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July 29th, 1909: GM Buys Cadillac

Exactly 111 years ago today, on July 29th, 1909, General Motors bought Cadillac for $4.5 million.

Cadillac was founded in 1902 in Detroit, Michigan. The automaker was formed from the remains of the Henry Ford Company following Henry Ford’s departure. In response to a dispute with investors, Ford left the company in March of 1902, eventually launching GM’s crosstown rival, Ford Motor Company.

1904 Cadillac Model A Runabout

1904 Cadillac Model A Runabout

Meanwhile, William Murphy and Lemuel Bowen, Ford’s former financial backers, mulled over what to do with the remaining Henry Ford Company assets. Murphy and Bowen contacted engineer Henry M. Leland of the Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company to appraise the company plant and its associated equipment. However, Leland ended up convincing Murphy and Bowen to continue auto manufacturing using Leland’s single-cylinder engine, and the Cadillac Automobile Company was born.

The company name takes after Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, a French explorer considered the “founder’ of Detroit. The famed Cadillac crest is designed after the explorer’s coat of arms.

The first Cadillac models combined a Ford frame with a 10-horsepower single-cylinder engine, with the first example rolling out of the factory in October of 1902, debuting at the New York Auto Show in 1903. Offered as a more reliable alternative to rival products, including the nearly identical Ford Model A, Cadillac ended up selling 2,500 units in the first year of production.

Cadillac quickly established itself as one of the premier luxury car makers in the U.S. In 1909, General Motors purchased Cadillac, adding the brand to the top of its vehicle hierarchy, which at the time included Buick, Oldsmobile, Oakland, and a few years later, Chevrolet.

Over the years, Cadillac continued to establish itself as a technological leader, becoming the first auto manufacturer to offer an advanced electrical system for ignition, lighting, and starting. Cadillac was also known for developing the first automotive V8 engine for mass production.

Today, Cadillac models are distributed in 37 markets around the globe, with Cadillac sales hitting a record 390,458 units worldwide last year. And it all started more than a century in the past.

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Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. And after about six decades worth of product, they’ve been trying to kill it of since with poor choices and the like.

    Reply
  2. Well nobody can keep things forever. I think it’s way past due to be passed off to a new owner. GM has no clue how to manage a luxury brand.

    I think Cadillac’s decline and GM’s cluelessness is tied to the decline of the City of Detroit and the fact that all the forward thinkers and free spirits that had style and taste left that town long ago. Detroit was in its heyday what Silicon Valley is today. It was cool. It saw no limits and the movers and shakers there created a beautiful city filled with architectural gems. Today’s Detroit is a decaying corpse of that past trying to hang on. It would appear that being in that environment all day doesn’t inspire the soul and foster the creation of beautiful luxury cars with elegance and elan.

    It’s time for Cadillac to move on. Of course my preference would be for GM to get their act together but at this point, expecting that is foolish. The best hope for Cadillac is a sale and, lucky for them, the lady running GM loves a good sell-off.

    Reply
    1. I couldn’t agree more. If BMW could do it for Rolls Royce, and Volkswagen for Bentley, then there has to be something out there somewhere that can do it for Cadillac. We can only hope, because I think it’s pretty clear by now that it’s not going to happen at General Motors.

      Reply
  3. In 1978, Cadillac sold 374,00 cars in the US; that was in one market. I know GM is fond of bragging about “record sales” for Cadillac but now it takes the whole world and a much larger and costlier infrastructure to move only a few more cars than they sold 40 years ago in the US alone.

    Ten years later, in 1988, Cadillac’s US sales were down to 266,500. By 1998, Caddy was down to 187,343. In 2008 the total was 161,159. For 2018, the figure stood at 154,702.

    That’s not success. That’s failure. Given the expansion of the brand to new markets and the population increase in the US, Cadillac should easily be selling a million units by now but they’ve been so mismanaged for so long that that they’re barely exceeding their US sales number from 40 years ago with sales and production now occurring across the globe.

    I hate to just be critical all the time but claiming a “best ever” sales year to obfuscate the problems with the brand is not something GM fans should be expected to overlook.

    Reply
  4. The new R2D2 model will be a big seller.

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  5. I’ve owned 10 Cadillacs, and have to say i’m in love with the brand, primarily because i love it’s history. It has without a doubt been abused and mistreated by GM over the last 40 years, and i often wonder if it would have been best to just put it out of its misery like Pontiac and Oldsmobile. I’ll still drive them because i am also a creature of habit, but i can’t help but look at other luxury brands from overseas. Nice article nevertheless, but nothing dramatic has come from Cadillac in a very long time.

    Reply
  6. Pathetic and sad what GM miss management has done to destroy Cadillac…..

    Reply
  7. Maybe Corvette and Cadillac can be sold and become a viable offshoot of GM?

    Reply
  8. I remember when i bought my first Cadillac, i love the styling and wanted to own a part of the rich history of Cadillac. As time goes on the reality of what a Cadillac really is sets in, as electrical failures and cheap build quality become prevalent.

    Reply
  9. Beautifully restored 1904 Model B. There are lots of 1903 Model A survivors, I am surprised you could not find a decent photo of one of those.

    Reply

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