The Rise and Fall Of The Greatest Cadillac Ever Made

Why did Cadillac secretly steal an engineer from a rival company, lie to its own employees about what they were building, and launch the most expensive car in American history two months after the stock market crashed? In 1930, Cadillac unveiled the world's first production V16 engine — 452 cubic inches, 165 horsepower, and a 135-pound crankshaft that produced zero perceptible vibration — and it changed the luxury car market forever. This is the full story of how Lawrence Fisher orchestrated one of the most audacious power plays in automotive history, poaching engineer Owen Nacker from Marmon, developing the engine under a cover story that fooled even Cadillac's own staff, and debuting a masterpiece into the worst economic collapse of the twentieth century. We cover the bitter rivalry with Packard that started it all, the technical wizardry behind an engine so smooth you couldn't feel it idling, the Marmon Sixteen that was arguably the better car but arrived too late, and the brutal sales collapse from 2,500 units in year one to just 49 per year by the mid-1930s. From a $5,350 showroom price to million-dollar auction results today, this is the car that never turned a profit and still became the most successful brand-building exercise in automotive history. #CadillacV16 #V16Engine #CadillacHistory #ClassicCars #PreWarCars #LuxuryCars #GreatDepression #AutomotiveHistory #EngineeringMarvels #Packard #MarmonSixteen #OwenNacker #HarleyEarl #Fleetwood #GeneralMotors #CylinderWars #V16 #ClassicAmerican #CadillacSixteen #PebbleBeach #ConcoursDelegance #1930sCars #AutomotiveEngineering #CarHistory #AmericanLuxury