The California Coupe flew in early 1924, but the next year it was damaged in a failed stunt on a movie set.
In 1923 John G. Montijo collaborated with Lloyd Royer on a four-passenger aircraft, the California Coupe, that would become the first cabin biplane on the United States west coast.
[2] Montijo's design closely matched the Dayton-Wright OW.1 Aerial Coupe that he had recently purchased from the Rinehart-Whelan Company in Ohio.
The competing design, the Kinner Argonaut was built at the same time, with the goal to be completed before the California Coupe, with its first flight on 25 May 1924.
The Coupe, powered by a 200 hp (149.14 kW) Wright-Hisso V-8 engine, was constructed using Haskelite bonded plywood and had a 20 US gal (75.71 L) fuelheader tank in the upper mainplane, fed by a wind driven pump from a 20 US gal (75.71 L) main fuel tank under the cabin.