After the abbreviated '42 model run, during which only 16,511 units were
produced, Cadillac became a major cog in the wheel of America's war
machine.
There is much justification for saying that the '43 Cadillac was the highly
maneuverable M-24 light tank (sometimes called the M-24 Chaffee) that
utilized
two Cadillac V-8s and two Hydra-Matic transmissions -- each powering
one
track of the tank. The two driveline systems were coordinated and
connected
by a spider gear. Inside each tank, a plaque proudly proclaimed that this
was a product of Cadillac. Cadillac Division received the Army-Navy "E"
Award for excellence in the production of war equipment. The reliable V-8
engines were also used on the M-19 anti-aircraft gun carriage, and Cadillac
engines and transmissions powered the M-5 light tanks, the predecessors
of the M-24, as well.
Ironically, Cadillac already had
quite a history in warfare and armaments. The Davidson-Cadillac --
capable
of a sustained 70 mph when the roads allowed -- was America's first
military
armored car. Slightly modified Cadillac automobiles had been used in the
military action against Pancho Villa in 1916, and Cadillac had been chosen
as the standard officer's car by the U.S. Marine Corps in World War
I.
Sadly, the founder of Cadillac,
Henry Leland, resigned from the company over a squabble with William C.
Durant, the pacifist founder of General Motors. Leland had wanted to make
aircraft engines during World War I, so after leaving Cadillac he founded
the Lincoln Motor Company primarily to build Liberty engines for the war
effort. From this, the birth of Cadillac's chief rival was a short
step.
There was no such hesitation at
Cadillac in World War II. "They shall not want," was the official war
slogan
of every Cadillac employee.
Again, more irony. GM's
Allison
Division was already involved in the production of the formidable Allison
aircraft engine before the war. With America's entry into the fray, Cadillac
became directly involved in the further design, development, and
manufacture
of this liquid-cooled engine that was used in P-51s, P-63s, P-39s, and
in a plane the Germans called
der Gabelschwanz Teufel (the fork-tailed
devil), the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Of course, the lasting irony was that
the P-38 was to have a continued impact on Cadillac design long after the
war (the '48 tailfins being one example).
Advertising during the war
touted
the Cadillac drivetrain's contribution to the retreat of the Axis powers.
The division's engineering and manufacturing know-how was a major
weapon,
the ads said, in the Free World's fight against the Nazis and Japan as
Cadillac engines and transmissions proved themselves in battle. Perhaps
the ads worked a little too well, because after the war some people tried
to adapt the military-version units to their cars and other machinery --
often with less than satisfactory results.
When peace returned in 1945,
there
was a great hunger for cars by returning GI's and a public weary from the
protracted war effort. The desire for Cadillacs was especially strong
because
many people had had their horizons and expectations widened by the
global
conflict -- and their pockets deepened by long overtime hours worked
during
the war. The lengthy Depression that had preceded the war had made the
thirst for automobiles even more intense for many. The problem was that
there just weren't enough Cadillacs -- and few cars of any make for that
matter -- to be had. Many dealers would take deposits, but filling those
orders was another matter.
Ending a hurried production run
that had begun four years earlier, just after Pearl Harbor, the last M-24
tank rolled off the Cadillac assembly line on August 24, 1945. Amazingly,
the first '46 Caddy was produced on October 7, 1945.
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