The Cadillac Automobile Company of Detroit, Michigan, was founded by Henry Leland and Robert Faulconer and their first car completed its test run in October 1902.

The company’s superior manufacturing technology – precision gear cutting was Leland and Faulconer’s first speciality – soon established it as the foremost builder of quality cars in the USA.

The new Model ‘A’ Cadillac made its triumphal debut at the New York Automobile Show in January 1903 where sales manager William E Metzger took orders for no fewer than 2,286 cars, famously declaring mid-week that the Cadillac was ‘sold out’.

An exemplary performer by the standards of the day, the Cadillac’s 98cu.in.

(1.6 litre) single cylinder engine – known as ‘Little Hercules’ – was mounted horizontally beneath the front seat and drove via a conventional two speeds plus reverse planetary transmission, with final drive by chain to the centre of the rear axle.

The Model ‘A’ was keenly priced and offered with a choice of two or four-s...