Cadillac
Cadillac has been an icon of luxury and quality. Its golden era was perhaps 1948 through 1975, when it reigned supreme as the best-selling luxury car on the market.
Although the first Cadillac was completed and test-driven by company engineer Alan P. Brush on October 17, 1902, mass production of the Cadillac didn´t begin until March 1903.
Today, the 1903 Cadillac seems the typical horseless carriage. But for its day, it exemplified state-of-the-art-work-manship and technology.
Cadillac´s chassis consisted of an angled steel frame with two half-elliptic springs on the front and rear, and a straight, tubular front axle, all within a 76-inch (193cm) wheelbase.
The Cadillac was right-hand drive. Leland eschewed the tiller for a steering wheel and provided an adjustable rack-and-pinion steering gear and single tube wires.
Its wheels were wooden artillery and had twelve spokes, as opposed to competitors who built their wheels on the traditional fourteen spokes.
The body of the Cadillac was a two-passenger runabout convertible that could be changed to a four-seater vehicle with a bolt-on, rear-entrance tonneau.
At the end of 1947, Cadillac had manufactured 61,926 cars, doubling its 1946 production effort.
Cadillac´s success came on several fronts. The end of the war had a liberating effect on the weary public.
Only 29,214 customers drove Cadillac home in 1946. They paid handsomely for the privilege. The Series 61 fastback in this inflationary period sold for $2,052, a dramatic climb in price of more than 41 percent from the 1942 model year.
Cadillac continued to develop its prestigious reputation not only in styling but on the racetrack as well. A special bodied Cadillac captured tenth and eleventh place overall at Le Mans in 1950. Just ahead of it was the Cadillac powered Allard J2.
At the end of the 1980sm Cadillacs were powered by a 360-cubic-inch V8 with advanced digital electronic fuel injection and an electronic control system that would shut down up to four cylinders to conserve fuel.
The “Eldorado” Cadillac
Eldorado was based on the Series 62 convertible. The public got its first look at the Eldorado Cadillac at the 1952 Motorama.
It was a luxury car that could be afforded only by the very wealthy. The price tag was $7,750, a full 87 percent more than the standard Series 62 convertible. Only 532 were built.
By 1955 sales had doubled, and a year later the line was expanded to include a Seville coupe and Biarritz convertible, each carrying a price tag of $6,556.
The Eldorado Biarritz convertible Cadillac that debuted in 1984 sold for more than $31,000-$11,000 higher than the next-highest-priced Cadillac.
For the 1990s and into the twenty first century, the marque sustained its focus on luxury appointments and technology.
The 2001 Eldorado continued with the front-wheel drive along with a four-speed automatic transmission.
Luxuries as standard equipment included steering wheel mounted controls.
|
