Early US V8 Engines Reference Book?? Davis V8 (1915)

[Bud Tierney]

Bought a copy of Standard Catalog Of V-8 Engines 1906-2002, John Gunnell, awhile back. A major disappointment re' early V8s, it should be named "Std Cat Of Mainline V-8 Engines", having 279 pgs for major makes and only eight---count 'em---eight pages for everything else...

(A) Is there any better reference re' or including the other more obscure early V8s ??

( Ran across a Davis V8 (1915) the other day I'd never heard of...Davis (Milw WI) was apparently primarily an Industrial Engine builder, a 1915 ad listing 2 and 4 Cyl hor-opp engines, and 4 Cyl verticals from 21/2x4 (cyclecar??) to 5x61/2.

Don't know if their V8 got into cars or trucks (or even into serial production) but don't recall seeing the name in trucks or Ag.

Any comments appreciated! Many thxx!!

[TerryB]

Found a mention of a teens era Davis automobile in a 1922 auto parts catalog. It used Continential engines. No mention anywhere on a Davis brand engine in the book.

Terry

[Guest prs519]

Bud, May I suggest "The Old Motor"; I am sure you are familiar with the website, and their wonderful coverage of very obscure things! Oftentimes these items are discussed relying largely on periodical articles from the time of the item. I am not sure of any internet archives for these wonderful old magazines, so I suppose you might need access to a good automotive research library, in order to research your item I believe one of the more popular was called simply, -- Motor. Perry