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The (new) Cadillac Database^©

Photo Pages
Cadillac

1917

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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 Coming of The New Cadillac, reads the headline of a magazine ad published in the reputable Saturday Evening Post dated August 26, 1916.

Although basically unchanged in three years, still it was said of the new model that in a multitude of ways, this is a better, finer Cadillac than any which has preceded it - the subject of unremitting research and scientific betterment in scores of details. According to the copywriters of the time, the absence of any radical change simply meant that the underlying principles of Cadillac V-type, eight-cylinder construction had been proven fundamentally sound by the performance of the 31,000+ cars already plying the American roads.

This year, Cadillac went to war in Europe and Henry Leland, the company founder, moved on to found the Lincoln car company.

The new, Type 55 hit the showrooms in the Fall of 1916. The copywriters continued to extol these new V-8 models as the ultimate motoring experience.  They wrote: "To ride in the Cadillac is to experience the uttermost in motoring enjoyment and motoring luxury.  Cadillac ownership carries with it that serene contentment which only those who possess then highest type of motor car are privileged to enjoy... as you allow the clutch to engage, you are impressed by a sense of velvet softness as the car glides into motion ... you note the marked freedom from vibration and the continuity of power, originating in the over-lapping impulses which melt and merge, one into another, into one continuous stream of impelling force ... no experience in any other car can afford even a limited insight into the luxuries of comfort and convenience which are present so abundantly". We, of the modern motoring age probably would  scoff at such poetic nonsense if we compared the ride of a recent Seville STS with that of a 1917 Cadillac touring car.  Yet, in comparison with the single-cylinder and four-cylinder Cadillac models that had gone before, riding in an early V-8 type must have felt like riding on air.

This year's line-up was very much the same in general appearance as the V-8 models that preceded it in 1915 and 1916.  Wheel base for the standard models increased by three inches from 122" in 1916, to 125". A new, longer chassis (132-inch wheel base) was used for the three top-of-the-line limousine and landaulet models. There was a return from the 10-spoke to a 12-spoke rear wheel. Design differences included new, crowned fenders and headlights finished in black enamel with nickel accents  Open cars got a 1½-inch wide molding around the top of the body.  A new roadster for 4 passengers was added to the line (that body style came to be known as a convertible Victoria). There was also a new, sporty phaeton for four passengers; it featured jaunty, wire wheels. The Victoria coupe introduced the previous year lost its roof bows and the decorative door insert (the latter would return in 1926, on some open models); it acquired also large quarter windows and a more spacious interior, accommodating four passengers now.

Regrettably, I have very little documentation on the 1917 Cadillac models.   The information herein is from the introductory, 4-page "Advance Leaflet" issued by the company before they published that year's all-model catalog, a 16-page booklet, measuring  8½ x 11 inches which, unfortunately, is still missing from my collection.  The photos are mostly from period advertisements as well as the factory archives.

Additional information on the 1917 models and the related sales literature may be found  in The (New) Cadillac Database© sections entitled "Descriptions and Specifications of Cadillac Cars 1913-1921",  "Cadillac and La Salle Sales Literature 1915-1919" and "Dream Cars 1903-1924". 

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].

 

Open Cars
on the 125-inch wheel base chassis

Convertible Styles
on the 125-inch wheel base chassis

Enclosed Cars
on the 132-inch wheel base chassis

Enclosed Cars
on the 132-inch wheel base chassis

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:  1917 touring car survivor ]