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 succesful. In the United States, the name became a synonym for “high quality”.
Cadillac’s current slogan is “Life, Liberty and Pursuit” in reference to the inalienable rights mentioned in the United States Declaration of Independence.
Cadillac was formed from the remanants 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 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 reformd 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.
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 realease cars a fully enclosed cab as fctory equipment.
Standart electric engine starting and lighting was another award winner for 1912. Cadillac introduced the first production V8 engine for the 1914 model year.
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