On this day in 1902 the Cadillac Automobile Company was founded. Cadillac is among the first automotive brands in the world, fourth in the United States only to Autocar Company (1897) and fellow GM marques Oldsmobile (1897) and Buick (1899). It was named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac (1658–1730), who founded Detroit, Michigan. The Cadillac crest is based on his coat of arms.
By the time General Motors purchased the company in 1909, Cadillac had already established itself as one of America’s premier luxury car makers. The complete interchangeability of its precision parts had allowed it to lay the foundation for the modern mass production of automobiles. It was at the forefront of technological advances, introducing full electrical systems, the clashless manual transmission and the steel roof. The brand developed three engines, with its V8 setting the standard for the American automotive industry.
Cadillac had the first U.S. car to win the Royal Automobile Club of the United Kingdom’s Dewar Trophy by successfully demonstrating the interchangeability of its component parts during a reliability test in 1908; this spawned the firm’s slogan “Standard of the World”. It won the trophy again in 1912 for incorporating electric starting and lighting in a production automobile.
On July 29, 1909,[1] Cadillac was purchased by the General Motors (GM) conglomerate. Cadillac became General Motors’ prestige division, devoted to the production of large luxury vehicles. The Cadillac line was also GM’s default marque for “commercial chassis” institutional vehicles, such as limousines, ambulances, hearses and funeral home flower cars, the last three of which were custom-built by aftermarket manufacturers. It became positioned at the top of GM’s vehicle hierarchy.
The case of the missing sausage – a mystery…
Housing costs…
Nice Motto…
The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave, is a woodblock print by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. It was published sometime between 1829 and 1833 in the late Edo period as the first print in Hokusai’s series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
It is so iconic it has been imitated and used countless times…
Cookie monster version…
Lego version…
This photo from 2007 is of Rice paddy art (tanbo āto) in the village of Inakadate in northern Japan —
Christian Dior also paid homage to Hokusai in his 2007 couture collection —
and, of course, cats…
Thanks, Debra!
Old…
SIGNZZZ…
MEOW…
Today is the birthday, in 1961, of English musician, singer-songwriter, Roland Orzabal, from Tears For Fears, who scored the 1985 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’, plus over 12 other UK top 40 singles. Their second album, Songs from the Big Chair, released in 1985, reached No.1 on the US Billboard 200. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCdLKXNF3w
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