Devin Cars
Encyclopedia
Bill Devin
Bill Devin was the founder of Devin Cars. He was a major influence on the automobile industry by demonstrating the world's first OHC driven by rubber toothed belt....
, produced various racing cars and kit car
Kit car
A kit car, also known as a "component car", is an automobile that is available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then either assembles into a car themselves, or retains a third party to do part or all of the work on their behalf...
s in the 1950s and 1960s.
Innovations
The 1956 SCCA H-Modified National Champion was a Devin powered by a 2-cylinder Panhard engine modified with Manx NortonNorton (motorcycle)
Norton is a British motorcycle marque, originally from Birmingham, founded in 1898 as a manufacturer of "fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade". By 1902, they had begun manufacturing motorcycles with bought-in engines. In 1908, a Norton-built engine was added to the range...
motorcycle cylinder heads. This may have been the first-ever automotive use of belt-driven (double, in this case) overhead camshaft
Overhead camshaft
Overhead cam valvetrain configurations place the engine camshaft within the cylinder heads, above the combustion chambers, and drive the valves or lifters in a more direct manner compared to overhead valves and pushrods...
s.
Models
- Devin Panhard
- Devin-D (VW or Porsche engine)
- Devin-SS (283ci Chev V8 powered)
- Devin-C (Corvair engine)
- Devin-F (Triumph TR3-based)
- Devin-GT
- The Roosevelt Devin
- Devin bodied Bandini