The Cadillac

Cadillac

Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

 Type 51 was a large, luxurious automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 introduced in September 1914 as a 1915 model. It was Cadillac's first V8 automobile, replacing the four-cylinder Model 30. The similar Types 53

Cadillac Type 53

The Cadillac Type 53 was the first car to use the same control layout as modern automobiles- with the gear lever and hand brake in the middle of the front two seats, a key started ignition, and three pedals for the clutch, brake and throttle in the modern order. This Cadillac was driven by a 77...

, 55, 57, 59, and 61 lasted through 1923, when the design was substantially updated as the Type V-63

Cadillac Type V-63

The Cadillac Type V-63 was a large, luxurious automobile introduced in September 1923 as a 1924 model, replacing the previous Type 61.The V-63 used an improved version of the L-head V8 engine that made Cadillac famous. The main innovation was a cross-plane crankshaft which improved balance and...

.

All of these models used a new L-head V8 engine

Cadillac V8 engine

Cadillac was the first automobile maker to mass produce a V8 engine. The company has produced eight generations of V8s since 1914, and was the last General Motors division to retain its own V8 design.-L-Head:...

, one of the first V8 engines ever mass produced and a substantial differentiator for the marque. All bodies were built by Fisher

Fisher Body

Fisher Body is an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan; it is now an operating division of General Motors Company...

. The Type 51 was also the first left-hand drive Cadillac—all previous models had been right-hand drive, which was continued as an option. Wheelbases varied in those years, with 122 in (3099 mm) at the low end and 145 in (3683 mm) as the longest.

In May 1916, Erwin "Cannonball" Baker

Erwin George Baker

Erwin George "Cannon Ball" Baker was a motorcycle and automobile racing driver and organizer in the first half of the 20th century...

 and William Sturm drove a Cadillac from Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 to New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

in 7 days, 11 hours, and 52 minutes.