Earlier we saw how Henry Leland rescued investors from the failed Henry Ford Company which they renamed Cadillac, after Detroit’s founder.
Billy Durant, as you no doubt know, started General Motors with the idea of combining the most prominent automobile manufacturers of the time: Buick, Ford, Cadillac, Reo and Maxwell-Briscoe. Cadillac was the only one from that list he succeeded in acquiring. Leland was a serious person, a strong Christian (a lay preacher, even) and a man driven to do the right thing, no matter the price. Billy Durant, in contrast, was a people person, driven to succeed, with no particular regard for fame or fortune. Leland only agreed to the acquisition on the condition that Durant leave him and his son Wilfred alone. Billy did that to a fault, earning the grudging respect of both father and son Wilfred. So much so that it was Wilfred’s support which secured the bailout which saved General Motors in 1910.
The Lelands were still running Cadillac when Billy completed his comeback in 1916 and retook the helm at General Motors. After the U.S. entered the First World War, Wilfred approached Billy with a plan to support the war effort by building an airplane engine in a new Cadillac building. For the first time, Billy refused a Leland request. Too much uncertainty, Billy argued, and the war may end before the plant conversion was done.
Offended, the Lelands resigned on the spot and formed their own company, which he named Lincoln, after his hero: Abraham Lincoln. The little picture above shows the Lelands at left with the engine they set out to produce to “do the right thing.”
They raised the money with some difficulty and completed the new factory… just in time for the war to end. Like so many industrialists of the time, he was criticized for trying to profit from the Government’s wartime purchases. As they say, haters will hate.
What to do? All they knew to do was convert the factory to making cars. They set out designing something which would meet their high standards. Many dealers, thoroughly convinced of their ability to deliver something exceptional, placed orders. The Lelands were on their way to achieve their independent success… finally. Or so they thought.
Problem: perfect is the enemy of good enough and months passed with no car. Dealers cancelled their orders. When the car finally arrived interest, and more importantly sales, had dried up.
Along with their money.
Nice car, though:
But… no sales means no income.
Upshot: Lincoln had to declare bankruptcy. And who would step forward to buy Lincoln from the receivers? None other than… Henry Ford. Who, after barely two weeks, fired the people who showed him up and turned his second Ford company into Cadillac. Some argue Mr. Ford was not that thin-skinned. The facts, well…
And that, boys and girls, is the wellinever story of how Lincoln and Cadillac were created by the same team, and how each ended up as the top brand of the top two American car companies.