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A coachbuilding firm that
supplied bodies to Cadillac for their first
handful of 1902 automobiles. The Cadillac LaSalle Club museum has a copy of the ledger for 1903 which
shows the first five cars as being built in 1902. Car #3 has surfaced and
shows a build date of October 16,1902; its Michigan registration dates from
1923 [the first year of documented registrations]. Note: options in 1902-03
were limited to color (either maroon or black), tires (either Fisk or
Hartford) and gear teeth (either 32 or 36). There is still quite a debate
over the number of spokes on the early cars 12 or 14, as the early photos
show NO valve stems [YS adds: true, the early factory photos, or artists'
views (?), appear to be retouched and show no valve stems; however, I have a
photo of what is believed to be the FIRST Cadillac and one valve stem is
visible, albeit very dimly; in addition, the two well-known photos of the
"first" Cadillac - Alanson Brush and Wilfrid Leland on Trombley Ave and
Alanson Brush climbing the steps of the Wayne County building in Detroit)
clearly show cars with 14-spoke wheels]. Bodies were built by either The
Detroit Body Company or Wilson. It has been speculated also that the five
cars reportedly built in 1902 had bodies from P.L. Hussey's Hussey Auto and
Supply Co. (Mr. Hussey apparently was the first sales manager of Cadillac,
followed shortly thereafter by William E. Metzger who took three of them to
the New York Auto Show and quickly sold out the entire first year's
production [1903]. Note that an early ad for the Hussey Body Company
features the same "car" as was used in an early Cadillac ad
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