Cadillac (up to 1945): books - history and technology

Cadillac, un faste particulier (Collection Prestige)

S'il est un patronyme automobile qui fait rêver des générations d'enthousiastes, tout en symbolisant le dynamisme américain ainsi que sa modernité, c'est bien celui de Cadillac. La Cadillac Automobile Company est fondée à la clôture d'une réunion réunissant un groupe décidé, originaire de Detroit par un chaud après-midi du 22 août 1902.
Devenu la division d'élite de la jeune General Motors à partir de 1909, Cadillac s'impose alors comme une entité sur laquelle il faut désormais compter. Aussi bien auprès de ses principaux concurrents nationaux, Packard, Lincoln, Pierce-Arrow, Stutz, Peerless ou encore Duesenberg, que ceux non moins redoutables installés en Europe tels que Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Hispano-Suiza, Delage ou Isotta Fraschini.

La division s'inscrit dans une constante recherche technique, les modèles de la maison proposent par exemple, une première mondiale, le démarrage et l'éclairage électrique dès 1912, ou encore à disposition de la clientèle un choix unique de mécaniques V8, V12 ou V16, puis s'adonne à partir de 1967 à la technique des roues avant motrices.
Après guerre stylistiquement parlant, la firme de Clark avenue engage en faveur de son catalogue une démarche personnelle qui fera date, et influencera de nombreux compétiteurs de part le monde. De nos jours Cadillac affiche un dynamisme retrouvé, une réputation de savoir faire qui s'étend désormais jusqu'en Chine.

Cet ouvrage retrace la riche et longue histoire de Cadillac, marque américaine de prestige et toujours en activité.

Cadillac: 110 Years

In celebration of 110 years of one of the most iconic brands in the world, Assouline presents the first luxury book on America's foremost luxury car.
"Cadillac" takes readers on a visual journey through all the decades of its history. Here are presidents and Hollywood stars, closed-body cars and concept cars, the classic and the cutting-edge. Cadillac enthusiasts and car collectors alike will delight in an edition that brings to life the powerful and seductive energy of an American legend.

Cadillac V-16s Lost and Found - Tracing the Histories of the 1930s Classics

For eleven years prior to World War II, Cadillac defied the norms of practicality and produced an extravagant supercar, a 16-cylinder luxury automobile that could be tailored to the customer's every want. Big, thirsty and lavish, it cemented Cadillac's place in the top tier of motoring magnificence.

Each of the cars has its own colorful and fascinating story to tell. Driven by a life-long love of the V-16 and an interest in the history of his own car, the author has assembled more than 65 of these tales, gleaned from interviews, books, periodicals and documents, into a liberally illustrated book.
Each story is shaped by the people a particular car touched, and the events they lived through together.

More Cadillac V-16s Lost and Found : 67 New Histories

In 1930, Cadillac rolled out a line of new cars of unsurpassed elegance and craftsmanship that would launch the company into the top tier of luxury carmakers. While competitors produced models with eight or twelve-cylinder engines, Cadillac offered the smooth, powerful performance of a V-16.
Over the next 11 years, each of the nearly 4000 V-16s were as close to hand-made as a commercial auto manufacturer could come.

Their drivers included statesmen, celebrities, businessmen and, sometimes, well-heeled ne'er-do-wells. Many of the cars have survived wartime scrap drives, obsolescence, lack of replacement parts, neglect and the elements. This follow-up volume to "Cadillac V-16s Lost and Found" (2014) presents author's second effort to document the stories of these magnificent machines.

The Cadillac That Followed Me Home - Memoir of a V-16 Dream Realized

In the midst of the Roaring Twenties, the secret development of the Cadillac V-16 signaled a departure from the automotive tradition, where function took precedence over form.
Launched in 1930 amid the onset of the Great Depression, the Cadillac V-16 became a rare relic of prosperity preceding the economic collapse.

Christopher Cummings, an avid car enthusiast in the 1960s, envisioned the oldest Cadillac V-16s as an unattainable dream during his adolescence. Cummings' memoir chronicles his journey as a car aficionado, detailing his early foray into renovating vehicles at the age of 13.
Over his teenage years, he diligently acquired three classic Cadillacs - a 1941 Series 7523 seven-passenger touring sedan, a 1941 Series 61 coupe, and a 1931 Series 355A Fleetwood Cabriolet.

The narrative unfolds with accounts of his meticulous efforts in restoring and maintaining these prized automobiles, culminating in the unexpected acquisition of the epitome of automotive excellence, the 1930 V-16 Imperial Sedan limousine. This memoir stands as a testament to an elegant representation of the zenith of automotive history's Classic era.