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The (new) Cadillac Database^©

Photo Pages
Cadillac

1911

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or go back to the Cadillac photo index page to pick another year

Unless otherwise specified all photos and illustrations are from Yann Saunders'
collection of Cadillac photos, advertisements and product catalogs,
reproduced courtesy of the Cadillac Motor Car Division and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club

The quality of the material shown in The (new) Cadillac Database© is no better than the quality of the material available to its compiler.  Unfortunately, as regards, the Cadillacs of 1911, the only merchandising material available to me at this time is a rather poor photocopy of that year's product brochure. Still, as I have often said, poor reference material is always better than NO reference material, So please bear with me as we turn over together the pages of that ninety year-old catalog copy.

The sales pitch this year was again on Cadillac quality and reliability.  The Cadillac had earned a well-deserved reputation as "the first practical motor car".  Of the 2000 Cadillac "Thirty" models that preceded this year's new line, the copywriters said "not one, so far as we are aware, has been discarded as worn out and not fit for service. If there be any other [of another make than Cadillac] of which the same statement can truthfully be made, we do not know of it".

Reference is made also to Cadillac's "...half century's experience in the manufacture of fine machinery and machine tools".   Clearly, the Cadillac Motor Car Company could not claim this experience for itself, considering it had been in the business of building motor cars for only nine short years. Nonetheless, Henry Martyn Leland, its founder, had brought with him in 1902 the broad experience he had gained while working with Samuel Colt (the arms manufacturer),   Brown and Sharpe (fine machinery) as well as his own Leland & Faulconer company (motor car engines, inter alia).

The news this year was an increase of six inches in chassis length (now 116") as well as the availability for the first time of an automobile with four doors. Earlier models had open-sided front compartments ...to allow a quick getaway in case of an unexpected, life-threatening mechanical problem?  Indeed, the four-door cars, an open tourer and a sporty-looking, so-called torpedo style were a popular addition to the range, following the handsome coupe introduced the previous year.

Additional information on the 1911 models and the related sales literature may be found  in The (New) Cadillac Database© sections entitled "Descriptions and Specifications of Cadillac Cars 1905 - 1912",  "Cadillac and La Salle Sales Literature 1910 - 1914"and "Dream Cars of 1902 - 1919".

Further recommended reading includes:

The "Standard Catalog of Cadillac, 1903-2000" edited by James T. Lenzke, © 2000, published by Krause Publications, Inc., 700 E. State Street, Iola, WI 54990 [ISBN #0-87341-925-1, Library of Congress #91-61301].

 

The 1911 Model Range
in ascending order of list price

The touring car for 7 passengers [$1700]

The touring car with top1 in place

The demi-tonneau2 for 5 passengers [$1700]

The demi-tonneau with top in place

The roadster with rumble-seat [$1700]	The rumble-seat roadster with top in place

The new, 1911 four-door touring car [$1800]

The four-door car with top in place

The new, 1911 torpedo model [$1850]

The torpedo with top in place

The equally luxurious limousine accommodated five passengers; it cost a round $3000, which equates to about $60,000 of today's dollars

This survivor is said to have been owned by Thomas Edison, inventor of the light-bulb

¹  Cadillac made its own tops; these were available for all open models; rubber was abandoned in favor of mohair.  The mohair cape-cart top for the touring car, demi-tonneau, four-door touring car and torpedo cost $95.  For the roadster, the top cost $65
²  The French words "demi tonneau" mean "half a  barrel"; in other words, the rear seating area is likened to a large vat or barrel that has been cut in half, the top part removed and the lower "half" fitted with seats

 

Practical and mechanical Details

 

Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or go back to the Cadillac photo index page to pick another year

© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc.
[ Background image:  Surviving 1911 rumble-seat roadster ]