Vehicle Description
The LaDawri Conquest was designed and built by Les A. Dawes of
British Columbia, Canada and is recognized as Canadas first
fiberglass sports car. 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. This covered
Corvettes, Thunderbirds, and the like of the day. However, 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 Q.T. Quest, 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 its
inventory. These cars became known as the Cheetah, Vixen,
Castilian, Sicilian, and Cavalier. Two additional models of cars
were added later which included the Centurion 21 and the Firestar -
both acquired from former competitors. This series of acquisitions
made LaDawri the largest fiberglass car manufacturer (both kit and
complete cars) in the early to mid 1960s 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. Call Alex Neues at 303-656-6534 or
email with any questions.
