Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac
Upon his arrival in America, La Mothe adopted his title after the town of Cadillac, Gironde in southwestern France. The city of Detroit became the world center of automobile production in the 20th century. William H. Murphy and Henry M. Leland founded the Cadillac auto company and paid homage to him by using his name for their company and his armorial bearings as its logo in 1902. Various places bear his name in America, in particular Cadillac Mountain in Maine and the town of Cadillac, Michigan.
Cadillac Sixty Special
In its debut year, 3,703 Sixty Specials were delivered, at a base cost of $2,090 each - it was a success in every measure. The new Sixty Special outsold every other Cadillac model in its first year accounting for 39% of all Cadillacs sold. In 1938, aside from the standard 4-door sedan, two prototype models were built on the Sixty Special body - two very dashing four-door convertibles (one owned by GM executive, Larry Fisher, which was demolished by Harley Earl in a traffic accident and one sent to Europe, which was later recalled and consumed by GM Engineering in structural tests in preparation for the 1940 "Torpedo" bodies), plus one Sixty-Special coupe (driven personally for two years by GM President, Bill Knudsen).