Question about Henry Leland's strange behavior

[Gergely Szentmartony 25603]

While I was reading the book about Henry Leland (Master of Precision) suddenly a question came to my mind.
How is it possible that a talented and clever man like him in the beginning of the automobile’s history would not want to name his car(s) after himself but he(?) chose a French explorer/adventurer (Cadillac) then one of the American Presidents (Lincoln) as the brand name of his products?
I can’t find any rational reason for that.
Olds, Buick, Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Nash, Brush, etc. they all named their cars and factories after themselves. However, even if Henry Leland founded two car factories, he did not choose his own name.
Please help me to find the reason of this strange fact.

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

Gergely,
I think you will have to ask Henry.  My opinion is that he was an unbelieveably talented engineer, who knew that progress was continual, and if he had named the car for himself, what would he name his future cars?
Greg

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Hi Gergely,

Leland was a true Victorian gentleman who named his second car after his idol, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln embodied all the hard working ethics that Leland guided his own life by.

Leland wasn’t the founder of  Cadillac. It grew out of  a group of financiers ( Murphy & Bowen) who had backed Henry Ford in two abortive companies : Detroit Automobile Co. and the Henry Ford Co.  During  the 1900-02 period, Ford was preoccupied with race cars much to the chagrin of his backers. When he left â€" or was shown the door -  the backers decide to liquidate the assets. Murphy and Bowen, having heard of Leland’s reputation in all things mechanical, approached the Lelands  to appraise the assets. Leland subsequently demonstrated a single cylinder engine built by his company, Leland  & Faulconer, and a new enterprise was born. Leland was given a seat on the Board. As part of the reorganization, the Board chose the name Cadillac in honor of Marquis Cadillac, the French adventurer who founded Detroit.

Henry Ford went on to build a lot of rickety little black cars. Henry Martyn went on to build magnificent machines until another wheeler-dealer, Billy Durant , nearly ran an infant GM into the ground. Henry Martyn left GM and founded Lincoln which was later bought Henry Ford. In short order Henry Martyn had enough of Henry Ford, took his ball of money and went home.

HTH,
Ralph

[Glen]

IIRC the name Cadillac was chosen because at the time they were forming (re-forming) the company the city was celebrating the bicentennial of the founding of the City of Detroit by Antoine "de la Mothe Cadillac".     

[TJ Hopland]

It would also seem like if it was a group project (or funded) that they could not agree on who's name it would be so they picked none of them.  At least they were not like law firms.   Imagine if GM was named like that.  It could have been called Olds, Chevrolet, Dunbar, & Durant Motors  (or whoever were the current people).   

[Gergely Szentmartony 25603]

IIRC the name Cadillac was chosen because at the time they were forming (re-forming) the company the city was celebrating the bicentennial of the founding of the City of Detroit by Antoine "de la Mothe Cadillac".     

This is another thing I have never understood. Antoine Laumet de La Mothe Cadillac founded Detroit in 1701, so the bicentennial celebration should have happened in 1901. However, Cadillac Automobile Company was founded on August 22nd, 1902. End of August is after the half of the third quarter of the year. Was the celebration two years long?

In Lansing, Ransom Eli Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company  in 1897. Exactly 50 years later than the state capital moved from Detroit to Lansing Township. I guess there was a big celebration in Lansing in 1897. However, Ransom Eli Olds did not search any other name but he used his own. Even, his secondly founded company (REO Motor Car Company) was named after his name.

I guess David Dunbar Buick was not thinking about giving "LaSalle Motor Company" name to Buick Motor Company even if he founded it only a bit more than half-a-year later (on May 19th, 1903) than Cadillac Automobile Company was founded (additionally, the LaSalle expedition arrived earlier to this territory than Cadillac). And again, his earlier company (Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company) was also named after himself.

Just a couple of more quick examples:
- Austin Automobile Company was founded in 1901 by James E. Austin and his son Walter Austin,
- Stevens-Duryea was founded by J. Frank Duryea and J. Stevens,
- The Nordyke and Marmon Co. Indianapolis, IN founded in 1902......The Studebaker Automobile Co. South Bend, Indiana founded in 1902.......Franklin Automobile Company in Syracuse, New York found in 1902.....etc. They all got their names after their founders.

Looking through the name list of early American automobile companies (http://www.american-automobiles.com/) I have to say, it is really exceptional if the company had not been named after his founder's family name.

That would have been an absolutely normal and understandable reason if he had founded a company named "Leland Automobile Company" instead of Cadillac or even Lincoln. However, he did not do that. He chose other two names.

[Gergely Szentmartony 25603]

It would also seem like if it was a group project (or funded) that they could not agree on who's name it would be so they picked none of them.  At least they were not like law firms.   Imagine if GM was named like that.  It could have been called Olds, Chevrolet, Dunbar, & Durant Motors  (or whoever were the current people).   

Oh, yes. I could imagine that William Murphy and Lemuel W. Bowen (based on the failed business with Henry Ford) did not want to name the new company after Mr. Leland because they wanted to show the independence of this company. Additionally, as far as I know, originally Henry Leland was "only" a consultant to appraise the automobile plant and equipment so Murphy and Bowen could have sold it. As Ralph mentioned before, Leland was not the founder of Cadillac. Maybe that was the reason why the first president of Cadillac was C. A. Black but not Henry Leland.

I think, GM is another story. It was intended to be a group of automobile companies.

[TJ Hopland]

When I first saw this thread title I thought it was going to be that he was like so many other 'smart people' that when they were not out inventing or building an empire they were pretty much nuts and sat locked away in their own little worlds with all their strange habits. 

[Tom Hall 7485]

Initially, Leland's company supplied the engines. 

[Glen]

Leland's company “Leland & Faulconer” supplied engines to Olds along with another company.  The engines supplied by Leland & Faulconer were apparently better and had to be limited so that it would not out perform the engines supplied by the other company. 

From: Cadillac, Standard of The World: The Complete History
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_M._Leland

[veesixteen]

Why was the DeSoto namerd the DeSoto? IMHO, much ado about nothing. In any case, the  Cadillac name itself  is a misnomer.  If anything, the car should have been called the "Laumet", being the real name of the founder of Detroit. The name "Cadillac" and the alleged noble title associated with it were pure invention on Laumet's part, as well as part theft of someone else's identity. The facts are irrefutable. Cadillac was a faker!  Check it out
http://www.cadillacdatabase.org/Dbas_txt/Coatarms.htm

[Doug Houston]

I have thought about names of products throughout history, and a few things come to mind. So Henry Leland chose not to name any car after himself. History has never suffered for that. It was just unfortunate that, great man that he was, he was sort of kicked around the way he was.

There have been thousands of named affixed to motor vehicles. Many of those names should never have been used, because they had a funny sound, when pronounced. I feel that "Dort" was a strange name for a car, though it was the man who made it. Another was Studebaker. A four syllablic name that just sounded clumsy however it might have been pronounced. Any name with four syllables is likely to sound funny.

I always felt that Hudson's selection of the name "Hornet" was a bad choice. A hornet is an insect, not to be admired. There was once, a "Stevens Salient Six"; sort of rhythmic, and sort of funny.

How about the three guys who made a car, and all crowded to the nameplate; Everett, Metzger and Flanders? Hupmobile might have been named something else, though  it was the founder's name.

The Kissel was a remarkable little car, but the Kissel family might have used a different name Reminds me of a character on Jack Benny's show.

In the classic era, there was a marque: Gardner, and a high ticket car, it was. Imagine telling your golf pals that you'd bought a Gardner. They might have asked if you also got a Butler in the deal.

No, Henry Leland was a fine old gent, and derserved a lot better things in life than he'd gotten.

[Tim Pawl CLC#4383]

I have never understood the market research of how some of the current cars received their names..........any marketer who uses "ass" in the name is asking for disaster as in Aztech (asstech), Aspen (asspen), Astre (asstear),  or my current favorites JUKE (joke), and AZERA (a zero) or (ass era),    favorite Cadillac MIS-name was the Eldorado Touring Coupe, ETC (et cetera, et cetera) .   Sometimes the style of letter can make it look different, I remember  a story about the woman who wanted some work done on her Ford FISO , the mechanic asked what is a "fiso", she then showed him the F150 badge on her truck.   

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

A bit like the "710" Cap.

Bruce.

[Glen]

I always read the Datsun 240Z as 24 OZ (24 ounce).  Seemed appropriate for a small car. 

More recent cars; Toyota Passo = Passed; Toyota Echo, isn’t an echo a weak reflection of the real thing?   

OK, done. 

Glen

[veesixteen]

Chevy "Nova" [in Spanish:  "No va", means it doesn't work!]

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

So, Nova, as one word would translate to "doesn't work very quickly"? or "Very quickly doesn't work"?

Bruce.

[Joe]

I 'd be embarrased to drive around in a pickup truck with 5 inch tall "TRD" lettering on the rear fenders.(Made by Toyota).
Just doesn't seem flattering.

Joe Gibeault

[Whit Otis, 1188]

Perhaps Henry Leland's motivation was more related to personality.  I have known many people who  have owned businesses.  Often, they name their baby after themselves as part of an ego thing.... meaning they wanted their name to be front and center, and, perhaps outlive them.  From what I understand about Henry, even though he was an absolute master at his craft, I just doubt that his personality and personal background would have led him to name the company after himself.  Though a tough task master and a leader, I just don't believe he was into self aggrandizement.

Whit Otis