View source for George W. Davis Motor Car Company

{{short description|Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2011}}
The '''George W. Davis Motor Car Company''' made Davis brand automobiles in [[Richmond, Indiana]], from 1908 to 1929.<ref name="Georgano">{{cite book|last=Georgano|first=Nick|title=The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile|year=2000|publisher=Stationery Office|location=London|isbn=0117023191|pages=1792}}</ref>
George W. Davis was born in Randolph county, Indiana on October 20, 1867, one of ten children in his family.<ref name="palladium"/> When he was 18 years old, he went to work in a carriage and harness shop in Winchester, Indiana. He moved in Richmond, Indiana in 1902 and, in partnership with Walter McConaha and Frank Taylor, established the Davis & Taylor Carriage Company there.<ref name="palladium">{{cite news |title=George W. Davis, Well-Known Richmond Manufacturer, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/palladium-item-george-w-davis-obit/8421245/ |work=Palladium-Item |date=May 4, 1948 |page=1}}</ref>
In 1908, George W. Davis announced that he would build a car, named after himself. The earliest cars were motorized [[Horse and buggy|buggies]].  By 1911, proper [[touring cars]] were made, using 4-[[Cylinder (engine)|cylinder]] [[Continental Motors Company|Continental]] engines, with 6-cylinder Continental units added three years later.<ref name="Georgano" /> A 12-cylinder engine was promised, but this never materialized.  The local Richmond [[newspaper]] reported that Davis was unhappy about the weight of the 12-cylinder engine.  Thus, after the fours were dropped from the lineup in 1916, all Davis cars bore a six cylinder engine.<ref name="Georgano" />  It was not until 1927 that an 8-cylinder engine arrived.
Many Davises were exported, and a Davis placed first in a [[Hillclimbing|hill climb]] in [[Madrid]], [[Spain]] in 1917.<ref name="Kimes" />  Also in 1917, the growing Davis company expanded by taking over the former [[Westcott (automobile company)|Westcott]] factory in town.<ref name="Kimes" />  The Davis was an assembled car, meaning that it used components from various outside manufacturers, with little or none of the components made in-house.<ref name="Kimes" />  Davises were well known for their two-tone paint schemes and poetic model names, such as Fleetaway, Man o' War and Mountaineer.<ref name="Kimes">{{cite book|last=Kimes|first=Beverly Rae|title=The Standard Catalog of American Cars: 1805-1942|year=1996|publisher=Krause Publications|location=Iola, IA|isbn=0873414284|pages=1612}}</ref>
The Davis served as the basis for two [[Badge-engineering|badge-engineered]] cars sold in Canada in the 1920s - the Winnipeg and the Derby.<ref name="Georgano" />
The fortunes of the Davis company waned later in the 1920s.  Later Davises were obsolete, and sales began to slip from the peak sales of the early 1920s.  In February 1928, the company was acquired by the Automotive Corporation of America, led by Villor P. Williams.<ref name="Kimes" />  Williams was interested in gaining an automobile on which to install his Parkmobile device.  The Parkmobile was a device which hydraulically raised the car up via a set of smaller wheels inboard of the standard ones.  This allowed the vehicle to be rolled sideways into a parallel parking space.  It operated "through the regular gearshift lever in conjunction with an extra lever operated from the transmission."<ref name="Kimes" />  The six-cylinder Davis was now renamed the [[New York Six]], while the 8-cylinder model remained a Davis.  Both of these were to get the Parkmobile device, only a few did, however.  Any 1929 models were simply ones built using leftover 1928 parts.
Williams was evicted on May 30, 1929, for not paying rent, and returned to [[Baltimore, Maryland]], where his Automotive Corporation was [[Headquarters|headquartered]].<ref name="Kimes" />  The Richmond factory was turned over to the manufacture of power [[lawn mower]]s.  Williams continued to advertise into early 1931 that more New York Six and Davis Eight automobiles with the Parkmobile device were to be forthcoming, but none ever materialized.<ref name="Kimes" />
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.newspapers.com/article/palladium-item-george-w-davis-obit/8421245/ Obituary]
*[http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/images/advert997.jpg Advertisement for 1914 Model Six-50 tourer]
*[http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/images/advert1115.jpg Advertisement for 1915 model range]
*[https://archive.today/20130903110857/http://2edges.com/image/davis.JPG Line drawing and specifications of 1921 Model 50 tourer]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis Motor Car Company}}
[[Category:Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States]]
[[Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana]]
[[Category:Brass Era vehicles]]
[[Category:Vintage vehicles]]
[[Category:Richmond, Indiana]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1908]]
[[Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1908]]
[[Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1929]]
[[Category:1908 establishments in Indiana]]
[[Category:1920s disestablishments in Indiana]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in Indiana]]