The 1905 Model D had a governed throttle acting as a primitive cruise control — but its engine's designer, Alanson Partridge Brush, left Cadillac shortly after the car debuted.
Lead trim: Model D 300.7 cu in four-cylinder L-head (30 hp)
Cadillac Model D1905–1905
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Cadillac Model D yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThe 1905 Model D had a governed throttle acting as a primitive cruise control — but its engine's designer, Alanson Partridge Brush, left Cadillac shortly after the car debuted.
The Cadillac Model D is an American brass-age car introduced by Cadillac in January 1905 and sold throughout that year: a larger automobile than previous Cadillac offerings and their first four-cylinder production model, priced at $2,800, it can be seen as the first luxury car from the company. The engine was a 300.7 cubic-inch (4.9 L) four-cylinder L-head design producing a claimed 30 hp, designed by Alanson Partridge Brush, who left Cadillac shortly afterwards; the car used a complicated 3-speed planetary transmission and a governed throttle, essentially a primitive cruise control.
Collectors Spotted in the Cadillac Model D Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Cadillac Model D yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
One published trim in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model D 300.7 cu in four-cylinder L-head (30 hp) | 1905–1905 | 4.9 L Inline-4 | 30 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Most luxury four-cylinder cars of 1907 used a fussy planetary transmission. Cadillac's smaller Model G skipped it for a plain sliding-gear box instead — simpler engineering on a car meant to impress.
When engine designer Alanson Brush left Cadillac, his successor Henry Leland didn't keep the departed man's clever patented features — he deliberately stripped them out of the next cars, the Model H and Model L, in favor of more conventional designs.
The 1905 Model D had a governed throttle acting as a primitive cruise control — but its engine's designer, Alanson Partridge Brush, left Cadillac shortly after the car debuted.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
Fred Duesenberg, the engineer behind the Model J, died of pneumonia from injuries suffered crashing one of his own cars — a Murphy-bodied SJ convertible.
Duesenberg's slogan for the supercharged SJ was that the only car that could pass one was another Duesenberg - and only with the first owner's consent.
Only two SSJs were built — one for Gary Cooper, one lent to Clark Gable — and the two movie stars used to race each other through the Hollywood Hills in them.
The 1916 Type 53 quietly invented the modern car's cockpit: center-mounted gear lever and handbrake, key-start ignition, and the clutch-brake-throttle pedal order every car still uses today.
Packard's first four-cylinder car, the 1903 Model K, was so exclusive that only 34 were built — at $7,300 apiece, it's still the most expensive Packard the company ever made.
Studebaker charged extra for four-wheel hydraulic brakes on the 1926 Special Six, leaving disc wheels and stopping power both as options.
This Duesenberg beat every other production car to the punch: it was the first to put hydraulic brakes on all four wheels, years before the rest of the industry caught up.
Once Packard's new straight-eight arrived in 1924, the once-flagship Six got bumped down market — repositioned to compete with the Buick Master Six and, later, the Chrysler Six.