History 1

A little strange it is that this time the story of a successful car brand starts very differently than usual. Because the company Cadillac was created as a legacy of Henry Ford, the also was not happy with his second company foundation. He took with his name and the design of a racing automobile, but left his model A.

The latter actually was not suggesting that one really wanted to close the company after Ford's departure. Henry M. Leland was called in as an expert to give an estimate of the enterprise value. Leland was 59 years old at that time. The machinery mechanic was known as a supporter of absolute precision. He had invented a new engine, together with his son.

The Motor Company of the brothers Olds the refused because it would have meant too much remodeling to the designated model. Thus, resulted from contact to the company without engineer, the possibility to use the new engine in the Model A. Leland was able to bring to a continuation of the company, the previous investors.

By the way, they had maintained even Ford's idea of a model policy as a sequence of letters. And how came about the name? The, the new company owed Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, a naval officer, born as the son of aristocratic parents in 1658, for Louis XIV subdued America. He founded the town 'Ville d'Etroit' in 1701, relatively easy to reach by sea route, from the was then Detroit. The date tells us that in the year before the company's new foundation, Detroit celebrated its 200 years.

Of course, one had used the origin of the name also immediately to take over the family coat of arms, however highly abstracted over time. The first car had incidentally great success at its launch in New York early 1903 and one had to close the $ 10 orders at No. 2286th after a half week. However, the precise execution of these orders seemed to have contributed crucially to the success of the brand.