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The Cadillac "Igniter"
a rare in-house publication [1908]


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The Cadillac Igniter

VOL. I, April 1, 1908, No. 1

PUBLISHED BY THE CADILLAC MOTOR CAR CO., DETROIT, MICH.


1.-The manufacture and sale of automobiles is a permanent and growing industry.
2.- The field for good motor cars of reasonable prices is unlimited.
3.-The Cadillac organization and policies are built on these beliefs.

 

PURPOSE OF THE "IGNITER"

It is necessary for all the individuals associated with any business to work together as one organization in order to secure the utmost success and the greatest benefits for EACH individual.

From time immemorial whenever any big project has been undertaken, men have joined with men, their brains, their strength, their energy, to put it through successfully.  The cave-dweller, the man of the stone age or earlier, was content if he got enough to eat and was not molested by some two or four-footed enemy.  The solitary man never did and never will accomplish much.

The great industrial achievements of the present day have been made possible by the united efforts of individuals. The great success of the Cadillac Company rests firmly on this strong foundation. The Cadillac Sales Force, of which every Cadillac dealer is a member, has enthusiastically co-operated in selling cars. The individuals at the Cadillac factories have joined their efforts to manufacture GOOD automobiles.

A huge business has been created.  Our two large factories employ a force of nearly two thousand men.

More than sixteen thousand Cadillac Cars have been sold.

The splendid qualities of the Cadillac are known in every nook and comer of this country and all over the world.

This success is not temporary.  It is permanent.  It is built on honest endeavor, on good construction and the splendid satisfaction of a huge army of Cadillac owners.

Bright things are ahead of us.  The Cadillac business is indeed in its infancy.   We have started right; together we have laid a sure, solid foundation, and we shall continue right.

We want to get closer together.  We want the different members of the Cadillac organization to know one another better.  We want to give one another the full benefit of what we know and what is being done, our successes, and what our troubles are and how they are overcome.  It is the purpose of the "Igniter" to help a little along this line.

The "Igniter" will be sent you from time to time as published.  It will contain information and pointers that will be valuable to you.  It will pay you to preserve them;  get a special file so that you will always know where they can be found when you want to refer to them.

CADILLAC OUTLOOK

The large output which we have originally planned for 1908 has been more than taken up by the blanket orders of the Cadillac Sales Force.

We are compelled to take steps for manufacturing another thousand cars or more to meet excess demands from present dealers and to supply the needs of new dealers who associate themselves with us from time to time.

This healthy condition proves to us once and for all that the much-talked of dullness in the automobile business this year does not apply to the Cadillac line.

For instance, at the recent Detroit Show, we sold more cars, by far, than any other exhibitor.  Every day we receive here more than a hundred good, live inquiries from prospective buyers.  People are interested in honest construction, in good service year after year, and in low cost of maintenance.

The Cadillac outlook for the year is splendid. The Cadillac business is not one that is red-hot one season and dead the next.  It has not been built up along that line.   Every man connected with this organization can depend on a firm, steady growth and constantly increasing opportunities and facilities.

Every model of our long line of machines has made a remarkable success.

Our ten horsepower cars are burned into the thoughts and purposes of the buying public.   The
[Model] "S", even if it did not have five years' solid reputation behind it, is the best built, best appearing low priced runabout in the country.

The
[Model] "T" is certainly a splendid car and the only sane proposition for a huge class of buyers.

The Model "M" delivery furnishes the dealer with a line of arguments that is impregnable.  You can talk to the business man on a business basis of dollars and cents and you can prove every word you say.  There is a field for many thousands of these delivery wagons.

There was even a vehicle built for a doctor that serves his purpose so completely as the Model "T" coupe.  It not only eliminates discomfort in bad weather but saves his energy, enables him to increase his practice, to spend more time at home and to cut down his expenses.

The
[Model]  "G" has established itself as the foremost medium priced four cylinder car on the market today. It has won this place through the excellent service it has given its owners and the surprising records it has made in different events. We do not hesitate to predict that during 1908 the demand for the "G" will be stronger than for any car selling in the neighborhood of $2,000.

The Model "H" makes an ideal car for those wishing a 1arger machine; during the past three years it has won the hearts of its owners wherever it has been sold.

This line is a tremendously strong one because every car in it is a live proposition.   The dealer handling Cadillacs does not have to carry any dead wood nor cover up the defects of one model with the merits of another.  Every Cadillac model is a good model for selling cars and securing satisfied customers to spread the good news and help build up your trade.  Almost every prospective buyer can be appealed to in the strongest kind of way with some one of the many good Cadillac automobiles, and he is sure to get good service with any model he might select.

The Cadillac outlook is good and it will be better with each month and each year.   Our board of engineers and our large experimental department have been and are working full time and over-time.  To the Cadillac line will be added from time to time new models which will still further broaden the opportunities of the Cadillac Sales Force and enable them more and more completely to meet competition and the needs of the public.

We are feeling pretty good here at the factory.  With the best of prospects for a busy year a long line of popular cars, the knowledge that our growth contains no watered stock, and the co-operation of every member of the organization, we can afford to he cheerful.

 

HOW WE FOLLOW UP PROSPECTS

Our practice of following up prospects which has been in effect since the first of the year is unique among automobile companies, and we believe you will be interested in knowing the method.

Our extensive magazine and trade paper advertising secures a large number of requests for information concerning Cadillac cars.  Through this advertising we obtain the names of many prospects which are afterwards closed by our dealers and who perhaps would not have been closed were it not by interest aroused by the advertising.

Upon receipt of request for catalogs and information regarding Cadillac cars we forward literature regarding the model asked for, together with the booklet, "THE TRUTH ABOUT THE AUTOMOBILE."  A letter is written to each inquirer setting forth the advantages of our machines.  A copy of this 1etter is mailed to the dealer from whose territory the inquiry originates.  The matter is then filed for one month, and if we do not receive a reply from the prospect in that time, another letter is written asking if he has had an opportunity to investigate, if he has made a decision, etc.

This practice has already resulted in a number of direct sales, and of course we cannot estimate the indirect good which it has accomplished.  We know that you will obtain better results by reason of this system.  It is our desire to assist our dealers in every possible way.

 

OFFSET CRANK SHAFT

Some competitive makers are making considerable [some text missing here ???] of a talking point on the superiority of their motor because of an offset crank shaft. You may have been inconvenienced by this argument of competitors and have found difficulty in meeting it.

The Cadillac Motor Car Company has recognized the advantage of this construction from the first.  Every single cylinder motor which we ever constructed had an offset crank shaft.  Also every "G” motor we ever constructed had an offset crank shaft.

One company in particular is giving great publicity to this feature at the present time, and their ads leave the impression that this is a feature which has just been developed and is exclusive in their own motors.

The advantages claimed for this construction are: that it eliminates the dead center of the crank shaft and thereby increases the efficiency of the motor by reason of the greater leverage and more direct thrust of the piston; that friction is very much reduced by reason of the fact that there is a more direct thrust on the drive stroke.  The same direct thrust reduces vibration and increases the steady operation of the motor.

We wish to obtain whatever advantage is to be obtained through the arguments made possible by the offset crank shaft feature.  Because of the large output of Cadillac machines since the Cadillac Company was formed we may perhaps be called the largest makers of motors with this feature, as undoubtedly more Cadillacs with offset crank shaft are on the road today than the combined number of other makes.

 

PROOF OF CADILLAC ACCURACY

The most severe test of mechanical accuracy to which any automobile was ever subjected was held recently in London under the supervision of the Royal Automobile Club.

A committee of mechanical experts from the Club was appointed to select three single cylinder Cadillacs from the stock of the Anglo-American Motor Car Company, English dealers in Cadillacs.  These cars were to run to Brooklands track and after a 30 mile sprint were entirely dismantled and the parts of the three cars mixed in a conglomerate mass.   The committee then selected about one hundred different parts and discarded them entirely and substituted new parts from the repair stock.  Then parts for three cars were taken from the heap and three new cars constructed.  The inspectors would allow the use of only a spanner and a wrench; no files, no emery paper.  Several days were consumed in the work, but it was completed and the first car started on the first turn of the crank.  When the three cars were finished they were run 500 miles more on Brooklands track and cable dispatches say they ran this distance “wheel and wheel” at 34 miles per hour.

The severity of this test can be appreciated only when it is remembered that should there have been a variation of the one-thousandth part of an inch in some of the more vital parts, the trial would have been a failure.

But it wasn't.  It was a complete SUCCESS.

When photos and more complete details are received from England, the matter wil1 be compiled for distribution.

It will not be necessary for dealers to write for these.  We will notify you when they are ready.

 

CADILLAC WINS

Florida Endurance Contest.  Beats nearest competitor by 75 miles.  (Special to the New York Evening Post.)

Miami, Fla., March 18th. – Dr. William Stinson finished the Florida road race today at noon, fully 75 miles in advance of his nearest competitor.  His officia1 running time for the 371 miles was 37 hours 19 minutes, his actual running time being seven hours shorter.  He drove a 10 horsepower single cylinder Cadillac runabout which carried three persons.

We are now building fifteen different models and variations of models.  It is our object to keep in the hands of our dealers such a complete line of cars that they wi11 be able to appeal to almost every prospective buyer, no matter what his ideas may be with regard to appearance and price.

Monday night, March 16th, the Centaur Motor Car Company, Buffalo, N.Y., sold three Cadillac cars in less than three hours.

 

 

 

Fr_flag.jpg (801 bytes)
(résumé en français)

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