What is a 1947 davis

[nick8086]

1947 Davis D-2 Divan

[1937hd45]

Post WWII Three wheeler. Bob

[trimacar]

The Davis three wheeler was somewhat of a scam, as Gary Davis was trying to sell dealerships and raise money.  Unfortunately the "raising money" only resulted in 17 cars being produced.

 

Davis would show cars to the press, and did some impressive things with the car, such as driving at relatively high speed in a tight circle.  He repainted cars quickly and often to give the appearance of having a lot of inventory, which wasn't true.

 

In total, 17 cars were built, and 13 or 14 survive today.  He used various engines, such as a Hercules industrial engine, and at least one exists with a Ford V-8 in it.

 

I owned one many years ago, mine came from a gun collector in my hometown in Louisiana, he'd bought it from a company in Texas which had bought a dealership and got the car in a legal claim against Gary Davis for fraud.

 

The car I had was in storage for many years, yet when I went to strip the paint away, there were at least 4 or 5 paint layers of different colors.  I'm convinced this was one of the cars that Gary Davis was using as mentioned above, repainting often. Picture shows it as I found it, in about 1980 or so.

 

Wish I'd kept it, but circumstances in our lives sometimes change things, and you can't kiss all the girls.  The car lives now in a small, eclectic collection in the South, or at least it did a few years ago when I touched base with person who bought it from me.

20090408130857576_0001.pdf

[alsancle]

I'm not necessarily a guy into quirky but I love these things (and despise Tuckers).  Too bad you couldn't keep it Dave!

 

Nick, a google search would have brought back 4 hours of reading on the Davis.

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=Davis+3+wheeler

[8E45E]

Here's a link to a 1948 Davis: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?57613-Orphan-of-the-Day-12-26-1948-Davis

 

1947 is nearly identical.

 

Craig

[trimacar]

It's the only car I've ever owned that, literally, would stop traffic, people would pull over to see what the heck was going by them....

 

What three wheel people will tell you is that the single wheel in the middle rides in the part of the road that's not smoothed by millions of tires going over it, so on some roads there can be quite a bit of not comfortable "road feel" from that wheel/steering.

 

The little Hercules four cylinder engine that was in my car was sad, was probably intended for powering forklifts, I'm sure the Ford V-8 one that's fairly "famous" is a much better driving car.

[Rusty_OToole]

Tom McCahill tested the Davis, and was favorably impressed. But the car company was nothing but a scam. One senior employee ordered some tooling to make body panels and when Davis found out, got very angry and cancelled the order. That was when he realized Davis had no intention of producing the car for sale. Yet he was always after them to give him more cars, saying "if you give me a dozen cars I will make them look like a hundred, give me a hundred cars and I will make them look like thousands".

 

The earliest prototypes were always on the go, appearing at shows, in parades, and in publicity photos. They were repainted regularly to give the impression that there were many different cars, and to keep them looking new.

[motoringicons]

There is a collector here in Ann Arbor that has a gorgeous, restored Davis. He might have a second Davis as well. I haven't seen him in a few years, but his car was a regular attendee at local events. I think his last name may have been Davis as well. The car was always a show stopper. Here are some photos of it at the Orphan Car Show in Ypsilanti:

Edited July 1, 2016 by motoringicons (see edit history)

[padgett]

Wayne Carini had one with a flathead on several shows. Pretty sure he sold it though.

 

Think American Reliant Robin.

Edited July 1, 2016 by padgett (see edit history)

[trimacar]

The Davis had an aluminum body, and was not of the highest workmanship standard.  Read that to say that they were somewhat cobbled together, which of course goes along with the "scam" aspect of the endeavor.  There's one well known picture of the production line, and it's obvious it's a set up, think it was in a hanger at an abandoned air strip....

 

Here's a nice Hemmings article about them, mine was #8 by the way....I still have a Davis chrome script that was never put back on the car. 

 

http://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2005/04/Three-Wheeling---1948-Davis/1280664.html  

[mercer09]

 

Davis would show cars to the press, and did some impressive things with the car, such as driving at relatively high speed in a tight circle.  He repainted cars quickly and often to give the appearance of having a lot of inventory, which wasn't true.

 

Home Depot did the same when it opened up with empty paint cans.....................by the hudreds. The illusions!  worked for HD......................

 

Wayne Carini had one with a flathead on several shows. Pretty sure he sold it though.

 

what doesnt he sell?  all for a buck...............................!

[Marty Roth]

On 7/1/2016 at 5:21 AM, trimacar said:

The Davis three wheeler was somewhat of a scam, as Gary Davis was trying to sell dealerships and raise money.  Unfortunately the "raising money" only resulted in 17 cars being produced.

 

Davis would show cars to the press, and did some impressive things with the car, such as driving at relatively high speed in a tight circle.  He repainted cars quickly and often to give the appearance of having a lot of inventory, which wasn't true.

 

In total, 17 cars were built, and 13 or 14 survive today.  He used various engines, such as a Hercules industrial engine, and at least one exists with a Ford V-8 in it.

 

I owned one many years ago, mine came from a gun collector in my hometown in Louisiana, he'd bought it from a company in Texas which had bought a dealership and got the car in a legal claim against Gary Davis for fraud.

 

The car I had was in storage for many years, yet when I went to strip the paint away, there were at least 4 or 5 paint layers of different colors.  I'm convinced this was one of the cars that Gary Davis was using as mentioned above, repainting often. Picture shows it as I found it, in about 1980 or so.

 

Wish I'd kept it, but circumstances in our lives sometimes change things, and you can't kiss all the girls.  The car lives now in a small, eclectic collection in the South, or at least it did a few years ago when I touched base with person who bought it from me.

20090408130857576_0001.pdf

 

I well remember the Davis in your driveway back when you lived in Louisiana. My wife really liked the Davis, and hoped that you would have kept it, as well as the big Pierce Arrow "Worlds Fair" car you let go to acquire your Cord. You've certainly had several outstanding cars come and go over the years. Your '17 Franklin 9-A Touring which came from Dr Whittaker's collection in Waterproof, went through my hands and is now in a Franklin collection in the Lehigh Valley. The yellow and black '27 Chevy Roadster likewise passed through my collection after being driven on many Glidden and Vintage tours, still resides in Louisiana, and will again be offered for sale by its current owner of ten years. I wish I could have bought one of the other '38 Super Eight Packards when you had three of them side-by-side in your garage - Convertible Cabriolet, Club Sedan, and Touring Sedan with those special personalized license plates.

[alsancle]

This was at Amelia this weekend.  I was surprised it wasn’t getting more attention.

[Matt Harwood]

I could tell from your photos that you really liked that gray one. Good colors and surprisingly handsome for such an odd little thing. I'd be curious to know how they actually drive.

 

[edinmass]

I watched the little three wheeler go up for a trophy. It's a fun thing to look at and ponder, but it's not my type of weird..........lets just say, it won't be at Englishtown lining up to make a few passes.

[alsancle]

 

[Billy Kingsley]

Seeing one of these in person is on my automotive bucket list. 

[alsancle]

The one that was up for auction sold for 80k.  I guess the prices are going up on them.   If a 53 Skylark and Eldo is going to run you north of 100k,  then having something that nobody else has is probably worth somewhere around that number.

 

https://kraftauctions.hibid.com/lot/25205-172331-536091/1948-davis-divan--1-of-17-prototype-ever-made-/

[alsancle]

 

[8E45E]

7 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

I could tell from your photos that you really liked that gray one. Good colors and surprisingly handsome for such an odd little thing. I'd be curious to know how they actually drive.

 

The driver of that Reliant Robin needs a passenger to balance the weight!!

 

Craig

[Matt Harwood]

3 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

The driver of that Reliant Robin needs a passenger to balance the weight!!

 

Craig

 

I'll say!

 

 

 

[mike6024]

I'm sure they handle fine around town going slow on flat ground, like say The Villages in Florida you could use one instead of a golf cart. Looks like the center of gravity is low.

[36 D2 Coupe]

My friend who is into English cars has two of the little rascals - a mate of the Robin roller in blue and an earlier roadster. Really different and I'm sure quite exciting to drive in an adrenalin rush kind of way. 

[Avanti Bill]

How good could the stability be?

Edited May 27, 2021 by Avanti Bill (see edit history)

[trimacar]

On 5/25/2021 at 2:08 PM, Matt Harwood said:

I could tell from your photos that you really liked that gray one. Good colors and surprisingly handsome for such an odd little thing. I'd be curious to know how they actually drive.

 

The Davis is a very stable car, that video and the Laugh-in tricycle aside.  That’s why tricycle landing gear is used on most small planes.  The Davis drives well, it’s just that the center wheel hits all the bumps in the middle of the road where a path is not smoothed by four wheel cars.  Easy to steer.  As to power, the one I had used a Hercules four cylinder engine which was pretty sad, underpowered.....

[alsancle]

48 minutes ago, edinmass said:

I have been really trying not to post a negative comment on the Davis............but a liquid lunch and holding back is killing me. I like oddities and the obscure, but the Davis just does nothing for me.

 

What is the rule?  If you can't say something positive say nothing at all?

[Peter Gariepy]

To paraphrase a saying....

"ugly is in the eyes of the beholder".

I get a Gremlin and park them together... and when anyone says "wow, thats an ugly car", so I can point the Davis and say... true, but not that ugly.

 

---

 

All joking aside... I'd LOVE to own a Davis.  Take about a conversation piece!  It's not uniquely unattractive... there are a LOT of other cars who's designers designed with an ugly stick.

• https://www.uship.com/blog/company-news/10-ugly-cars/
• https://www.automobilemag.com/news/ugliest-cars-ever-made/
• https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/adventure/red-line/the-ugliest-cars-ever-built/article21788957/

[alsancle]

RM is selling one at Amelia.   Ed take note of the estimate.

 

https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/am22/amelia-island/lots/r0068-1948-davis-divan/1211452

 

To any aspiring automotive magnate, there must have been a gold rush feel to the years following World War II. The American public’s ravenous appetite for new cars, the availability of new technologies, materials, and manufacturing capacity developed in wartime, and the general sense of optimism permeating the country made it seem like anything was possible…no matter how unconventional.

Enter the delightfully eccentric and unmistakable Davis Divan. The brainchild of Glen Gordon “Gary” Davis, a used car salesman from Indiana, it was based loosely on a one-off custom designed by legendary Indycar designer Frank Kurtis. The wild, three-wheeled Davis Divan was promoted as the car of the future: a fuel-efficient, streamlined, aluminum-bodied runabout with room for—rather optimistically—four adults across the bench seat, and a price tag of just $1,000. Unfortunately, after failing to deliver on more than a million dollars in dealer contracts and deposits, Davis was convicted of fraud, and the Davis Company ordered shuttered by the courts.

This 1948 example is the third Davis Divan produced and one of only a dozen known extant. Preceded by two prototypes, it is the first “production” example of the rare model. After liquidation, the car went to Michigan where it lived most of its life, quietly stored away; photos show that the Divan, though in a sorry state of repair, was largely complete. It was discovered there in 2011 by the most recent owners, who became devoted Davis enthusiasts. Under their care, it was restored in its present metallic brown exterior over a two-tone beige and brown interior.

This car features an L-head Hercules 4-cylinder engine paired with a three-speed manual gearbox, a removable fiberglass hardtop, and a fully retrimmed interior. This is a rare opportunity to acquire one of the most unusual automobiles in history—a fascinatingly oddball machine with an equally fascinating history.