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The
LaDawri Conquest was designed and built by Les A. Dawes of British
Columbia, Canada. The
Conquest was
first shown at the Pacific
International Exhibition at Vancouver Canada in 1956 as the
Cavalier. Original plans were to create a complete sports car
for sale and distribution throughout the United States and Canada.
The body itself is fiberglass and was designed to take a wheelbase
of 100 to 104 inches and a tread of 56 to 58 inches.
Within a year, the car, family, and company moved to Long Beach
California where production began and the car debuted on the front
cover of Road and Track in July 1957. From this point forward, the
car was known as the “Conquest”.
Soon,
Dawes expanded both the number of designs available and the sizes of
each design as well. New models included
Quest
Q.T., Daytona,
Sebring, and Del Mar. Around 1960, Dawes again expanded the lineup
of available designs by acquiring a competing car company called
Victress, and the models in it’s inventory. These cars became known
as the Cheetah, Vixen, Castilian, Sicilian, and Cavalier.
Two
additional models were added later which included the
Centurion 21 (originally The
Savage, from Art Center student Jim Webb) and
the Firestar. (from Ralph
Starkweather)
This series
of acquisitions made LaDawri the largest fiberglass car manufacturer
(both kit and complete cars) in the early to mid 1960’s based on the
variety of models offered and produced.
The last car
designed and built for production was the
Formula Libre around
1965. LaDawri continued with car production producing both cars and
kits from 1957 through 1965 when operations ceased. |
