How Cadillac Set a Standard that Lives on Today
Written by William Pelfrey.
Back in 1902, when Henry Leland took charge of a struggling young company that had been started by Henry Ford and re-named it Cadillac, few people foresaw what the Cadillac name would come to stand for. Acquired by General Motors in 1909, Cadillac immediately became GM’s premier brand.
After launching the first car with a self-starter in 1912 and the first V-8 engine in 1914, Cadillac took a quantum leap over the competition in 1926, when it introduced the 1927 model year LaSalle model, designed by Harley Earl.
Earl’s 1927 LaSalle was the first production vehicle ever designed by a professional stylist. It was originally aimed at the lower end of the luxury market but it was so striking that it made the rest of Cadillac’s lineup dull in comparison.
So, Cadillac turned to Harley for ideas to spiff up the other Cadillac offerings. His immediate answer was, "Put a lot of color and some wire wheels on them and doll them up." Under his direction, Cadillac offered its customers more than 500 different color and upholstery combinations in the 1927 model year – more than any other brand, by far.
Just three years after the LaSalle, Cadillac again stunned the competition with the legendary V-16 model, which redefined the luxury vehicle market.
The V-16 was under development for three years, kept totally under wraps. It was overseen by a small team led by Ernie Seaholm, Cadillac’s chief engineer; Owen Nacker, the engine’s lead development engineer; and, L. P. Fisher, Cadillac’s General Manager. The only "outsiders" allowed to see the progress were Harley Earl himself, GM CEO Alfred Sloan, and "Boss" Kettering, head of research.
1930 Cadillac V-16 Advertisement
When the V-16 was introduced at the New York Auto Show in January 1930, it took the entire industry by surprise and immediately put Cadillac’s competition – Packard, Pierce, Duesenberg, and Lincoln – on the defensive. They had nothing like it in terms of performance, smoothness, and quiet running – which were the hallmarks of luxury vehicles at that time.
With LaSalle and the V-16, Cadillac’s reputation as the leader in luxury and engineering innovation was firmly established: a reputation that lives on around the world today.
The first LaSalle was technically not a Cadillac. The idea for the car came from Cadillac, and the Cadillac team developed and built it, but it was launched as a separate "companion" brand. Buick and Oldsmobile also launched "companion" brands -- the Marquette, and the Viking -- but they were discontinued in the early 1930s. LaSalle lasted until the 1940 model year.
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