Founded in 1903 out of the remains of the failed Henry Ford Manufacturing Co by Henry M. Leland, the Cadillac company was named after Antoine Cadillac, the founder of Detroit. Leland set about making cars of great excellence, a matter that had been the root of his disagreements with Henry Ford. While Ford believed in manufacture in bulk and selling volume at a low price with a small profit margin, Leland took the opposite view. Leland believed in engineering excellence and that car buyers would recognise and pay for it. As it happened, both were right.
Cadillac’s reputation for excellence was quickly established and although Ford introduced mass production it was Leland who was first to standardise components to the point that they were interchangeable. It was Lelands pursuit of quality which contributed to Cadillac being awarded the Dewar Trophy in 1911. This prestigious award was made after two cars had been reduced to their component parts and those parts thoroughly ‘scrambled’. Two cars were then successfully rebuilt from the box of parts, proving that the parts were indeed interchangeable - not something that could be said of other vehicles at the time.
Cadillac said the 1959 Eldorado was the most ostentatious car they had ever made, and while that may be true it is not completely accurate; the 1959 Eldorado was the most ostentatious car anybody ever made.
The use of tail fins was largely the work of Harley Earl, Head of GM styling until 1958. The Eldorado though, had tail fins large enough to grant in-flight stability to anything so far launched from Cape Canaveral, soaring from a rear deck which was itself of impressive proportions.
Despite their cost, and although hindsight has lent elegance and grace which was not evident at the time, the Biarritz is the stuff of movies and Television, the sort of car screen moguls gave to starlets and screen Goddesses.
1/25th scale kit.
Built by Rod.
Built in the early 90s this model has been sprayed with Halfords car paints and extensive use of bare metal foil was made. Otherwise it was made straight from the box.
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