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Cadillac

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For other uses, see Cadillac (disambiguation).
Cadillac Logo
Cadillac Logo

Cadillac is a brand of luxury automobile, part of the General Motors corporation, produced and mostly sold in the United States; outside of North America, they have been less successful. In the United States, the name became a synonym for "high quality", used in such phrases as "the Cadillac of clocks". This is less prevalent, though still known, in other English-speaking countries (who are more likely to use Rolls-Royce in such phrases).

Founding

Cadillac was formed from the Henry Ford Company upon Henry Ford's departure. With the intent of liquidating the firm's assets, Ford's financial backers, William Murphy and Lemuel Bowen called in engineer Henry M. Leland to appraise the plant and equipment prior to selling them. Instead, Leland persuaded them to continue in the automobile business. Henry Ford's departure required a new name, and on August 22, 1902, the company reformed as the Cadillac Automobile Company.

The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan in 1701.

Early vehicles

Their first car was completed in October 1902, the 10 horsepower (7 kW) Cadillac, based on Henry Ford's design was practically identical to the 1903 Ford Model A. Many sources say the first car rolled out of the factory on October 17; in the book Henry Leland - Master of Precision, on p.69, that date is shown to be October 20; yet another reliable source shows car #3 to have been built on October 16. In any case, the new Cadillac was shown at the New York Auto Show the following January, where it impressed the crowds enough to gather over two thousand firm orders. The Cadillac's biggest selling point was precision manufacturing and, therefore, reliability; it was simply a better made vehicle than its competition.

In Feb to Mar 1908, three Model K Cadillacs (1907 production) were released from the stock of Frederick Bennett (UK agent for Cadillac) at the Heddon Street showroom in London to compete in the annual Royal Automobile Club's Standardization Test. They were driven 25 miles to the Brooklands race track at Weybridge where they completed another 25 miles (40 km) before being put under lock and key until Monday March 2, 1908 when they were released and disassembled completely. Their 721 component parts were scrambled in one heap; 89 parts requiring extreme accuracy were withdrawn from the heap,locked away at the Brooklands club house and replaced with new parts from the showroom stock. Using only wrenches and screwdrivers the 3 cars were re-assembled and on Friday March 13 they completed a mandatory 500 mile (800 km) run. On completion of the test, one of the cars was placed under lock and key where it remained until the start of the 2000 miles (3200 km) Reliability Trials, several months later. It came out the winner of the R.A.C. Trophy! Parts interchangeability could not have been proven in any other more appropriate way. As a result of these tests, the Cadillac Automobile Company was awarded the Dewar Trophy for 1908 (actual award date was Feb 1909). The Dewar Trophy was an annual award for the most important advancement of the year in the automobile industry.

General Motors

Cadillac was purchased by the General Motors conglomerate in 1909.

Cadillac became General Motors' prestige division, devoted to the production of large luxury vehicles. The Cadillac line is also GM's default marque for "commercial Chassis" institutional vehicles, such as Ambulances, Limousines, Hearses and funeral home flower cars (the latter two of which are custom made by aftermarket manufacturers, GM does not produce any such vehicles on its own.)

In 1911 Cadillac was the first gasoline internal combustion engine auto to incorporate electric start (as opposed to earlier crank start)origenaly marketed as a convenience device for female drivers, utilizing the electric starter developed by Charles Kettering and used first on the production models of 1912. Other innovations included the first V-8 engine in mass production, in 1915; shatter-resistant safety glass in 1926; and the first fully synchronized transmission (with gears "locked" in relation to one another to prevent clashing upon execution of a shift) in 1928. About this time, automobile stylist, Harley Earl, whom Cadillac had recruited in 1926 and who was to head the new Art & Color section starting in January 1928, designed for 1927 a new, smaller "companion" car to the Cadillac which he called the LaSalle, after another French explorer, René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. That model remained in production until 1940.

Pre-World War II Cadillacs were well-built, powerful, mass-produced luxury cars, aimed at an upper class market, below that of such ultra-exclusive marques such as Pierce-Arrow and Duesenberg. In the 1930s, Cadillac added cars with 12- and 16-cylinder engines to their range, many of which were fitted with custom coach-built bodies; these engines were remarkable at the time for their ability to deliver a combination of high power, silky smoothness and quietness.

1932- The year it could have ended

In 1932, after suffering from record low sales and discrimination towards blacks, Alfred Sloan created a committee to discontinue the Cadillac line of cars. At that fatefull board meeting, Nicholas Dreystadt gave a 10 minute speech persuading the Board to advertise and appeal to the black consumer and that would raise their sales. They agreed to give Dreystadt 18 months. By 1934, Cadillac regained profitability and by 1940, Cadillac sales had rose 1000% from 1934, saving Cadillac from going under.

Postwar

Postwar Cadillacs, incorporating the ideas of General Motors styling chief Harley J. Earl, innovated many of the styling features that came to be synonymous with the classic (late 1940s-late 1950s) American automobile, including tailfins and wraparound windshields. Cadillac's first tailfins, inspired by the twin rudders of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, appeared in 1948; the 1959 Cadillac was the epitome of the tailfin craze, with the largest tailfins of any production automobile. Alas, this the tailfin was starting to lose favor with he American buyer. With their chromed, bullet-shaped front impact guards (the bullets were nicknamed "Mansfields" or "Dagmars" [1], after their resemblance to the bosoms of certain Hollywood starlets), their chromium eggcrate grilles, and general stylistic ostentation, the mid- to late 1950s Cadillacs were arguably too extreme even for most Cadillac buyers. At this point, Bill Mitchell succeeded Harley Earl as styling chief, and his preference for more austere design combined with changing buyer tastes caused the excess to be rapidly toned down, starting in 1960. Nevertheless, Cadillacs retained their tailfins through 1964, and suggestions of them remain in the peaked rear fenders of many models even to this day. The tailfin style gave birth to the enduring vertical-tailight pattern, which is a subtle trademark of the Cadillac line (the opposite of the horizontal tailight pattern which is a likewise subtle trademark of rival Lincoln.)

Somewhat surprisingly for a marque with such a strong design heritage, Cadillac has resisted the temptation to produce any "retro" models such as the revived Ford Thunderbird or the VW New Beetle, and has instead pressed ahead with a new design philosophy for the 21st century called "art and science"[2] which it says "incorporates sharp, shear forms and crisp edges - a form vocabulary that expresses bold, high-technology design and invokes the technology used to design it."

Low points, and the beginning of a recovery

Cadillac suffered from the malaise that set in to the American auto industry in the late 1960s to the late 1970s. There were high points, such as the launch of the Eldorado two-door personal luxury car in 1967, with its simple, elegant design—a far cry from the tail-fin and chrome excesses of the 1950s. However, the 1970s saw vehicles memorable for other types of excess: engine size, for one (the Eldorado featured an 8.2-litre engine at one point), weight, and physical bulk. The build quality also became poorer when measured against German rivals.

As with most American brands, Cadillac was forced to downsize its offerings between the 1973 and 1979 fuel crises. Its staple De Ville and Fleetwood lines were downsized for 1977 and again for 1985. It launched a smaller car around the size of the Mercedes-Benz 300, the Seville, based on a Chevrolet Nova platform. It was a success.

However, trying to extend its brand further downward to appeal to younger buyers, Cadillac launched in 1981 (for the 1982 model year) the compact Cimarron, a warmed-over Chevrolet Cavalier as a rival to the BMW 3-series. Buyers rejected this model for being too close to the considerably cheaper Chevrolet — unlike the Seville, which did not resemble the Nova or other GM X-cars, the Cimarron was almost indistinguishable from the down-market versions. Buyers also objected to the Cimmaron's four-cylinder engine and low level of standard equipment. Although the motoring press lauded the first Cadillac manual transmission in decades, the automatic's extra cost also rankled buyers.

Another low point during the early 1980s was the variable displacement engine, branded the L62 V8-6-4 engine. Introduced in 1981, this 368 in³ (6.0 L) engine sequentially shut down cylinders as demand dropped. Company marketing hailed the engine as cutting-edge technology, but it proved unreliable and was dropped the next year in favor of a family of smaller aluminum V8 engines rushed into production.

The mid-1980s saw Cadillac try to rebuild its image, aware that European and Japanese imports were on a rise, and with Honda launching its American luxury division, Acura. Some new design approaches were tried: the Seville, for instance, had gracefully rounded wheel arches with a hint of chrome. The greatest challenge to the imports was the Cadillac Allante, a convertible designed by Pininfarina of Italy, and built on what was touted as the world's longest production line—with the car's bodies fabricated in Italy and flown by Boeing 747 to the United States to meet their transmission and engine. The car was, sadly, not a commercial success, but today stands out as a modern classic and more than able to hold its own, image-wise, next to its Mercedes-Benz SL rival.

The Allante's styling influenced other Cadillacs, especially the Seville, which adopted its sharper, tailored lines. Indeed, Cadillac was so confident of the Seville that it was exported to Europe, but it faced stiff opposition.

The Cimarron and Seville models marked a beginning of "smaller" cars for the Cadillac line. Throughout the 1980s, American auto makers downsized most of their models, and the Cadillac was no exception. By the late 80s, the Brougham was the only Cadillac model that retained the style and size of the "big" DeVilles and Fleetwoods of the 70s. It was discontinued after the 1993 model year.

The Art & Science era

The latest incarnation of Cadillac styling - Art & Science (A&S) was previewed with the 1999 Cadillac Evoq concept roadster at that year's Detroit Auto Show. With its crisp lines, hard creases, and sharp corners, the Evoq not only had a striking presence of its own, but also marked a departure from the softer design of previous Cadillacs.

Distinctive characteristics of Art & Science design include stacked headlamps, vertical taillamps, angular grille, and creased body lines in addition to alphanumeric model names.

The DeVille sedan and 2002 Escalade sport utility were the first executions of the Art & Science design philosophy, though they should be appropriately noted as more transitional vehicles since they combine A&S with the last era of styling and tested the waters for public acceptance.

Cadillac's 2003 Cadillac CTS was the first ground-up incarnation of A&S and was an instant hit, partly due to product placements in the cyberpunk Matrix trilogy. Following in its success was the Cadillac SRX sport utility wagon and the Evoq-inspired Cadillac XLR roadster. The 2005 Cadillac STS is the latest in the A&S lineup and will complete the transition between the old school of design and the new. The new Cadillac V-Series was also introduced to provide sporty models based on Cadillac production cars, with very extensive chassis and engine upgrades.

A slight evolution of A&S was shown at Detroit's 2003 Auto Show with the Cadillac Sixteen concept, which had a rounded body with crisp A&S features. This version of A&S will probably see itself debuted on models that appeal to more conservative demographics, such as the DeVille's replacement and a possible ultraluxury sedan.

The 2005 Presidential Limousine first shown at the second inauguration of President George W. Bush features A&S design cues, and is said to foreshadow the 2006 Cadillac DTS, which is the replacement for the DeVille.

Also in 2005, General Motors announced the first Cadillac designed exclusively for the European market, a model called the BLS, to be built by Saab in Sweden.

Cadillac models

Historical and Classic

Finned Fifties

Sixties and Seventies


[To view images of these Cadillacs and others from 1902 through 2003, visit the Cadillac Database: www.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_txt/PHOT_NDX.HTM -- MrCadillac 18:07, 28 September 2005 (UTC)]


Alphabetical Model Summary

Current

Concepts and prototypes

visit the Cadillac Database:For full descriptions and photos of these and other concepts, protoytypes, show cars and dream cars

See also

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