Cadillac

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For other uses, see Cadillac (disambiguation).
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Cadillac is a brand of luxury automobile, part of General Motors, produced and mostly sold in the United States and Canada; 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).

Cadillac's current slogan is "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit," in reference to the inalienable rights mentioned in the United States Declaration of Independence.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Founding

Cadillac was formed from the remnants of the Henry Ford Company when Henry Ford departed along with several of his key partners and the company was dissolved. 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 using Leland's proven 1-cylinder engine. 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.

[edit] Contributions to the Automotive Industry

Cadillac helped to define advanced engineering, luxury and style early in Automotive History. Precision manufacturing of truly interchangeable parts was an award-winning industry first in 1908. Cadillac was the first manufacturer to release cars with a fully enclosed cab as factory equipment in 1910. Standard electric engine starting & lighting was another award winner for 1912. Cadillac introduced the first production V8 engine for the 1914 model year. Cadillac was the first manufacturer to utilize the skills of a designer to produce a car's body instead of an engineer (1927). This gave the public a car that looked as good as it performed. Cadillac's engineers were first to design a manual transmission with synchronizers for increased drivability (1929) and were instrumental in the early development of the automatic transmission, beginning in 1932. Cadillac offered a production V-16 engine from 1930 through 1940 and introduced the production independent wishbone front suspension in 1934. The marque introduced tailfins for 1948. From the late 1960s onward, Cadillac offered a fiber-optic indication system which alerted the driver of a failed light bulb.

[edit] Early vehicles

Cadillac, 1903 (Smithsonian)
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Cadillac, 1903 (Smithsonian)

Their first car was completed in October 1902, the 10 hp (7 kW) Cadillac. It 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 February to March 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 2,000 miles (3,200 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 February 1909). The Dewar Trophy was an annual award for the most important advancement of the year in the automobile industry.

[edit] 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 was also GM's default marque for "commercial chassis" institutional vehicles, such as limousines, ambulances, hearses, and funeral home flower cars. The latter three of which were custom built by aftermarket manufacturers: Cadillac does not produce any such vehicles in factory.

In 1911, Cadillac was the first gasoline internal combustion engine auto to incorporate electric start, as opposed to earlier crank start. Originally marketed as a convenience device for female drivers, the electric starter developed by Charles Kettering was first used on the production models of 1912. Other innovations included the first V8 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 and Color section starting in January 1928, designed for 1927 a new, smaller "companion" car to the Cadillac which he called the La Salle, after another French explorer, René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. That marque 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.

[edit] 1932- The year it could have ended

In 1932, after Cadillac suffered from record low sales and charges of discrimination against black customers, Alfred Sloan created a committee to consider the discontinuation of the Cadillac line. At a fateful board meeting, Cadillac president Nicholas Dreystadt heard that legendary boxer Joe Louis could not go into a dealership to buy a car, because he was black, and resorted to having a white friend make the purchase for him. Dreystadt gave the GM Board of Directors a 10 minute speech in which he advocated advertising to black consumers so as to increase sales. The Board agreed to give Dreystadt 18 months to produce results. By 1934, Cadillac had regained profitability. It is significant to note that after this decision, Cadillac was the only American automobile manufacturer to remain profitable during the Great Depression. By 1940, Cadillac sales had risen 1,000 percent compared to 1934, thus saving Cadillac from extinction.

The year 1934 brought about a revolution in assembly line technology. Henry F. Phillips introduced the Phillips screw and driver onto the market. He entered into talks with General Motors and convinced the Cadillac group that his new screws would speed assembly times and therefore increase profits. Cadillac was the first automaker to use the Phillips technology, which was widely adopted in 1940.

[edit] Postwar

Promotional art of the 1947 Cadillac Series 75 Sedan
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Promotional art of the 1947 Cadillac Series 75 Sedan

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 most recognizable tailfins of any production automobile.

Cadillac's other styling attribute was its front bumper designs which became known as Dagmar bumpers or simply Dagmars. What had started out after the war as an artillery shell shaped bumper guard became an increasingly important part of Cadillac's complicated front grille and bumper assembly. As the 1950s wore on, the element was placed higher in the front end design, negating their purpose as bumper guards. They also became more pronounced and were likened to the bosom of 1950s television personality Dagmar. In 1957 the bumpers gained black rubber finials which only heightened the relationship between the styling element and a stylized exaggerated breast and nipple. For 1958 the element was toned down and was completely absent on the 1959 models.

1960 Cadillac
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1960 Cadillac

[edit] Low points, and the beginning of a recovery

Cadillac suffered from the malaise that set in to the American auto industry in the late 1970s to the late 1980s. There were high points, such as the launch of the two-door personal luxury model of the Eldorado 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 new generation 472 cubic inch V8 [7.7 liter] that debuted with the 1968 models was designed for an ultimate capacity potential of 600 cubic inches. It was stroked to 500 cubic inches [8.2 liter] for the 1970 model Eldorado, then adopted across all models for 1975 [note: the compact Seville introduced in 1975 as a 1976 model used only a fuel-injected version of the Oldsmobile 350]. For the 1977 large models (all but the Seville), the 500 was replaced with a small-bore 472 for a 425 cubic inch displacement. The bore was further reduced for 1980-1981 to provide 368 inches, again sharing the stroke of the original 472), 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 S-Class, the Seville, which became a success for the brand.

Due to gasoline shortages, Cadillac offered an Oldsmobile V8 engine that used diesel, the 'LF9' 350-cubic-inch (5.7L) V8 engine, in its full-size cars from 1979 to 1981. Despite the fact that these engines looked in large part like their gasoline cousins, they were indeed quite different. The castings were much thicker and heavier, and a higher quality alloy was used for the block and heads. The main bearing journals were also increased to 3.000 inches in size to compensate for the higher operating stresses and pressures that diesels exert on their reciprocating parts. The primary problem with GM's Diesel engines of the 1970s was due in large part to poor fuel quality (diesel fuel was notoriously filthy and contaminated with water in the late 1970's), which caused corrosion in the fuel injection pump. This corrosion could (and often did) cause an incorrect injection cycle, which would produce abnormally high cylinder pressures. This in turn would cause the cylinder head to "lift" up off of the block, and stretch (or even break) the head bolts. Once the head gasket was compromised, the gasket would leak coolant into the cylinder. At 22.5:1 compression, there was little volume left in the cylinder at TDC. The uncompressible quality of liquids means that the engine would hydro lock, breaking pistons, crankshafts, connecting rods, and other parts, resulting in complete and catastrophic engine damage. Why then, did other Diesel engines, from GM and other companies, not have these problems? The answer lies in the lack of an effective water separating system, such as can be found on other diesel applications. Overall, the main ingredients of disaster that affected this engine lie in: 1) A poorly designed fuel system, which was fostered by a desire to insulate the consumer from the unpleasant aspects of Diesel ownership. 2) A misguided attempt to market the diesel engine as if it was as convenient to operate and maintain as a gasoline engine. 3) A poorly trained service staff which often used the incorrect oils and service procedures for this (and any, for that matter) Diesel engine. These factors combined to create the ultimate downfall of this engine. In the hands of an experienced diesel operator, these engines can (and often do) travel for hundreds of thousands of trouble free miles. However, for a society of people who just "gas and go", this engine was particularly ill suited to the task.

Ironically, GM's other division, Detroit Diesel had had decades of experience building Diesel engines.

However, in an attempt to extend its brand further downward to appeal to younger buyers, Cadillac launched in 1981 (for the 1982 model year) the compact Cimarron, which shared the J platform with the Chevrolet Cavalier to rival the BMW 3-series. As the Cimarron was rushed to production about three years ahead of schedule, only a four-cylinder engine was available (though a V6 arrived in 1985) and at first, minimal styling differences were made to distinguish it from the considerably cheaper Chevrolet version, and buyers dismissed it as a "warmed-over Cavalier". Though Cimarron came with a hefty list of standard equipment and options (several of which being unavailable on Cavalier) and styling became much more in tune with other Cadillacs in its later years, sales never did significantly improve after its initial rejection, and it was discontinued in 1988. 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 4100 (4.1 L) V8 engine was used widely in Cadillacs in the late 1980s. This proved to be one of the worst engines ever built. It suffered from coolant leaks, warped intake manifolds and warped heads. The 4100's problems cost Cadillac the loyalty of many customers.

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 1996 model year (following a 1993 redesign, the Brougham had been rebadged the Fleetwood, with optional Brougham package).

After GM phased out the D platform in 1996, Cadillac was left with a completely front-wheel drive lineup except for the European-based Catera, introduced for 1997. The Chevrolet Tahoe-based Escalade, Cadillac's first sport utility vehicle, was introduced for 1999 and featured standard all-wheel drive.

[edit] The Art and Science era

Somewhat surprisingly for a model with such a strong design heritage, Cadillac has recently 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"[1] 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."

[edit] Cadillac models


Cadillac road car timeline, 1930s-present - [edit]
Type 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Entry-level 60 61 WWII 61 Cimarron BLS
355 70/80 62 Series 62 6200 Calais Catera CTS
Mid-sized Seville STS
Full-size Coupe de Ville/Sedan DeVille DTS
60S Sixty Special Fleetwood Flwd60S Fleetwood Fleetwood
Limousine 355 72/75/85 Series 75 6700 Fleetwood 75 FL FB Brougham
Personal Luxury Eldorado
Crossover BRX
SRX
SUV Escalade
Roadster Allanté XLR
Halo V-16 Brougham


[edit] Historical and Classic

[edit] Finned Fifties

Chiang Kai-shek's Cadillac
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Chiang Kai-shek's Cadillac

[edit] Sixties and Seventies

[edit] Alphabetical Model Summary

[edit] Current

The emblem on the front of the Cadillac Escalade
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The emblem on the front of the Cadillac Escalade

[edit] Concepts and prototypes

  • Cadillac V-16 Aero coupe — 1933
  • Cadillac Caribbean, Coupe de Ville, El Rancho, Embassy — 1949
  • Cadillac Debutante — 1950
  • Cadillac custom roadster for Bill Boyer — 1951-52
  • Cadillac Eldorado and Townsman — 1952
  • Cadillac Le Mans and Orleans — 1953
  • Cadillac El Camino, La Espada, Park Avenue — 1954
  • Cadillac Celebrity, Eldorado Brougham, La Salle II, Eldorado St. Moritz, Westchester — 1955
  • Cadillac Castilian, Gala, Maharani, Palomino, Eldorado Brougham and Eldorado Brougham Town Car — 1956
  • Cadillac Director — 1957
  • Cadillac "Rain Car" and 4-door Eldorado Seville — 1958
  • Cadillac Cyclone — 1959
  • Cadillac 4-door phaeton — 1960
  • Cadillac Florentine — 1964
  • Cadillac Aurora — 1980
  • Cadillac CART-PPG — 1985
  • Cadillac Voyage — 1988
  • Cadillac Solitaire — 1989
  • Cadillac Evoq — 1999
  • Cadillac Vizon — 2000
  • Cadillac Imaj — 2001
  • Cadillac Cien — 2002
  • Cadillac Sixteen — 2003

[edit] Trivia

Wario, a Nintendo character, drives a purple Cadillac.

The video game Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition features multiple Cadillacs including a Cadillac CTS-V, Cadillac Cien, Cadillac XLR, Cadillac Sixteen, Cadillac Escalade, and Cadillac Escalade EXT.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Automotive marques of General Motors

Buick • Cadillac • Chevrolet • GMC • Holden • Hummer • Opel • Pontiac • Saab • Saturn • Vauxhall

Affiliates
GM Daewoo (50.9%) • Suzuki (3%) • Wuling (34%)

Defunct Marques
Geo (1989-1997) • LaSalle (1927-1940) • Marquette (1929-1930) • Oakland (1907-1931) • Oldsmobile (1897-2004) • Viking (1929-1931)

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