David E. Davis

Davis was born in Burnside, Kentucky, on November 7, 1930 – in a house without running water, on a hill called Tyree's Knob. He would develop his "simple, declarative [writing] style" working on aviation technical manuals. Davis overturned while racing his sports car (an MG TF 1500) at age 25 in Sacramento – badly damaging his face. He lost his left eyelid, the bridge of his nose, the roof of his mouth and most of his teeth. Davis required extensive plastic surgery – and was later able to hide his disfigurement under his full beard. were Peg, David E. Davis III, and Matthew, who has held a number of roles in the automotive business, including senior PR jobs at Nissan and Infiniti and working as a European contributor for numerous publications, including Autoblog. He had three stepchildren – Eleonore Kuhn Snow, Vincent and Anthony Kuhn. He died unexpectedly at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan on March 27, 2011, shortly following bladder cancer surgery. ==Career==

After selling an article to Motor Trend in 1957 for $50, At Chevrolet's advertising agency, – a campaign that Car and Driver and other publications ranked as the best automobile commercial of all time. He returned to Car and Driver in 1976 to serve as the magazine's editor and publisher – and moved its headquarters from New York to Ann Arbor He resigned as Editor/Publisher in 1985 when Car and Driver was sold to CBS. In 1986, he founded Automobile with financial backing from Rupert Murdoch – using the credo No Boring Cars. Davis introduced full-color photography and thick stock, increasing the magazine's literary standards to distinguish it from the other three U.S. automotive magazines, Car and Driver, Motor Trend and Road & Track. Davis later left Primedia and in semi-retirement started the online automotive magazine Winding Road. In July 2009, he returned to Car and Driver as a contributor. Until his death, he continued to contribute to numerous automotive venues, including international publications such as the British magazine CAR. Davis mentored a spectrum of automotive journalists, including Eddie Alterman, editor-in-chief at Car and Driver and Jean Jennings, former president and editor-in-chief (after Davis himself) at Automobile. At the University of Michigan he was member of the board of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship, a journalism program, and he encouraged Ford Motor Company to underwrite a fellowship for automotive journalism at the school. In 2004, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Michigan, serving as its spring 2004 commencement speaker. ==Personality==

Davis was widely known for his "larger-than-life," The company subsequently pulled much of its advertising. Davis was periodically estranged from the editor of Automobile, Jean Jennings, who said "to know [Davis] is to acknowledge his short fuse and his penchant for unpredictable, snorting charges at friendly targets." ==References==