While it’s true that Cadillac as we know it was created in 1902, it was a reorganization of Henry Ford’s second company, which he founded in November 1901 and left the following March after a dispute with his investors.

Ford finally hit the jackpot with his third company which you might know, while the one from which he had just flounced was renamed after 17th century French explorer and Detroit founder Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac. Let’s tell the Cadillac story, illustrated by its most notable cars: