Cadillac

Cadillac was founded on August 22, 1902 by Henry Leland, a master mechanic and entrepreneur, who named the company after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of the city of Detroit. His coat of arms inspired the company’s crest-style logo, which has evolved repeatedly over the decades but still echoes the original heraldic design.

Cadillac's first automobiles, the Runabout and Tonneau were two-seat horseless carriages powered by a 10 hp (7 kW) single-cylinder engine. They were practically identical to the 1903 Ford Model A.

Cadillac Model A, 1902. By Iwao from Tokyo, Japan Wikipedia Commons

Cadillac was the first volume manufacturer of a fully enclosed car in 1906. Before this milestone, most automobiles were open-body vehicles resembling horseless carriages, leaving passengers exposed to the elements. Cadillac's move to produce a fully enclosed car in volume marked a significant shift in automotive design.

Cadillac was the first American car to win the Dewar Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club of England, having successfully demonstrated the interchangeability of its component parts during a reliability test in 1908. This spawned the firm's slogan "Standard of the World."

In 1911 Cadillac introduced the electric starter and dynamo lighting.

The brand introduced a mass-produced V8 engine in 1914, delivering about 70 horsepower—roughly seven times the output of the company’s earliest 1902 cars. The move helped cement Cadillac’s reputation as an engineering trendsetter in the early automobile industry.

Before the late 1920s, driving a manual car often required double-clutching to change gears smoothly. Cadillac introduced Synchro-Mesh transmission technology in 1929, synchronizing gear speeds so drivers could shift much more easily—a system that soon spread across the industry.

The futuristic 1953 concept car Cadillac Orleans featured luxury gadgets decades ahead of their time. Among them were a household electrical outlet, a vanity kit—and a compartment in the seatback containing a men’s electric razor.

The sleek 1953 concept roadster Cadillac Le Mans featured a fiberglass body, a wrap-around windshield and a 250-horsepower V8—an output that production Cadillacs wouldn’t match for two more years.

In the late 1980s, bodies for the Cadillac Allanté were built by the Italian design house Pininfarina in Turin and then flown to Detroit in specially equipped Boeing 747 cargo jets for final assembly. The trans-Atlantic shuttle was nicknamed the “Allanté Air Bridge,” with each aircraft carrying 56 unfinished car bodies across the Atlantic.

Many automotive historians point to the 1982 launch of the Cadillac Cimarron as the decision that did the most damage to Cadillac’s prestige. The car was essentially a lightly upgraded version of the inexpensive Chevrolet Cavalier, and luxury buyers quickly recognized the badge-engineering, which severely diluted Cadillac’s reputation as a maker of distinctive premium automobiles.

By the 1990s, Cadillac had become associated mainly with older buyers. Younger drivers who wanted luxury often gravitated to sportier brands such as BMW or high-tech newcomers like Lexus.

Today’s Cadillac lineup includes SUVs such as the Cadillac Escalade and newer electric models like the Cadillac Lyriq and Cadillac Vistiq, reflecting the company’s push toward electric luxury vehicles.

The longest car ever made was a 100ft-long Cadillac with 26 wheels, a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi, a helipad and a hinged section in the middle to enable it to turn corners.

Elvis Presley famously owned a 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special painted pink. The car became so closely associated with him that it helped turn the phrase “pink Cadillac” into shorthand for American rock-and-roll excess. The original vehicle is now displayed at Graceland in Memphis.

Chuck Berry owned a warehouse full of old Cadillacs, one from every three or four model-years, all the way back to the mid-fifties. He claimed to be trying to get rid of them, but as nobody would give him a fair price, he just stored them away.

The Doors drummer John Densmore was sued by his remaining bandmates because he wouldn’t let them sell the commercial rights to their songs to Cadillac. Densmore claimed their late singer Jim Morrison would have opposed it. During a six year court battle, he was called anti-American, communist and Al Qaeda supporter.

The US president's Cadillac One (aka The Beast) is equipped with 8 inch thick bulletproof doors, an oxygen system, a night-vision camera, tear-gas bombs, a shotgun, and pints of the president’s blood type.