[ last update: 04.07.2012 ]  

The (new) Cadillac Database©

Descriptions and Specifications
of Cadillac Cars


1902 - 1904

 

Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or select preferred years, below

 

1902-1904 1905-1912 1913-1921 1922-1931 1932-1937

1938-1945

1946-1950 1951-1955 1956-1965 1966-1975 1976-1985

1986-up

 

 

Cad_bus2.jpg (4029 bytes)
Antoine Laumet
aka De Lamothe-Cadillac,
founder of Detroit in 1701

[ a bronze bust ]

 

 

 

In the beginning...


1896

Cadillac was not the first gasoline automobile to ply the streets of Detroit. That honor befalls a lightweight horseless carriage with cow-tail (tiller) steering, built by Charles Brady King and German immigrant, Oliver Barthel. That event occurred March 6, 1896 when that first "car" puttered down Woodward Avenue in Detroit with King at the tiller and (engineer) Barthel seated at his side.

King had formed the Charles Brady King Company in 1894 to make brakes for railroad cars. That same year he hired talented engineer Oliver Barthel as his assistant. They began to build Detroit's first car in John Lauer's machine shop on St. Antoine Street, where Lauer manufactured products for King's company.

Although his invention put Detroit on the road to becoming the motor capital of the world, King never built any cars for sale.

 

1899

With his experience of  the gasoline-powered car, Oliver Barthel was invited to give an opinion on the chances of survival of Henry Ford's first, modest venture into building automobiles. Around the same time Henry Leland, who was VP and general manager of the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company, a budding tool and die manufacturer, convinced Ford's investors that there was a future in horseless carriages, provided they could be powered by a reliable motor ...and Leland had one. His robust little single-cylinder engine would soon be proving its mettle in the fledgling motor works of Ransom Eli Olds.

Later that year, the Detroit Automobile Company was founded. Henry Ford was still involved in it but he soon backed out; he was more interested in a car's speed, he said, than in its endurance.

Saved from bankruptcy two years later (1901) by Henry Leland, the Detroit Automobile Company was renamed the Cadillac Automobile Company, in August 1902, in honor of a French adventurer and self-styled "nobleman",  Antoine Laumet Sieur de Lamothe-Cadillac who, 200 years earlier, had founded "Detroit", a small French trading post at the confluence of lakes Erie and St. Clair.

Oliver Barthel was kept on by Leland although credit for the earliest Cadillac automobiles went to another engineer by the name of Alanson P. Brush. In this respect, on the 50th Anniversary of the first automobile operated in Detroit, in 1946, early auto pioneers were asked to write their memoirs.  In his "Ramblings", Oliver Barthel felt he had never got the proper credit for what he did for Cadillac; he described some details of the first cars that only an insider could know about [This info from Tim Pawl, CLC member in charge of the Club's Museum and Research Center].

~~~~~

This excerpt from a company advertising booklet published in 1913 summarizes well the situation of the automobile in America at the turn of the century:

The worthwhile accomplishments in this world are usually things concerning which the wiseacres with one accord, have raised their hands and loudly proclaimed "It can't be done."

Nowhere, perhaps, has this been more strikingly illustrated than in the automobile industry and its products.

The first significant example occurred back in the year 1902.  At that time the automobile industry was just in its swaddling clothes.   A few car had been made with  rather indifferent success.  The automobile was somewhat of a curiosity and to many minds considerable of a joke.

"It will never amount to anything for practical purposes" was the common verdict. "Of course it is an interesting plaything for the man with plenty of money but beyond that there is nothing to it".  There were also some other brilliant opinions whose values have been dimmed by time and progress.

About that time Mr. Henry M. Leland who had been associated with the manufacture of fine tools, fine machinery, gas and gasoline engines for many years, developed plans for the building of a real automobile.  Mr. Leland succeeded in interesting several Detroit business men in the project and the Cadillac Automobile Company was formed. 

These men "foresaw the future of the motor car" and placed an order for 3000 one cylinder engines with the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company of which the aforesaid Mr. Henry M. Leland was the head.

Immediately all hands went up.  "It can't be done."  "They're crazy." "Why they can't sell 3000 automobiles in the whole world."  You hear these things on every side. But in a little more than a year, the whole quota of 3000 engines had been used.  Then another similar order was placed, then another and another.

In the meantime, the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company and the Cadillac Automobile Company had combined their interests and Mr. Leland became the active head of the consolidated institutions which became the Cadillac Motor Car Company.

More than 20,000 of these one-cylinder automobiles were manufactured and marketed in the five years following.

No, it couldn't be done.

...but it was!

 

1902

Facts: Henry Martyn Leland was co-founder of the Cadillac Automobile Company in August 1902 (earlier he had been founder, vice-president and general manager of the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company, where his son Wilfrid was assistant treasurer under William H. Murphy - it was the latter company that supplied the first engines for the new Cadillac car). The Detroit Automobile Company [see "1899", above] had called on Leland to come and appraise their assets with a view to liquidating the company but Leland convinced them to stay in business, offering them his own 1-cylinder motor, built at the Leland & Faulconer works, to power a new automobile.

    02Trombly.jpg (17796 bytes)
Left: Where the first Cadillac engines were built (1902); right the Cadillac Automobile Company located at 448-500 Trombly Ave., Detroit, MI

    
Old photos clipped from ads of the time, showing the Cadillac Automobile Company premises

02EngAssy.jpg (11330 bytes)  03BLTDRV.JPG (8483 bytes)
Left:  Engine assembly in the Leland & Faulconer foundry building
Right:  belt-drive machines in the new Cadillac Automobile Co.  premises (1903)

 

Reformed as the Cadillac Automobile Company in August 1902, it began manufacturing runabouts named "Cadillac", after the city's founder. The first Cadillac was completed on October 17, 1902 [October 20, according to the book Henry Leland - Master of Precision, p.69]1; it had patent leather fenders (image, below).


The first Cadillac

 

By year's end, three of the small runabouts had been built. They were not called the Model A until 1904 when that designation was first used to differentiate between them with the new Model B. The earliest Cadillacs had wooden wheels with 14 spokes, as shown in the early catalogs and ads for the marque; the first Cadillac Automobile Company product catalog was published in late 1902 {*}.
_____________________________________
1 [This update from Feb. 2004 is from the Cadillac-LaSalle Club Museum and Research Center, headed by CLC member Tim Pawl]  The Cadillac LaSalle Club museum has a copy of the ledger for 1903 which shows the first five cars as being built in 1902. Car #3 has surfaced and shows a build date of  October 16, 1902; its Michigan registration dates from 1923 [the first year of documented registrations]. Note: options in 1902-03 were limited to color (either maroon or black), tires (either Fisk or Hartford) and gear teeth (either 32 or 36). There is still quite a debate over the number of spokes on the early cars 12 or 14, as the early photos show NO valve stems [YS adds: true, the early factory photos, or artists' views (?), appear to be retouched and show no valve stems; however, I have a photo of what is believed to be the FIRST Cadillac and one valve stem is visible, albeit very dimly; in addition, the two well-known photos of the "first" Cadillac - Alanson Brush and Wilfrid Leland on Trombley Ave and Alanson Brush climbing the steps of the Wayne County building in Detroit) clearly show cars with 14-spoke wheels]. Bodies were built by either The Detroit Body Company or Wilson.  It has been speculated also that the five cars reportedly built in 1902 had bodies from P.L. Hussey's Hussey Auto and Supply Co. (Mr. Hussey apparently was the first sales manager of Cadillac, followed shortly thereafter by William E. Metzger who took three of them to the New York Auto Show and quickly sold out the entire first year's production [1903]. Note that an early ad for the Hussey Body Company features the same "car" as was used in an early Cadillac ad [YS adds: this is ad  #0013 on my listing; published in Cycle & Automobile Trade Journal in January, 1903, it should really be in position #0002 or #0003 - it is recognizable by the rectangular inspection doors located on the body sides, below the seat overhang; that feature is visible also on the early Cadillac runabout that Alanson Brush drove up the steps of the Wayne County Building in Detroit - photo below, at "Trivia 1"; however, "The first Cadillac" (photo, above) - does  NOT have those inspection doors; it may have been supplied by Wilson].

With regard to the foregoing footnote, another enthusiast and Database visitor, Robert Szudarek, said in August 2004: I don't believe the first Cadillacs were built in the Leland and Falconer shop. They were built in the D.A.C [Detroit Automobile Company], aka the Henry Ford Co. on Cass Ave. Barthel took over for Ford, but was struggling and went to join Henry Ford.  Patrick Hussey, located west of the LF buildings took over and completed three cars ...but money ran out. Henry Leland was paid to estimate the value of the tools and machines, which were to be sold. Upon completion, Henry reviewed the results with the management. He also brought his one cylinder engine (which was developed for Oldsmobile) but they declined. The management decided to stay in business, but Henry and Wilfrid had to run the company. The engines were made at the LF factories.

Easy ID: Semi-elliptic springs; 14-spoke wooden wheels (photos of first Cadillac built has these wheels, but I believe few production cars were built with them); the late Phil Dumka, expert on early Cadillacs, says that only the three [five?] 1902 prototypes had them. Catalog illustrations of runabout model with detachable rear tonneau shows rear fenders upturned at their extremity. No serial numbers were used in 1902. An engine number was stamped on the crankcase.

one_serl.jpg (7350 bytes)

Models: Only 3 [or is it 5?] cars were built that year in time for the NY show in January of 1903; these three cars were completed at the Leland & Faulconer workshops (?). Work on the first Cadillac automobile was begun in September 1902 and it was completed and driven out in the open for the first time on October 17 [photo].  All three cars were sold at the NY Show.

 

Trivia 1: It was in 1902 that engineer Alanson P. Brush drove a Cadillac runabout [perhaps the first Cadillac built] up (and down) the steps of the Wayne County Building in Detroit. That feat was recorded in some Cadillac ads of the time. According to Brush's own memory of the event, thousands of people stood in Cadillac Square and cheered [Detroit News, December 13, 1937].

    
Alanson Brush performs the first feat with (possibly) the first Cadillac
    
   
    02rnbtl.jpg (6768 bytes)
A detachable tonneau was quickly added to the runabout
[ fourteen-spoke wheels were changed to twelve in 1903 production cars ]

 

Trivia 2: Lot #1078 at Kruse's annual auction sale in Scottsdale, AZ, in January 2000, was an "unknown" Cadillac described as "#1 prototype known as the first Cadillac ever built - Sept 1902, 1 of 3 built, featured in auto magazines.  Sold on bill of sale only - no title."  I first read a report about this "car" in an article by Michael Betzold in the Detroit Free Press Magazine. It had been acquired, in 1975, by aficionado Chuck Reed who, for almost thirty years now, has attempted to convince auto buffs and historians alike that this is the "first" Cadillac prototype, being an early Ford buckboard body in which was mounted a prototype single-cylinder engine designed by that Grand Old Master of Precision:   Henry M. Leland.  The motor is not in the "car" but Reed has it in his possession.

If this is, in fact, "the first Cadillac", then there is little or nothing left of it. What I see is an engineless runabout that formerly may have been equipped with a single-cylinder engine - perhaps indeed the FIRST Cadillac motor - but that now looks from the rear like a 1906 tulip-bodied Cadillac. Reed explains that the car was "updated" to look like a 1906 model by a previous owner, T.J. Ryan.  The owner does agree with me that THE first Cadillac is the one in the photo above, captioned The first Cadillac. The latter car has inflatable tires (you can't see the valve stem in the small, low resolution image above; however it is clearly visible on the original photo - as also on the car that climbed the Wayne County courthouse steps).

Who would replace 14-spoke wheels with the 12-spoke type, inflatable tires with solid rubber, a straight shift lever with one that is "S"- shaped [a type never used on a Cadillac], the dash, the rear body, etc?   I find it hard to believe that anyone would go to so much trouble to make the car look so different from THE first Cadillac. How could a FORD with a Cadillac engine be the "first Cadillac"? Let's call it a Fordillac - a name that was effectively used in the fifties for Fords fitted with Cadillac engines). 

And let's take all the hype about this car with the proverbial pinch of salt. It is reported to have been bid up to $90,000 at Scottsdale. Unfortunately, Reed wanted at least $1,000,000 for it. His partner, Tim Potter, is said to have offered it to GM for ...$15 million !!

     Cad1c.jpg (8672 bytes)
Shown at the Cadillac-LaSalle Experience meet at the Gilmore Museum,
in 1993, this little "automobile" had to be towed past the judges booth


Sequel and conclusion:   From an article that appeared in "Antique Automobile" (the magazine of the Antique Automobile Club of America - AACA), Vol. 72, #3, for May/June 2008 (pp.42-46), we are told that the foregoing car was acquired by GM at an Illinois auction, in 2002 (for an undisclosed amount) and restored back to what would have been its original splendor. The story is told by R.C. Reed, above (who had acquired the “base car” in 1975), Steve Moskowitz (AACA Executive Director) and West Peterson. I have no reason to doubt their tale.  The front and rear covers of the magazine, when laid out flat are an interesting composition; the rear cover pictures the rear of the car in B&W [from an original factory photo that had been sent to Wilfrid Leland in 1952 by Clair B. Owen, a Leland & Falconer engineer], while a photo of the front of the restored car has been superimposed on the original B&W photo. The effect is striking and reflects the talent of Frenak Photos in Detroit.

We learn that the first Cadillac prototype (this car?) was delivered to L&F in August of 1902 and that the first test drive took place in September that year, not October as historians have believed until now. In addition, the car (without mudguards) in the photo of the alleged test drive, in October, is NOT this car; that car was not drivable when the photo was taken, for promotional purposes.

The “1st Cadillac! Was acquired in 1924, by T.J. Ryan of Michigan from the estate of E.H. Merriam a retired MI doctor, who is said to have got it from Leland himself, but that has not been proved. It was Ryan who wrought the many changes that led me (and others) to doubt that this was a 1902 Cadillac prototype. In 1940, Ryan sold his “customized” Cadillac to a DeSoto-Plymouth dealership in Detroit, where it was regularly displayed to attract potential clients. At one time it was described there as a “1902 Leland-Ford”, until the late Oliver Barthel, who had been involved in the design and construction of the prototype, refuted that Ford label and asserted that it was prototype Cadillac  #1. In 1954 the car was acquired by Arch Rankin of Detroit, a friend of the Leland family. He sold it to Mr. Reed in 1976.

GM had the car restored by Tim Ohlendorf and Ed Wilmart of the Ohlendorf Restoration Shoppe in Beecher, IL.  It made its (2nd) debut at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show and remains a prized possession of GM’s Heritage Collection.

              1stCadB.JPG (25736 bytes)     1stCadc.jpg (24761 bytes)  
[ Summary text and photos:  courtesy "Antique Automobile" - AACA ]

 

1902-05

Article in MT, 100th anniversary issue, pp.184-185.

 

1902-08

Article in C&P, Jan. 1991, pp.6-10.  There may have been further Cadillac history articles in subsequent issues but I don't have them on file.  If any reader has them and can send me a copy for the Database archives, it would be greatly appreciated [check all C&P issues for 1991].


1903

Facts: 2497 units were built; production began in March 1903; 1895 units were built between March 1903 and March 1904; the runabout cost $750; an optional rear entrance detachable tonneau cost $100; it doubled occupant capacity from two to four; a buggy top cost $30; wooden artillery wheels now had only 12 spokes instead of the original 14; tires were 28x3" (71.12x7.62cms); body colors were black with wine red trimmings; a side-mounted wicker basket was a popular, non-factory option; engine bore & stroke was 5x5" (127x127 mm), 98.2ci displacement (1609,2cm³), 10HP according to NACC, 9.7 actual BHP, 76" wheel base (193,04cm), three gallons of coolant, 25-30mph (40-48kmh), slanted radiator; small detailed color photos in CLCA 1976, cover; large photo in CLCA, 30th anniversary issue, p.5. The single-cylinder engine featured complete parts interchangeability; it was set in center of car and was readily detachable if required; no running boards (step plates instead), patent leather fenders, tread 54½" (138.43cms), jump spark ignition, 3" (7.62cms) tires, angle-iron frame, rack & pinion steering, cut-out on muffler (for driving on open roads), kerosene lamps and bulb horn were optional at extra cost.

Easy ID: Like 1902 cars, but 12-spoke wooden wheels; colors: (early 1903) jet black or rich maroon, both with wine-colored running gear; dead black radiator finish; colors (late 1903) jet black only, with wine-colored running gear, nickel-plated radiator finish. Serial numbers from 1 to 2500 [includes the three 1902 prototypes although no serial number appeared on the latter].

P03a.jpg (6155 bytes)    02cad12spok.jpg (7547 bytes)
Right: actors in period costumes display a 1903 Cadillac in the 50s

 

Models: (1) Single-cylinder runabout for two (convertible to 4-seater capacity by adding a detachable tonneau behind the front seats), $750, 1370lbs; report in AU 10.1.03 with photo of runabout and (2) same car with tonneau; $850, 1450 lbs. (3) Delivery wagon [added 11/03 for 1904 Model A] $850, 1525 lbs; Photos/illustrations: 1903 Cadillac climbing Shelby Street in Detroit towing cartload of men; also CCI, 28:2; C&D card set. Story of a rare find and restoration in Australia, CLCA/92, pp.22-28

    03HIST3.JPG (6349 bytes)
Left: This little tradesman's wagon, built on the Model A chassis, was introduced in November, 1903
Right: Cadillac's own 1903 touring car at a Cadillac convention in 1963

03DLVY.JPG (7282 bytes)
Right: ultra-rare delivery wagon from 1903, reconstructed

and on display at the CLC Grand National in 2002

 

Trivia 3: Frederick Bennett, the London representative of The Cadillac Motor Car Company took a 1903 runabout on a 1000-mile tour of the United Kingdom [50 years later, he repeated that feat, in the same car which, by that time, had clocked up about 200,000 miles.]

Trivia 4: To illustrate the power and sturdiness of the new, small Cadillac, William Metzger who was in charge of marketing the new automobile staged some feats similar to the one carried out by Alanson brush the previous year.  Two are illustrated below.

   03feat1.jpg (13124 bytes)   
(Left) sturdy 1903 Cadillac runabout, with tonneau,   overloaded with
passengers climbs Detroit's Shelby Street towing a cartload of men

(Right) Everyone who could get on the tandem rig and hang on did so for this
repeat performance of  hill-climbing under severe (over)loading conditions;
in this photo, twelve people [enthusiast Robert Szudarek says sixteen!]
are piled into and onto the car as baffled cop looks on

     
Bare chassis (left)  and finished car, with tonneau (right)

    03SALE2.JPG (7894 bytes)
Early invoice for a 1903 Cadillac runabout; note $12 charge for a single lantern

cad02pc.jpg (5286 bytes)

 

 

1903-1990

Book Standard Catalog of Cadillac 1903-1990, ISBN 0-87341-174-9, edited by Mary Sieber & Ken Buttolph, KP, 700 E. State St., IOLA, WI 54990.

 

1903-2000

New edition of the Standard Catalog of Cadillac, ISBN 0-87341-925-1, this one edited by James T. Lenzke, KP, 700 E. State St., IOLA, WI 54990.

 

1904

Facts: In late 1904, the Cadillac Automobile Company and Leland & Faulconer merged to form the Cadillac Motor Car Company. CEO was Henry M. Leland. On April 13 this year a fire destroyed the main building, the assembly room, the south wing and the roof of the finishing building; fortunately 500 completed cars and 2000 more engines already delivered by the Leland and Faulconer works had been stored in another warehouse and were saved from destruction; furthermore no tools, castings or forgings were lost. By working round the clock, the Cadillac Automobile Company reported at the time that it expected to work its way back to normal production in just 30 days after the fire [source: AU, 04.16.1904, p.433]; vertical radiator; motor took name Little Hercules, 8.25 HP (used in both Models A and B); a new model, the Surrey, was introduced; it featured a full-width rear seat, curved side openings for access to rear seating and lots of storage space under the rear seat; base price $900; Model B chassis had extended front platform to support a dummy hood; excellent photo in catalog From Peace to War [1943-44].

Easy IDModel A runabout with or without detachable tonneau is unchanged from last year; color [all "Ä" and "B" models]: maroon with black trimmings; Model A removable delivery van body has oval windows level with driving seat; Model B has a dummy hood, spreading outwards at the base, and a vertically mounted radiator [Model A radiators were mounted at an angle] and I-beam front axle; available as 2-passenger runabout or 4-passenger touring car; Model B Surrey: side-entrance touring car with notched openings in sides - no doors; Model B delivery: larger van body than Model A, round side windows by driving seat. Combined engine numbers for these single-cylinder Cadillacs: Model A = 3500 to 4018 [includes some Model B], 8200 to 8350 [includes some Models C, E and F] and 13501 to 13706 [also includes some Models C, E and F]; Model B = 2500 to 4018 [includes some Model A] and 4200 to 5000 [includes some Models E and F]; Model C = 8200 to 8350 and 13501 to 13706 [includes some Models A, E and F]; Model E = 8200 to 8350 and 13501 to 13706 [includes some Model A, C and F]; Model F = 8200 to 8350 and 13501 to 13706 [includes some Model A, C and E].

P04ba.jpg (6161 bytes)

    04srv.jpg (10406 bytes)    04cape.jpg (5461 bytes)
A survivor with surrey top [B&W photo: Gerald Sichel Trust collection, NY]

 

Models: Model A: (1) Runabout, $750, 1370 lbs, (2) Tonneau, $850, 1450 lbs, (3) Delivery wagon [added 11/03] $850, 1525 lbs; no significant changes, options included top and lights; color: maroon with black trimmings; Model B introduced in January 1904, (4) Runabout, $800, 1300 lbs, (5) Tonneau tourer, $900, 1420 lbs, (6) 4-passenger Surrey, $900, 1400 lbs, and (7) 2-passenger Delivery, $900, 1525 lbs. Side view of Surrey in AU 16.7.04; unlike tonneau, surrey is entered from the sides and offers ample storage under rear seat; article in CATJ 2/04, pp.53A and 54, good drawings of Model B Surrey, Runabout and Delivery (all RH side views); small photo (CLCA 1985, p.20).

04trgsv.JPG (7931 bytes)
Surviving Model B tonneau tourer

04B_02b.jpg (7618 bytes)    04B_02.jpg (6195 bytes)     04b_02c.jpg (5467 bytes)
A 1904 Model B survivor, photographed in 1922 and erroneaously identified as a 1902 model
Far right, the same car used as a studio photo prop

04A_delv.jpg (5901 bytes)    04dlv1.JPG (5977 bytes)   
Left: 1904 Model A delivery wagon;
Right: 1904 Model B delivery wagon (one survivor may still

exists; it was offered for sale in the classifieds of the AACA
magazine, Antique Automobile,  in Sep.-Oct., 1980

04Bwagn.jpg (11757 bytes)
This survivor is owned by Tom McDonald of Saginaw, MI

 

Trivia 5:  Here is a facsimile of a letter sent by the Cadillac Automobile Company to its agents three days after the fire that destroyed the company's main building on April 13, 1904:

April 16, 1904

As you know, we have had a fire, a bad one, but not as bad as reported, nor bad enough to put us out of business. Our engine factory, machine and power plant are both in full operation. Our warehouse, 300x180', with large quantities of material, including 2000 engines and 200 finished Model "A's" is undamaged. This ware-house will be converted into an assembly shop within a week. A large two-story factory near the plant of one of our body makers has a large force of finishers at work on bodies. We have sufficient material coming in to make nearly forty machines per day. The large manufacturers who supplied us with bodies, axles, tires, wheels, frames, chains and other material, have been instructed to duplicate orders already filled. We have lost no tools, dies, jigs, patterns, drawings or special machinery. Our entire force of 600 employees are now at work. Within thirty days we will be shipping Model B's. In the meantime we can fill a limited quantity of orders for model A's. If you cannot hold your trade until we can get machines to you, do not hesitate to save your profit by selling another machine, if you can get it, but remember that the Cadillac people have a reputation for hustling, and we are likely under present conditions to be able to fill your order as soon as any other concern, who makes goods of our class. We can make no definite promises at this date. If you cannot wait, please cancel your unfilled orders, and we will assign them to those who can. We can see no reason why we cannot resume model B shipments in a month. We cannot, of course, fill all our order in 30 days, but we can begin. Please canvass your trade at once and let us know how many standard machines of each model you will need to fill your orders, and we will try to give you some idea of what we can do.

To the many dealers that have expressed their regrets and assurance of support, we wish to say our loss is great, but our energy is greater. We thank you, and assure you that we are not discouraged. We feel your loss keenly. We know you need the machines, and we will have them for you. Give us a little time is all we ask. We are unable to reply promptly to the many expressions of sympathy from our friends. We know you will pardon us. Give us a little time, and we will make Phenix look like a "plugged nickel".

Yours for a greater business than ever,

Cadillac Automobile Company.

P.S. - Contract for rebuilding the burned portion of our plant has been let, and work begun.

 

 

 

Re-Cap
[ 1-cylinder Cadillac engine prodcutipon and specifications ]

Specs for the 1902-1903 Cadillacs

 

The model A was the first Caddy. Two models were introduced on October 17, 1902. A 2 seater and a 4 seater. The one cylinder "Little Hercules" engine was used (with improvements) through the 1908 model year as the model T.

Production     1902-3
                      1903-2497

Models           2-Pass Runabout and 4-Pass Tonneau

Engine            Single cylinder 98.2 cid
Horsepower   10 @ 900 rpm
Transmission   Planetary;  2Fwd 1Rev

Brakes            Rear axle, foot pedal, parking lever

Wheelbase      70 in

Prices:
Then              $750-$850
80's-90's        $35,000

BodTag02.jpg (10902 bytes)
Patent plate from 1904; these were screwed to the 
inner face of early Cadillac instrument boards

 

 

ID tip for most of the late pre-WW2 Cadillac models

Check out glass in doors; the date is generally engraved on each pane [I got this tip from Katie Robbins, former President, Classic Car Club of America]. Can anyone tell me when this practice began?

 

Misc. Years

Article on classic Cadillacs, by Maurice Hendry, in OCW, 27.8.92, p.28-29. Article King of the Road, on classic Cadillacs, by Phil Patton, in CON 1/92, pp.72-79, 116.


Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or select preferred years, below

 

1902-1904 1905-1912 1913-1921 1922-1931 1932-1937

1938-1945

1946-1950 1951-1955 1956-1965 1966-1975 1976-1985

1986-up

 


© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc.
[ Background image:  1903 Cadillac runabout ]