| Cadillac In Pall Mall | ||
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(Wed 22 Oct 08) It would be fair to say that this kind of thing doesn't happen very often. A Cadillac CTS has been laboriously lifted and winched into the Rotunda section of the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, and will remain on display there until October 29.
Usually only Club members are allowed to do this kind of thing, and even then it generally involves vintage or classic cars rather than brand new ones. The Club has made an exception this time to mark the centenary of Cadillac being awarded the Dewar Trophy. The Trophy was presented to the Club by Sir Thomas Dewar in 1904 and first awarded in 1906. It has been re-presented several times since (but by no means annually) to mark technical progress in the automotive field. Cadillac won the Trophy in 1908 after what was then considered an astonishing display of mechanical standardisation. Three Cadillacs of the same type were dismantled, their components were shuffled, and another three cars were built from the resulting pile of parts. Not only did the new cars start up afterwards without any problem, they all then went on to complete a 500-mile endurance run round the Brooklands race circuit, a feat that showed how far in advance of contemporary engineering practice Cadillac was in 1908. Other technical triumphs which have merited the presentation of the Dewar Trophy in more recent times have included the successful attempt at a new diesel land speed record on the part of the JCB Dieselmax team in August 2006. |
