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Fortunately, Cadillac’s general manager, Henry M. Leland, had not been caught napping. Presumably, the compact nature of the vee-type design appealed to him, for in some instances the long crankshaft that characterized the inline sixes had displayed an unfortunate tendency to whip at high rpm. For several years he’d been experimenting with various engine types, and as a result of his research he came to the conclusion that a V-8 would be preferable to a six. Admittedly, the V-8 was an unusual design in those days.
In whatever guise, the Cadillac represented a phenomenal bargain, for the Type 51 proved to be a fine automobile, as durable as it was powerful. Appearing first in the January 2,1915 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, the ad was titled “The Penalty of Leadership.” It marked the beginning of a highly effective advertising campaign in which Cadillac, which already billed itself as “The Standard of the World,” undertook to present its owners as a breed apart, people distinguished by their own superior taste. If you have any concerns pertaining to where and how you can utilize bangkok garden condo for sale – best site – , you can call us at our own webpage. Cadillac Countered with an advertisement that is still considered a classic. Since the new engine was America’s first mass-produced V-8, of course questions were raised about it.
By 1914, Cadillac’s four-cylinder Model 30 had been in production for nearly five years, and the time had come for its replacement, the 1915 Cadillac V-8 Type 51. Not that there was really anything wrong with the Model 30, for it was a very competent automobile. In fact, many years later when David Fergusson, long-time chief engineer for the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company, observed that “Cadillac for years had the reputation of producing the best medium-priced cars in the world,” he was referring to the Model 30. One might question Fergusson’s reference to the Cadillac as a “medium-priced” car, but in this world all things are relative — in 1914 a new Cadillac touring car could be purchased for just $1,975, while the least expensive Pierce-Arrow cost $4,300.
In truth, however, the new engine wasn’t completely above criticism. Not until the coming of the 1924 models would Cadillac develop a solution to the problem in the form of an inherently balanced crankshaft. The problem had to do with the single-plane (180-degree) crankshaft. The public responded well to the Cadillac V-8. The Cadillac would cruise smoothly and remarkably quietly at speeds between 55 and 60 miles an hour. But between 40 and 50, a more appropriate speed range given the condition of the roads in those days, it exhibited the same secondary out-of-balance shaking force that characterized the four-cylinder engines of that time.
