Founded by Henry Leland and Robert Faulconer, the Cadillac Automobile Company of Detroit, Michigan, completed its first car in October 1902, the company's superior manufacturing technology – precision gear cutting was Leland and Faulconer's first speciality – soon establishing it as the foremost builder of quality cars in the USA.

Leland and Faulconer received substantial financial input from two of Henry Ford's former backers.

The Cadillac took its name from the great French 17th Century explorer who had founded Detroit some two hundred years earlier.

The first Cadillac automobile was completed and test driven in October 1902 and the following January made a triumphal debut at The New York Automobile Show 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 98ci (1.6-litre) single-cylinder engine – known as 'Little Hercules' ...