The Davidson-Cadillac armored car was developed on a Cadillac chassis by Royal Page Davidson and the cadets of the Northwestern Military and Naval Academy in Highland Park, Illinois. The first vehicle was developed in 1909 and by 1915 the academy had a fleet of eight vehicles consisting of a scout car, two communications cars, a kitchen car, a hospital car, a balloon destroyer, a quartermaster's car and a fully armoured car. To convince the military that a mechanized army was the way to go, Davidson and some cadets drove the fully armoured car along with seven support cars for 34 days from the academy to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915) being held in San Francisco, California.
| Davidson-Cadillac armored car | |
|---|---|
| Type | Armored Vehicle |
| Place of origin |  United States |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Northwestern Military and Naval Academy |
| Produced | 1909 - 1915 |
| Specifications | |
| Crew | driver + 3 |
Main armament | M1895 Colt-Browning |
| Suspension | 4x2 wheel |
Sources
edit- New York Times - July 18, 1915 - "This Armored Motor Car is now touring across the continent."
- American men of mark (1917), A Thousand American Men of Mark Today
- Chilton company (1975), Automotive Industries, Item notes: v.77 1937 Jul-Dec
- Clemens, Al J., The American Military Armored Car, A.J. Clemens, 1969
- Delta Upsilon fraternity (1902), The Delta Upsilon Decennial Catalogue [1903]
- Hunnicutt, R.P., Armored Car: A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicle, Presidio Press (2002), ISBN 0-89141-777-X
- Marquis-Who's Who (1950), Who was who in America. 1943-1950, New Providence, New Jersey
- Marquis-Who's Who (1967), Who was who in America: A Companion Biographical Reference Work to Who's who in America
- Quaife, Milo Milton, Wisconsin: Its History and Its People 1634-1924, Volume 4, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company (1924)
- Randall, Frank Alfred, Randall and Allied Families, Raveret-Weber printing company (1943)
- Stern, Philip Van Doren, A Pictorial History of the Automobile, Viking Press (1953)
- Tucker, Spencer, Tanks: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, ISBN 1-57607-995-3
- Willcox, Cornélis De Witt, The International Military Digest Annual: A Review of the Current Literature of Military Science for 1915-1918, Cumulative Digest Corporation (1916)