c.1903-5 Cadillac 2/4 Seater Rear Entrance Tonneau

98.18ci Horizontal Single-Cylinder Engine
Single Carburetor
6.5bhp
2-Speed Planetary Transmission
Solid Front Axle with Transverse Leaf Spring – Live Rear Axle
2-Wheel Mechanical Brakes

*Ex-LaRue C. Thomas/Thomas Cadillac Inc. Collection
*Well presented, older restoration
*In the collection since 1996

THE EARLY CADILLAC

Founded by Henry Leland and Robert Faulconer, the Cadillac Automobile Company, of Detroit completed its first car in October 1902, the firm's superior manufacturing technology - precision gear cutting was Leland and Faulconer's first speciality - soon establishing it as the foremost builder of quality cars in the USA. In 1901, Olds Motor Works contracted for the supply of Leland-built engines and, when unforeseen circumstances frustrated the plan, Leland and Faulconer formed their own company using funds supplied by two of Henry Ford's ex-backers. An exemplary performer by the standards of the day, the Cadillac's single-cylinder engine - known as 'Little Hercules' - was mounted horizontally on the left beneath the front seat and drove via a conventional two-speeds-plus-reverse planetary transmission and center chain drive to the rear axle. That first 1903 curved-dash Cadillac was re-designated as the Model A after the Model B's introduction for 1904, the B being a more expensive version with box-shaped 'bonnet', pressed-steel frame, I-beam front axle and single transverse front spring. At first Leland & Faulconer supplied only engines, transmissions and steering mechanisms for the Cadillac, before taking responsibility for its entire construction in 1905.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

Frank Spain acquired this car from Thomas Cadillac, Inc. in 1991 along with the Oldsmobile Curved Dash in the collection. Thomas Cadillac Inc. was a business founded by LaRue C. Thomas and when he took over a Cadillac dealership in Los Angeles in 1965, the company grew to be one of the largest dealerships of its kind in the city until a steady decline in sales forced it out of business in 1989. According to Thomas' obituary he was fascinated by old automobiles from his early Twenties and was always finding projects, restoring them and selling them on, which had eventually led to his founding the modern car business.

Along the way, Thomas is known to have amassed a large collection of cars, and at one time was said to have been focused on owning one of every major model of Cadillac from 1903 onwards. It would appear that the car presented here was that corner stone in his collection. It is not known where LaRue Thomas acquired the car from, or whether this was purchased as a complete entity or restored from an assembly of components. Confusingly there is no evidence of a number on its engine, and the identifying number 25642, used on the title signed over to Mr. Spain, does not correlate with sequences for these Cadillacs, nor has been found on the car by Bonhams specialists.

As it stands, and we presume that this was the way in which Mr. Thomas wished it conforms in basic respects to the cars that left the Detroit works in the 1903-5 period and has been used as a display piece in both his and Mr. Spain's collections. However, Bonhams would recommend more in depth investigation of its origins to assess its eligibility for early car events.