hayes body corp

[JustDave]

hello everyone
does anyone have any info or production figures on hayes body corp for 1931 and 1932, im trying to find info on 31 and 32 devaux bodies,im trying to find out how many convertibles where made and infact if a phaeton was ever made,the bodies where made by hayes i dont know if the phaeton was just and advertisement or a prototype,i know of 3 cabriolets but am trying to figure how many where actually made in the cabriolet and phaeton,i believe all where michigan based vehicles,as always thanks for all help
dave

[Steve Braverman]

I believe the 1932 Devaux convertible used the same body as the Reo Flying Cloud, the Franklin Olympic, and the Marmon small eight. Not many of any of these.

[JustDave]

hello steve
thanks for the info,i figured being an assembeled vehicle there was other vehicles with the same sheetmetal,i have a 32 devaux 3 window coupe and after viewing pictures of a 33 durant coupe i believe the sheetmetal is the same except the grille shell,im just trying to find a devaux cabriolet, just not sure how many where made,if it was only 3 then ive got to stop looking.

[TG57Roadmaster]

According to the Red Book, Nat'l Used Car Market Report, April-June, 1933,
De Vaux lists a 5-pass. phaeton for 1931, Model 6-75, priced at $595 fob. The
range of serial numbers for their entire '31 production is 1001-6399, spread
across 8 models, so it's anyone's guess how many were phaetons.

My experience thus far with Red Books leads me to believe that if a car is
shown in their pages, it existed in production, rather than cars that appeared
in company literature but were never actually made. Salesmen, insurance
companies, law enforcement and others in the industry used and trusted
these pocket-size books, and they've never let me down.

Curiously, there is no conv. coupe listed for '31, but it does show up for '32,
shown below, with later Continental specs, from an earlier post about the
latter...



Larger

TG

[TG57Roadmaster]

A sticky wicket, these '31-'32 De Vaux references. This is data from the April-June, 1933 Red Book on the '31 De Vaux.


Larger

It clearly lists a phaeton, as does the Standard Encyclopedia of American Cars, 1805-1942,
but the excellent Durant Cars site omits the phaeton for 1931. I would get in contact with the site
(if you haven't already) to find out more, as they've amassed alot of info on the cars.

Coachbuilt.com has a couple of paragraphs of De Vaux info in their Hayes Body Corp section,
but it is chock full of footnote references (as is durantcars.com). Walter Miller has this
'32 De Vaux foldout over on ebay, but nothing for '31.

I realize none of this answers your question about Hayes Body Corp records, but I'll be in Philly
for the AACA Annual Meeting in a few months, and will see what the Free Library's excellent
Automotive Collection may hold in the way of Hayes info.

TG