambassador Hotel in

; assisting Davis in handling the event were Jack Adams, a former reporter at '' The Los Angeles Herald-Express'' who had been hired to manage

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

for the fledgling company, and

Cleo Moore Cleouna Moore (October 31, 1924Moore, Cleo 1924-1973
.

, an actress who had been hired to pose with the "Baby" prototype as a

promotional model A promotional model is a model hired to drive consumer demand for a product, service, brand, or concept by directly interacting with potential customers. Most promotional models are conventionally attractive in physical appearance. They serve to m ...

as well as mingle with the press at the hotel. Also during the event, Davis had four

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

stewardesses hired for the occasion sit side by side across the car's single bench seat to demonstrate its ability to carry four adults. Due partially to the tantalizing pitch for a $1,000 automobile that Davis made, and partially to the positive publicity from the Divan's public unveiling, sales of Davis

increased substantially, which allowed the company to finance a promotional trip across the United States. In the words of Bob Golfen, Davis touted the Divan as "the ultimate car of the future". For additional promotion, "Baby" was repainted and put on display in a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

for the

holiday shopping season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

, after which it was repainted once more in preparation for participating in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

's Rose Parade before the

1948 Rose Bowl The 1948 Rose Bowl was the 34th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Thursday, January 1. The second-ranked and undefeated Michigan Wolverines of the Big Nine Conference routed the #8 ...

Pre-production

At the factory in Van Nuys, the pace of development became frantic, with workers occasionally staying 72 hours at a time and sleeping in a nearby house that Davis had rented. Busy with promoting the Divan, Davis delegated production duties to newly hired Bob "Pinky" Howells. Howells worked feverishly to meet Davis' deadlines, which called for prospective dealers to receive their cars within just 90 days; he ordered a drop hammer press, two gas furnaces, and a set of

kirksite ZAMAK (or Zamac, formerly trademarked as MAZAK) is a family of alloys with a base metal of zinc and alloying elements of aluminium, magnesium, and copper. Zamak alloys are part of the zinc aluminium alloy family; they are distinguished from the ...

dies from a Pasadena tool-and-die maker. However, when he demonstrated his progress to his boss, Davis fired Howells because, as his colleague Westburg put it, "he had spent $45,000 of company money ... on production." At the time, Davis was paying himself a monthly salary of $1,000, and the Davis Motorcar Company had already raised $1.2 million through the sale of 350 dealerships.

Demise

Increasingly concerned investors began demanding a return on their investments, and as they became less satisfied with Davis' claims, they began arriving at the company's factory unannounced to press the engineers for accurate delivery dates. In early 1949, prospective dealers sued Davis for breach of contract; company employees followed suit in May 1949, as many of them had not been paid for their work after taking an offer from Davis that promised them double pay after production began if they worked for free during the pre-production phase. After a Los Angeles County District Attorney investigation, Davis was convicted on 20 counts of fraud and eight counts of

by a jury in 1951. While the Davis Motorcar Company's assets were

in order to pay

, Davis himself claimed that he could not repay his debts and was instead sentenced to two years at a "work farm" labor camp in

Castaic, California Castaic () (Chumash: ''Kaštiq''; Spanish: ''Castéc'') is an unincorporated community in the northwestern part of Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 19,015. For statistical purposes the Census Bureau h ...

Specifications

Between 1947 and 1949, the Davis Motorcar Company produced a total of 16 running vehicles, including 11 pre-production Divans as well as the two prototypes and three military vehicles, which were comparable to Willys Jeeps. All of the Davis models had a single wheel in the front and two wheels at the back of the vehicle. The cars were built in a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

Van Nuys Airport : ''For the United States Air Force use of the airport (1942–1990), see Van Nuys Air National Guard Base'' Van Nuys Airport is a public airport in the Van Nuys neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. The airport is operated by Los Angeles ...

that was previously used for aircraft assembly and later acquired by Petersen Aviation. The Davis Divan measured in length with a

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

of , which was remarkably long for a three-wheeled vehicle; it had a height of and weighed . With a width of , it was wide enough to seat four passengers abreast on its single bench seat; in fact, this feature had inspired the name of the car, which was the Arabic term for a couch or day bed. The car also featured a removable

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

top along with a steel chassis and chrome-trimmed

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

body, which sported aircraft-inspired styling details, wheels, disc brakes, and hidden headlights. The Divan was built with a channel steel frame and 11 body panels made of aluminum and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

, while the "Baby" prototype had instead been constructed with a tube steel space frame. The finished car boasted jacks built into each of its corners, which allowed for easier tire changing. Most of the Divans were powered by ,

inline-four A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' ( ...

engines capable of producing . Others, including both the D-1 "Baby" and D-2 "Delta" prototypes, were instead fitted with , four-cylinder Hercules industrial engines. The car's drivetrain included a three-speed Borg-Warner

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear change ...

as well as a Spicer differential. Claims for the Divan's top speed ranged from to , and its fuel economy was estimated to be between and . The car's three-wheeled design resulted in less tire wear while also making it more maneuverable and fairly easy to park, and Davis claimed that it could successfully make a

U-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as a ...

at . Scheduled to retail for $1,600 each, the Divans were never put into mass production or sold to the public before the Davis Motorcar Company's demise, and the cars that had already been built were instead given to creditors.

Legacy

While Davis himself was ultimately convicted of fraud, he maintained his innocence throughout his life. He dabbled with numerous other projects and ventures, perhaps the most notable of which was creating Dodge 'Em bumper cars, which then became popular amusement park attractions. Later, he tried to adopt the Dodge 'Em's wraparound bumpers into a design for a safer three-wheeled road car before he retired to

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

and finally died from emphysema in 1973. His vehicles would occasionally make appearances in popular media, including in the ''

Zippy the Pinhead Zippy the Pinhead is a fictional character who is the protagonist of ''Zippy'', an American comic strip created by Bill Griffith. Zippy's most famous quotation, "Are we having fun yet?", appears in ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' and became a ...

'' comic strip and the Discovery Channel television program ''

Chasing Classic Cars ''Chasing Classic Cars'' is a US television documentary series presented by Wayne Carini of F-40 Motorsports and produced by Clint Stinchcomb. It looks at classic cars from all eras, focusing on finding and getting cars running, with the option o ...

''. As of 2005, 12 of the 13 Davis Divans (including the two prototypes) have been confirmed to have survived, with the exception having been destroyed in the United Kingdom due to British customs laws; there are survivors owned by museums, collectors, and no one at all, while their conditions vary widely. The three Davis military vehicles were tested by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

at its

Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work a ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

but ultimately not purchased, although all three of them are believed to have survived. After discovering an abandoned Divan in 1967, Tom Wilson of

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, an ...

founded the Davis Registry in 1993 to identify and locate surviving Davis vehicles. 1948 Divans are owned and displayed by both the

Lane Motor Museum Lane Motor Museum is located in Nashville, Tennessee and features a collection of mostly European automobiles. The museum is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, founded by Jeff and Susan Lane, his father having founded the family's automotive ex ...

and the

Petersen Automotive Museum The Petersen Automotive Museum is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles. One of the world's largest automotive museums, the Petersen Automotive Museum is a nonprofit organization specializi ...

, the latter of which was featured in an exhibition entitled "What Were They Thinking? The Misfits of Motordom". In April 2015, the Petersen Automotive Museum launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for restoring its Divan, setting a goal of $30,000 to cover the projected costs of mechanical and body work on the car as well as repainting it a period-correct color. The crowdfunding project was intended to raise awareness about the Divan as well as to fund the restoration project. Before being acquired by the Petersen, this individual car spent many years mounted on a pole outside a

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

body shop The Body Shop International Limited, trading as The Body Shop, is a British cosmetics, skin care and perfume company. Founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick, the company currently has a range of 1,000 products sold in about 3,000 stores, divided b ...

. According to the museum, the Divan's engine and suspension required complete rebuilding while the interior of the car was also in need of replacement. It expected the project to be labor-intensive and replacement parts to be difficult to procure. Chief curator Leslie Kendall notes that $10,000 of the $30,000 budget was to be allotted for bodywork and paint, $7,500 for the engine and other under-the-hood components, $5,000 for the interior, and $7,500 for "other mechanical systems" (including the transmission, suspension, and brakes) as well as miscellaneous costs. As one of only a handful of automakers based in Southern California, the Davis Motorcar Company and its vehicles are of particular interest to the museum. The Petersen hoped to have the restoration complete by December 2015, in time for its grand reopening, at which point it plans to add the Divan to its "Innovation" section. By November 2015, the Petersen's car had been restored by Bodie Stroud Industries in a project that was featured on the television program ''

American Restoration ''American Restoration'' is an American reality television series airing on the History channel. Produced by Leftfield Pictures, the first six seasons were recorded in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicled the daily activities at ''Rick's Res ...

''.

References

External links

Davis Registry
* * {{YouTube , id= e9mUok7adIM , title= MMR Motor Moments: 1948 Davis Divan Three-wheeled motor vehicles Hardtop convertibles Vehicles introduced in 1947