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Point for Oguerrerob . Anyone have any more info about this one?
The 1948 Davis Divan looks like something that George Jetson from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series would drive.The Davis was a giant version of the three-wheelers that became so popular in postwar Europe. It differed from the norm in that it was rear-wheel drive and would seat four abreast on a large bench seat. The smaller European models were chain driven by a two-stroke motorcycle engine attached to the front wheel.The original car dubbed the Californian was designed by Frank Kurtis, the legendary creator of the Indy and Midget Kurtis-Kraft racing cars. Kurtis built the original car in 1938 for Joel Thorne, the owner of Thorne Engineering in Burbank, California.Gary Davis was a car salesman; he managed to gain the confidence of Thorne and purchase the unique three-wheeler from him in 1945.In 1946 he promoted the car as the prototype for his newly formed Davis Motor Car Company.Davis was a gambler and a fast talker, and he acquired a former aircraft plant in Van Nuys, California and assembled a young team of engineers on nothing more than a promise that they would be paid handsomely when the project got off its feet.He used his salesmanship to entice a group of investors and 300 franchises with promises of building hundreds of cars a day but it fell apart almost as quickly as it began with only 11 Divans completed.In 1948, a group of former employees filed a lawsuit for compensation for their wages. The District Attorney launched an investigation based on allegations of fraud. Davis was eventually convicted and sentenced to two years in prison.
