Having established a reputation for the precision manufacture of high-quality motor cars and leading the industry with its innovative electric starting and lighting systems in 1912, Cadillac pushed the technical envelope further for 1915 with the first mass-produced V-8 engine.

Designed by D.

McCall White, a Scottish-born engineer, the new L-head engine used two cast-iron blocks with integral heads, mounted on a common crankcase of aluminum and copper alloy.

With the cylinder banks placed directly opposite each other, the engine also employed Cadillac founder Henry Leland’s preferred fork-and-blade connecting rods.

This historically significant V-8 would power the marque’s offerings for years to come, including this 1922 Cadillac Type 61 Four-Passenger Victoria.

Its attractive bodywork deftly balances the upright, rather proper-looking enclosed cabin design so common in the early 1920s between a smoothed-over cowl and an elegantly tapered tail end.

Notably, this was the first yea...