Cadillac Model 30

Ironically, the origins of Cadillac, the pre-eminent division of General Motors, revolve around the guy who would become General Motors greatest rival. Classic Cadillac car Even today, the Cadillac’s official history intentionally keeps the union murky, but the fact is that the first Cadillac was designed by none other than the famous Henry Ford. The story is all part of the confusing maze of transactions, incorporations and reorganizations that were part and parcel of the dawn of the American automobile industry.

By 1899, Ford, then chief engineer of the Detroit Edison Company, had proved his courage as an automotive pioneer. In 1893, he had produced his first internal combustion engine (and tested it on the kitchen counter of his Detroit home), and three years later he and his “Quadricycle,” powered by another of his engines, were an ordinary sight tooling around the outskirts of the city. After an 1899 article in the Detroit Journal, Ford’s work came to the attention of Detroit mayor William C. Maybury, who, in turn, enlisted the financial aid of William H. Murphy to create the Detroit Automobile Company with Ford as its superintendent and chief designer.

New automobile company created

The new company decided to offer a commercial van as its first product, and Ford helped design the bus-like conveyance, but then disagreements erupted between the principals. Ford wanted to produce a racing car to help publicize the company, but the business people considered that a frivolous idea. Finally, all involved decided to go their separate ways, and, by the end of 1900, the Detroit Automobile Company was moribund, despite having built a prototype two-seat runabout and a prototype of the commercial vehicle.

Ford decided to go racing on his own, and on October 10, 1901, he defeated Alexander Winton, then the pre-eminent American auto builder, in a 10-mile race at Grosse Point, Michigan. Ford’s 26-horsepower 2-cylinder machine put him on the leading edge of automotive technology and led directly to the formation of The Henry Ford Company, which, strangely enough, was the immediate precursor of Cadillac.

While Ford’s racing success led to the creation of the company, his investors again balked when he suggested that racing efforts continue. If that weren’t enough, what really got Ford’s goat was the employment of Henry Leland as a consultant to the company as a hedge against Ford’s departure. Ford certainly respected Leland’s mechanical credentials, but the two men had immensely different views about the future of the automobile industry.

Ford resigns and starts own company

In early 1902, Ford had had enough and called it quits, taking with him a princely $900 settlement and his name as he left. Later that year, he would go on to establish what would quickly become the Ford Motor Company, the manufacturing concern that is still with us today, with the financial backing of Detroit coal dealer Alexander Y. Malcomson.

With Ford out of the business, Leland was appointed chief engineer of what was formerly The Henry Ford Company, renamed Cadillac in honor of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit. Leland had impeccable credentials for the occupation. Early in his career, he was a key employee of Samuel Colt, the weapons manufacturer who developed the concept of interchangeable parts, the idea that made mass manufacturing possible.

His work with Colt turned Leland into a fanatic for manufacture and precision design. This stood him in good stead when he created his own machine works, Leland and Faulconer, in the late 1800’s. This company was a key supplier to Ransom E. Olds’ automobile manufacturing company, delivering engines for the Curved Dash Oldsmobile.

Ford’s hand still evident on Cadillac

Despite Leland’s presence and Henry Ford’s absence, the first Cadillac bore unmistakable evidences of Ford’s influence. It was a single-cylinder machine with a 2-speed planetary transmission, practically a dead ringer for the Ford Model A, the initial offering from Ford Motor Company.

Finished on October 17, 1902, the 10-horsepower Cadillac made its debut at the New York Auto Show and proved an immediate success.

With a price of $750, the 2-seat runabout was definitely no luxury machine. But even at that low amount, one sign of Leland’s innovation was the use of “split-core” fasteners that locked nuts on their threads without the need for lock washers.

Cadillac moves to higher clientel

Leland wasted little time in moving his small manufacturing company “up market,” which was where most of the smart money thought victory in the auto business resided. In 1905, Cadillac launched the Model K, a four-cylinder, 30-horsepower vehicle with a maximum speed of 50 miles per hour.

In an era when many cars failed to start nearly as often as they started, this car was produced to an uncommonly high quality standard, thanks to the tireless efforts of Henry Leland. To prove his car’s mettle, Leland sent it off to England to vie for the coveted Dewar Trophy administered by the Royal Auto Club.

Amazing stunt–disassemble three cars

Three Cadillac Model K’s were driven through the highways of London, driven on an RAC-sanctioned test track and then disassembled. Parts from all three cars were mixed at random, and then three finished Model Ks were re-built from the mish-mash of parts. When they were re-assembled, two of the Cadillacs started on the initial turn of the crank, while the third needed two twists of the handle before it lit off. This unheard-of engineering precision gained Cadillac the Dewar Trophy.

Henry Leland was certainly responsible for Cadillac’s first Dewar Trophy, but the marque’s second Dewar, which came in 1912, was by and large, the work of another engineering giant, Charles Kettering. A great transaction happened in the interim. The most important event was the purchase of Cadillac by William Crapo Durant as one of the key building blocks of the promising General Motors.

With Cadillac under his wing, Durant was set to pull out all the stops needed to make the company the pre-eminent American luxury brand. One way to do this was to maintain the engineering and manufacturing excellence that had been insisted on by Henry Leland. Another method was to continue to introduce technical innovations.

Patented characteristics were core of auto industry

Charles Kettering gave Durant the biggest innovation in his career, and, possibly, in the history of the automobile, with U.S. Patents 1,150,523 and 1,171,055–the electric engine starter and the electric starting, lighting and ignition system. Without his innovations, the automobile as we know it would just not exist.

Kettering took a roundabout route to the automobile industry. In 1909, the Ohio native left the National Cash Register Company to put up his own business, Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, which has come to be known as Delco. One of his first brainstorms was to improve the electric starting and ignition systems that are the basis of what we still use today. Others had tried before him, but he succeeded where others failed by recognizing that the starter motor had to crank out a jolt of power for a very short period, rather than producing power over a long period like most electric motors. Using this concept, he developed the battery-powered starter motor and rid all of us of the dangerous and onerous need to spin a crank to start our cars.

With its tradition of innovation, the Cadillac Model 30, the successor to the Model K, was the first production car to provide the Delco system. Equipped with a storage battery, electric lights, generator, and battery ignition, the 1912 Cadillac Model 30 was the precursor of the modern automobile.