How to Avoid a Car Accident

Car accidents are responsible for one death every 13 minutes in this country. National statistics show that in 2005, the U.S. reported over 6,420,000 automobile accidents. Those are staggering numbers for auto collisions. If that number could be reduced by 1/3 or even 1/10, many lives could be spared and grief avoided. With a few common sense tips and practical advice, anyone can take precautions to avoid a car accident.

Step 1 : Plot your driving before you set out to go anywhere. Determine the best route to get to your destination. This will avoid the possibility of having to rush and drive too fast.

Step 2 : Leave your home or office in ample time to allow for driving safely. Usually when you wait too late to leave somewhere, you feel pressured to make up for that time by driving too fast or taking too many chances in your driving.

Step 3 : Stay alert while you are on the road driving. Limit or eliminate the use of cell phones, perhaps to be used only in cases of emergencies. If you must use your cell phone to make a call, pull over to the side of the road or off the road to do so. Complete your call before you resume your driving. Also eliminate any extra activities like makeup application, reading the newspaper or even drinking beverages.

Step 4 : Listen to the radio to get updates on where accidents have occurred on the road. Take this information into account when planning and adjusting your driving course.

Step 5 : Keep your hands on the wheel at all times. Many accidents occur when a person reaches down to get something, or reaches behind them to get something. This is very dangerous. Letting go of the wheel for any reason can cause you to lose control of the vehicle.

Step 6 : Observe the speed limit. The speed limit doesn't exist for people to actually go up to it. It serves as a reminder of what to not go over. As with anything, limits must be avoided, so it is with driving. By contrast, just as you should not go over the speed limit, be cautious to not go too slow. Either one of these 2 extremes is a potential situation for collisions.

Step 7 : Rotate the tires on your vehicle as frequently as your car's manual suggests. This allows even wear and tear on the tires so as to reduce the possibility of a tire blow-out.
It is extremely dangerous to chat on your cell phone while driving. Accidents can happen quickly, often not allowing you sufficient response time.

How to Escape From a Burning Car

A burning car is a death trap. Smoke accumulates quickly within the sealed doors and windows and rising heat and the fire itself make a time bomb out of the gas tank. Escape from a burning car is a difficult but doable challenge that requires fast thinking and even faster acting. Follows these steps to understand how to escape from a car on fire.

Step 1 : Stay as calm as you can. The worst possible thing that you can do is panic. Panic will cause you to waste precious seconds and make mistakes that could end up being tragic. It's important for you to focus on one thing, and one thing alone: getting out.

Step 2 : Unlock the doors and windows. Do whatever you can to accomplish this critical step. Even if you cannot open the door yourself, unlocking the doors will give bystanders or rescuers a good shot of getting you out of the burning vehicle quickly.

Step 3 : Get your seat belt off. This must be done quickly so the heat of the fire does not fuse the metal of the buckle to its anchor. If the metal is too hot to touch, use a piece of cloth to cover your hand so that you can release the buckle. If the buckle won't release, push the shoulder strap over your head and try lifting your legs out from underneath the waist strap.

Step 4 : Kick out a window. If you cannot get the door open, the next best thing is to kick out a window. Getting a window open will allow smoke to exit the car and will also give you an escape route. Use both feet against a side window, if possible, to shatter and then pop the window out of the frame.

History of Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury performance cars, whose headquarters are at Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. The company name is derived from the Aston Clinton hill climb and one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin.

From 1994 until 2007 Aston Martin was part of the Premier Automotive Group, a division of the Ford Motor Company. On 12 March 2007, it was purchased for £479 million (US$848 million) by two Kuwaiti investment companies in a deal led by David Richards of Prodrive. Ford retained a US$77 million stake in Aston Martin, setting the total value of the company at US$925 million.

Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini. They acquired premises at Henniker Place in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of World War I, and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aviation Company.

After the war the company was refounded at Abingdon Road, Kensington and a new car designed to carry the Aston-Martin name. Bamford left in 1920 and the company was revitalised with funding from Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, and the cars set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. Three works Team Cars with 16 valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record breaking: chassis number 1914, later developed as the Green Pea; chassis number 1915, the Razor Blade record car; and chassis number 1916, later developed as the Halford Special. Approximately 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations, long chassis and short chassis. The company went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Lady Charnwood, who put her son John Benson on the board. The company failed again in 1925 and the factory closed in 1926, with Lionel Martin leaving.

Later that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus (Bert) Bertelli and a number of rich investors, including Lady Charnwood, took control of the company and renamed it Aston Martin Motors, and moved it to the former Whitehead Aircraft Limited works in Feltham. Renwick and Bertelli had been in partnership some years and had developed an overhead cam 4 cylinder engine, using Renwick's patented combustion chamber design, and had tested it in an Enfield Allday chassis. It was the only 'Renwick and Bertelli' motor car made. It was known as 'Buzzbox' and survives to this day.
They had planned to sell this engine to motor manufacturers, but having heard that the Aston Martin car was no longer in production they realised that they could capitalise on the reputation of the Aston Martin name (what we would now call the brand) to give themselves a head start in the production of a completely new car.

Between the years 1926 and 1937 Bertelli was the technical director of Aston Martin, and the designer of all subsequent Aston Martin cars during this period, these being known as the 'Bertelli cars'. They included the 1 1/2 litre 'T-type', the 'International, the 'Le Mans, the 'MKII' its racing derivative the 'Ulster, and the 2 litre 15/98 and its racing derivative the 'Speed Model'.
Mostly open two seater sports cars and mostly bodied by Bert Bertelli's brother Enrico (Harry)a small number of long chassis four seater tourers, dropheads and saloons were also produced.
Bertelli was very keen to race his cars and he was a very competent driver. One of the very few motor manufacturers to actually sit in and race the cars he designed and built , the competition no doubt 'improved the breed' and the 'LM' team cars were very successful in national and international motor racing including at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia.

Financial problems reappeared in 1932 and the company was rescued by L. Prideaux Brune who funded it for the following year before passing the company on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, the company decided to concentrate on road cars. Car production had always been on a small scale and until the advent of World War II halted work only about 700 had been made. During the war years aircraft components were made.

Type : Private
Founded : 1913
Founder : Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford
Headquarters : Gaydon, England, UK
Slogan : Power, Beauty, Soul

2008 Lincoln MKS

The Lincoln MKS is a luxury sedan produced by the Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company. The production version is based on the MKS concept car which was introduced at the 2006 North American International Auto Show. It will begin production in the summer of 2008 at the Ford Chicago Assembly plant in Chicago, Illinois. The MKS fills the gap since the discontinuation of the Lincoln LS in 2006.

The MKS continues the new Lincoln naming convention for future models, including the new 2007 crossover SUV Lincoln MKX and the mid-size car 2007 Lincoln MKZ which replaced the 2006 Lincoln Zephyr. By this naming scheme, new vehicles will be designated with alphanumeric names rather than more traditional names like "Zephyr" and "Continental". This is part of a new Lincoln strategy to give its vehicles alphanumeric monikers, in much the same way as some other luxury automakers do, to get people to refer to the cars as Lincolns, rather as just "Continentals" or "Navigators".

Pronounced "Mark S," it's a potential flagship for Ford's stuck-in-the-doldrums prestige brand. It isn't yet officially headed for the assembly line, but a production MKS likely will be built on Volvo's versatile P2 architecture, some form of which underpins the Volvo XC90 and S80, the Ford Five Hundred, and the Mercury Montego. Expect powertrain options to include a 315-hp V-8, a six-speed automatic, and all-wheel drive. If Lincoln really wants a design hit, though, they should learn from Cadillac. Take some risks, don't copy the Japanese.

Lincoln Town Car 2008

The 2008 Lincoln Town Car is a 4-door luxury sedan that is available in four models, Signature which comes in a regular body shape, the Signature L which is available in the extended body shape, Signature Limited and the Designer Model. All four models are equipped with a 4.6 Liter V8 engine that is rated at 239 horsepower. All models are equipped with a rear wheel drive and a four speed automatic transmission. The fuel economy ratings of the Town Car are 17 miles per gallon on city streets and 25 miles per gallon on the highway.

The Town Car Signature is equipped with 17 inch tires, leather seats, power ront seats, power adjustable pedals, a CD player, and its dashboard is equipped with an analog clock, headlights that switch on automatically and sensors in the back that helps the driver park the vehicle. The Town Car Signature Limited is equipped with front seats that are heated, a driver’s seat that has memory, an expensive music system which is equipped with a CD player that is located in the dashboard, and a trunk that can be opened or closed using power. The Town Car Designer model is equipped with air conditioning, steering is powered, a cruise control system, seats made of leather and a split seat in the front pedals that can be adjusted with the help of power and mirrors that are powered and heated. the Signature L model has the same equipment as that of the Signature model but adds, power points that are attached to the rear sea, head rests that are heated and a music system and temperatures inside the car can be modified switched on or off with the help of a remote control.

The 2008 Lincoln Town Car is equipped with a system to control traction and stability and air bags mounted on the side for those seated in the front. The interior of the Town car is huge and its eats its passengers in comfort. It has a trunk whose capacity is 20.6 cubic feet.

Biography of Henry M. Leland

Henry Martyn Leland (16 February 1843-26 March 1932) (born Barton, Vermont, died Detroit, Michigan) was a machinist, inventor, engineer and automotive entrepreneur.
He learned engineering and precision machining in the Brown & Sharpe plant at Providence, Rhode Island, and subsequently worked in the firearms industry, including at Colt. These experiences in toolmaking, metrology, and manufacturing steeped him in the 19th-century zeitgeist of interchangeability. He applied this expertise to the nascent motor industry as early as 1870 as a principal in the machine shop Leland & Faulconer, and later was a supplier of engines to Ransom E. Olds's company, Oldsmobile. He also invented the electric barber clippers, and for a short time produced a unique toy train, the Leland-Detroit Monorail. He created the Cadillac automobile, bought out by General Motors. He also founded Lincoln, later purchased by the Ford Motor Company.

In 1902 William Murphy and his partners at the Henry Ford Company hired Leland as an adviser, and later asked him to sort through problems on the shop floor. A clash quickly came when he gave orders to Henry Ford. Ford understood he was in charge, however, the partners took Leland's side, and Ford was shown the door. Ford got $900 cash and the designs for a new car he was working on. The partners got the car Ford had been hired to produce. Taking Henry Ford's car they removed his engine and replaced it with the precision single cylinder engine produced by Henry Leland. The directors lost no time in renaming the company Cadillac. At Cadillac, Leland applied many modern manufacturing principles to the fledgling automotive industry, including the use of interchangeable parts.

The Cadillac won the Dewar Trophy for 1908.

Leland sold Cadillac to General Motors on July 29, 1909 for $5.6 million but remained as an executive until 1917. With Charles Kettering, he developed a self-starter for the Cadillac, which won its second Dewar Trophy in 1913 as a result.

He left General Motors over the company's involvement in the war effort and formed the Lincoln Motor Company to build Liberty aircraft engines. After the war, the company's factories were retooled to manufacture luxury automobiles.

In 1922, Lincoln became insolvent and was bought out by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company. Ford's bid of $8 million was the only bid at a receivers sale. Ford had first offered $5 million, but the judge would not accept it for a well-equipped company whose assets were conservatively estimated at $16 million. After the sale, Leland and his son Wilfred continued to run the company, believing they would still have full control to run the company as they saw fit. Ford assigned a number of their people to Lincoln, they said to learn. However, it soon became clear they were there to streamline their production and stop the loss of money that had bankrupted Lincoln. Relations between the Henry Ford and Leland workers continued to deteriorate. On June 10, 1922, Ford executive Ernest Liebold arrived at Lincoln to ask for the resignation of Wilfred Leland. When it became clear that Mr Leibold had the full authority of Henry Ford, Henry Leland resigned as well. That afternoon both men were shown out of the factory they had created.

The Lincoln continues to be part of the luxury line of Ford to this day.

History of Lincoln

Lincoln is an American luxury automobile brand, operated under the Ford Motor Company. Founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland and acquired by Ford in 1922, Lincoln has been manufacturing vehicles intended for the upscale markets since the 1920s. Lincoln's prevalent competitor Cadillac, was also founded by Henry M. Leland having acquired the assets of the Henry Ford Company, Ford's second company. While Lincoln was the best selling luxury marque in the United States as recently as 1998, Lincoln lost ground to its competitors. To combat this recent slide in sales Lincoln has unveiled three new models, the MKZ sport sedan, MKS luxury sedan, and MKX crossover sport utility vehicle.

It usually takes about thirty years for a car to become a collector's item but the old Lincoln Continental was sought after from the moment the model was discontinued in 1948. Most classics are renowned for ageless elegance, unique construction, and superior performance. The Continental had only one of these to offer -the most elegant body style to appear on an American car. Its crisp sculptured lines, a dramatically pointed grill, sharply curved fenders, and boldly squared rear, created an appearance reminiscent of the finest in European cars. This graceful and handsome automobile was prosaic mechanically. There were no innovations, only a standard chassis and a modestly powered engine. When Edsel Ford had the car designed he was interested in style. It was all he got.

If Henry M. Leland had been around in 1939 when the Lincoln Continental was first made, the car would undoubtedly have exhibited engineering qualities to match its superb styling. Leland was one of the most important figures in automotive history. He was associated with the first Oldsmobile and is renowned as the designer and founder of the Cadillac.

In 1921 he produced another luxury car which he named after one of our greatest presidents. It was a solid, well-engineered piece of craftsmanship - big and powerful. Pioneer that he was, Leland equipped his early Lincoln with the first multiple-barrel carburetor to be used. But the car was a failure financially. It was much too expensive, and the company went into receivership almost immediately.

When a public auction of the Lincoln Motor Company was announced, Henry Ford decided to purchase it. He wanted to produce a prestige car and what could be better than one with the great reputation of Leland behind it? So he approached the aging engineer and told him that he would take over the entire Lincoln organization and retain Leland as chief executive. Then Ford planned the acquisition of Lincoln in his methodical manner. Other purchasers were carefully discouraged from even appearing, and when the auctioneer opened the proceedings in January, 1922, only one bid was offered - Henry Ford's. The Lincoln Motor Company was sold to him for only eight million dollars.

The scene that followed the sale again showed careful planning. According to Keith Sward, in his excellently documented book The Legend of Henry Ford, a brass band appeared from nowhere, playing "Hail to the Chief," and a huge portrait of Henry Ford unrolled slowly over the face of the Lincoln building. A well-timed news story pointed out the historical significance of the connection between Henry Ford and Henry M. Leland as two giants of the industry.

The honeymoon did not last long. In six months Leland was out and the Lincoln became completely a Ford product.

The Lincoln Division of the Ford Motor Company made good cars in the 1930's. The bodies were elegant and some models housed a fine V-12 engine. One of the most successful cars was the Zephyr, produced in 1936. One of the first streamlined classics, it reflected the growing interest of Edsel Ford in body styling. It was he who developed the entire styling department of the Ford Motor Company, and under his direction the classic Continental evolved.

In the postwar period, the Lincoln-Mercury Division continued the Continental, but in 1949 replaced it with a large luxurious Lincoln that in the eyes of many was only a bigger Mercury. However, in 1955 a new car was produced in an attempt to cut into Cadillac sales. The name Continental was revived, an astronomical price tag added, snob appeal was sought for by announcing that only a limited number of cars would be produced, and a European flavor was added by naming the cars with Mark numbers. By 1960 the company had reached the Continental Mark V, the longest, lowest, widest, and heaviest of any American machine. It is difficult to picture a Continental on a tight winding road. The car is really at home on U.S. super-highways.

For the design of this new Continental one must give full credit to the Ford styling experts. They managed to avoid many of the cliches that bound the industry in the 1950's. The tailfins are modest, very little chrome is used, and the grill and bumpers are uncluttered. The entire car, in spite of its immense size, has a clean, trim look. One wonders, however, how many Continental owners have had to enlarge their garages to accommodate the monster.

It is difficult to assess the probable future of the Lincoln Continental. High costs could well end its career, unless Ford decides to support it as General Motors did the Cadillac in the thirties. In 1960 the car was available to the very few and some experts believed it would be regarded as a classic in the future. Others felt that it was only an expression of the American predilection for bigness and luxury above all other considerations. Perhaps that is true. For years we have built cars on a "bigger, better, shinier" concept. And as a matter of fact, that is just what Henry M. Leland set out to accomplish.

Type : Luxury division
Founded : 1917
Headquarters : Dearborn, Michigan, USA
Area served : North America
Key people : Henry M. Leland, founder of the Lincoln Motor Company
Industry : Automobile
Products : Luxury vehicles
Parent : Ford Motor Company
Slogan : Reach higher

2005 Cadillac STS V8

Cadillac is serious about playing in the international luxury car league, and none of its products demonstrate this more than the 2005 STS. The new STS shares about three letters with the previous Seville STS, otherwise it is a very different machine, and a uniquely American interpretation of the contemporary premium luxury-performance sedan.

Note that the Seville nameplate is gone. With it went the front-wheel drive ``G'' large-car platform. Cadillac's premium offering is now called just ``STS,'' and is available with a 3.6-liter, 255-horsepower V6 or the 4.6-liter Northstar V8, now with 320 horses. Both engines feature aluminum alloy construction and dual overhead cams with variable valve timing, and are matched to a five-speed automatic transmission with manual-shift mode. V6 models are all rear-wheel drive, while V8s may be had with rear- or all-wheel drive. The platform is the same ``Sigma'' architecture found under Cadillac's smaller CTS sedan and SRX crossover, but stretched out a few inches. Although new STS's wheelbase is nearly four inches longer than that of the most recent Seville, overall length is down nearly four inches.

Cadillac is serious about competing with the best luxury cars from Europe and Japan - everywhere. To that end, panel gaps, inside and out, have been made significantly smaller, and fit and finish has improved. The new STS's size, performance, appointments, and vehicle dynamics were designed with far more than the demands of the American market in mind.

We've just spent a week with a new V8, rear-wheel drive STS, and have spent plenty of time in both previous front-drive generations. And, yes, Cadillac's newest is its closest approach yet to the foreign competition, although it retains its American character just fine, thank you. But, despite driving the rear, instead of front wheels, it's really not all that different from the previous STS Sevilles in most ways, merely further-refined and developed. Its looks are distinctive, and, to my eyes, handsome, and its Northstar powertrain is first-class. So, now, are its road manners. Cadillac claims it wants to truly be ``The Standard of the World'' (an old Cadillac ad slogan) once more, and the new STS is a serious step in that direction.

APPEARANCE: Cadillac is to be commended for creating its own distinctive design language. There is plenty of continuity with the look of the last two generations of Seville STS in the 2005 model's styling, and, like its immediate predecessor, it looks smaller than it actually is. Styling cues that first appeared on the Seville in the early 90s have been developing over the past decade, aided and abetted by the angular ``Art and Science'' theme of Cadillac concept cars of the past few years. The results first seen on the XLR luxury-sports roadster and the mid-sized CTS sports sedan are further-developed on the STS. But, on the STS, the angles and planes of the bodywork are ever so slightly rounded. The body proportions are classic long-hood, short-deck. The latest iteration of the classic Cadillac egg-crate grille graces the front, between the distinctive vertically-stacked headlights. A character line on the sides that rises toward the rear emphasizes its sporty wedge-shaped profile, and noticeable but not overdone rocker panels also give a performance message. At the rear, tall, thin LED taillights make the STS as distinctive at night as it is during the day.

COMFORT: There is some evolution and some revolution inside of the new STS. The basic interior design is still tasteful and contemporary, with the two-tone motif of today's luxury cars. But the Zebrano wood that was almost a Cadillac trademark for over a decade has been replaced by European-style aluminum trim, and eucalyptus wood is available. The front seats offer very good support and comfort. Included in the all-encompassing 1SF option pack is heating of both front and the outboard rear seats, and ventilation of the front seats, among many other amenities and gadgets. The rear contoured bench has good room for two adults in the outboard positions, but, as is the norm in cars these days, the center rear position is best for smaller people and shorter distances. Because of the shorter overall length, the new STS's trunk is slightly smaller than that of last year's car, but it's still large enough for plenty of luggage or several sets of gold clubs. Extensive soundproofing by both design and materials makes the STS relaxingly quiet on the road. It's a great car for touring, on any kind of road.

SAFETY: The new STS's structure has been enhanced for greater strength and occupant protection. Dual-stage front, front side, and side-curtain airbags are standard, as are 4-wheel ventilated antilock disc brakes, all-speed traction control, and the Stabilitrak stability enhancement system.

RIDE AND HANDLING: Why the switch from front- to rear-wheel drive? Front-wheel drive gives good steady-speed traction in moderate driving, but running large amounts of power through the wheels that steer adds complexity and can result in annoying torque reactions - torque steer - through the steering wheel. Also, as weight is transferred rearwards under acceleration, a powerful front-wheel drive car will lose traction. For the best performance in a high-powered car, rear- or all-wheel drive is better than front-wheel drive. Any slight advantage of front-wheel drive in low-speed, steady-state conditions can be made up for with modern stability and traction control systems, and Cadillac's Stabilitrak is one of the best of those. The Sigma platform has been enhanced for the STS, with even greater rigidity than the CTS or SRX. The fully-independent suspension uses a short-and-long arm setup in the front, with a multi-link rear, with moderately-sized stabilizer bars at both ends. Sachs (yes, German) hydraulic shocks are standard, but my test car was equipped with the ``Magnetic Ride'' (MR) suspension as part of the extensive 1SF option package. This has been a high-tech Cadillac feature for several years, and allows real-time adjustment of shock damping by electronic sensors and actuators interacting with magnetic fluid in the shocks. It keeps the tires in solid contact with the pavement, provides a firm-but-comfortable ride, and enhances the STS's cornering abilities. The 2005 STS is a Cadillac that is as happy being pushed on a challenging road as it is to be cruising down the Interstate.

PERFORMANCE: Cadillac's Northstar engine was a gem when it was introduced in 1993, and has only improved with age. The aluminum alloy 4.6-liter dual overhead cam V8, with 320 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 325 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm, now has variable valve timing on all four camshafts and new intake and exhaust manifolds, among other high-tech features, and is coupled to a new five-speed automatic transmission with manual-shift mode. The five-speed is just what the STS has needed for years - the more closely-spaced ratios give a smoother, more-refined driving experience in automatic mode, and the ability to easily shift manually improves the sport driving experience. And make no mistake, this is a Cadillac that likes to play in the twisties. In everyday driving, put it in ``D'' and the electronic and hydraulic circuitry in the transmission and the engine's fine low-speed and midrange torque takes care of the rest. For added enjoyment, move the shift lever over to ``Driver Shift Control'' mode and let the Northstar rev. There is a healthy dose of acceleration, accompanied by a fine V8 growl.

CONCLUSIONS: The 2005 Cadillac STS makes a run on the world's best luxury cars with distinctive style and rear-wheel drive performance.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine Type dual overhead cam aluminum alloy
• V8 with variable valve timing
• Engine Size 4.6 liters / x cu. in.
• Horsepower 320 @ 6,400 rpm
• Torque (lb-ft) 315 @ 4,400 rpm
• Transmission 5-speed electronically-controlled
• automatic with manual-shift mode
• Wheelbase / Length 116.4 in. / 196.3 in.
• Curb Weight 3,921 lbs.
• Pounds Per Horsepower 12.3
• Fuel Capacity 17.5 gal.
• Fuel Requiremen 91 octane unleaded premium gasoline recommended
• Tires P255/45 VR17 Michelin Pilot mxm4 xse
• Brakes, front/rear vented disc / vented disc, antilock,
  traction, and stability control standard
• Suspension, front/rear independent short-and-long arm /
  independent multi-link
• Drivetrain front engine, rear-wheel drive
  

PERFORMANCE
EPA Fuel Economy miles per gallon city / highway / observed : 17 / 26 / 20
0 to 60 mph 6.0 sec.

History of Cadillac

ON THE BANKS Of the Gironde River in southwest France stand the ruins of a fourteenth-century fortress, which once dominated the people of the valley and controlled the river traffic. In its time the castle was a symbol of the prestige and power wielded by the medieval aristocracy. It was called Cadillac. The men of the family were military leaders through the centuries, but historical fame came chiefly to Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who led a French army into the Great Lakes region and founded the city of Detroit in 1701.

Although the name has since been used in many ways, it was a car that restored to it the prestige and status that the ancient lords enjoyed. Cadillac has become a byword in the English language, connoting the epitome of excellence, the best of anything.
The car that A. P. Brush and Henry M. Leland built in 1902 was a modest beginning for an automobile that became America's status symbol. It was a one-cylinder, low-priced machine with chain drive, not too different from many other makes of the period. But Leland, an experienced engineer, soon decided to produce an expensive, finelytooled car - a prestige machine. In 1905 his new model appeared, one of the first four-cylinder cars on the American market.

In 1908, Leland staged the most astounding demonstration that the automotive world had ever seen. He took three Cadillacs to England, and after putting them through their paces, stripped each car down to the last nut and bolt. The thousands of parts were then mixed up thoroughly and Leland's workmen proceeded to assemble three Cadillacs. When they were finished the amazed British officials saw the. cars complete a 500-mile speed test without a hitch. It was obvious that each car contained parts from the other two, but the precision standardization during manufacture made sure that any collection of components would work together. At that time no other car in the world could pass a test of this sort, but it was a routine operation for Leland who had worked in the Colt revolver factory where this type of standardization was inaugurated.

In 1909, Leland sold his company to General Motors, but the new corporation wisely retained him as head of the Cadillac Division. Leland guided the development of his creation with a sure hand. Cadillac became the pacemaker for the industry and pioneered many devices that we have today. By the time Leland left in 1917 to design the Lincoln, the Cadillac was firmly established as one of the foremost American prestige cars.

The innovations introduced by Cadillac are among the most important developments in the automombile. In 1911, Leland purchased a revolutionary device from the Dayton Engineering Laboratory Com pany - the initials spell the now familiar DELCO. It was Charles F. Kettering's self-starter. Among other things the self-starter meant that women could finally handle a car by themselves, for the arm-wrenching job of cranking a car was too much for their delicate bones. It also spelled the eventual death of the steam cars whose major selling point lay in the lack of a crank handle. In addition to the self-starter, Leland pioneered the use of the generator-battery system which made .headlights, ignition, and eventually heaters much more practical. By 1912 the first timing chain appeared on the Cadillac, in 1914 the first production V-8 engine, and in 1928 the first dependable synchromesh transmission.

The Cadillacs of the early 1930's were classics of automotive design. Big, lean, powerful, they slowly began to dominate the market. With their introduction of the V-16 engine, they outsold all the other luxury cars of the period. Year after year, as other makes were put out of business by the economic fluctuations, the Cadillac continued its rise. In reality, the Cadillac lost money in the thirties, but the advantage of being in a big organization lay in the fact that other divisions could support a financially embarrassed section. This was why the Cadillac survived a period that meant the eventual finish of almost every other American luxury car.

Just prior to World War II Cadillac discontinued the massive V-12 and V-16 engines in favor of the more efficient V-8 and they entered the postwar period as the leader of their price range. Unfor tunately Cadillac, because of its prestige, became a style leader as well. In 1948 the Cadillac division started the tail-fin trend which blossomed luxuriantly throughout the industry. Soon there was intense competition among manufacturers, not in performance or durability, but in the size and shape of the rear-end outrigging. Tail fins are required for aerodynamic stability on airplanes but no one has yet proved their value on a touring car, except as adornments. The tail-fin fad spread like a plague, erupting in huge proportions on even the smaller cars, and, like a world epidemic, finally crossed the Atlantic to appear on some European machines. It is a tribute to the prestige of Cadillac as a pace-setter in style, that the fin disease spread so widely, and one may only hope that the shark-shaped appendages will finally wither. When they do, it is quite probable that the next trend will be pioneered by Cadillac.

However, under the hood, the efficient and durable V-8 engine spells pure function. Cadillac engines last a long time with proper maintenance and produce an amazing amount of power. Before the development of the Corvette engine, these V-8's were used in many racing machines such as the British-made Allard.

Today the Cadillac is perhaps the most luxurious of American cars, and in the Eldorado-Biarritz model, can be the most expensive. Almost everything is power assisted or electrically operated. Air condi tioning makes hot weather touring an extremely pleasant experience,, and radio-telephones keep the occupants in touch with the outside world, for the interior of a Cadillac is a world in itself. Only the addition of television is required to make this car a traveling living room where owners can relax in utter comfort as the world speeds by the glare-proof windows.
Purists may decry the sybaritic luxury of the Cadillac, but one must remember that the American public whole-heartedly favors this type of automobile. The Cadillac Division of General Motors does not want for customers, and the car itself serves as an example to other manufacturers who follow in its sumptuous path. One can be sure that the ancient lords of Cadillac would have approved of the car that is made in their name.

History of Toyota (post-war) : An era of rapid expansion

In December 1945, Toyota was given permission by the United States military to startup up peacetime production. Toyota Motor Corporation had learned from the American War Department’s industrial training program, which worked on process improvement and employee development; the program, abandoned in 1945 by the United States, lived on in Japan as Taiichi Ohno built kaizen and lean manufacturing around it. (From globalspec).
After World War II, Toyota was kept busy making trucks, but by 1947 it began making the Model SA, called the Toyopet, a name to stay with Toyota for decades, albeit attached to different cars. The Toyopet was not powerful and had a low top speed – 55 mph from a 27 horsepower engine – but it was designed to be cheap, and to handle the rough roads of postwar Japan. In the five years the SA Toyopet was made, 215 were made. The SD may have been more successful; this taxi version saw 194 copies in just two years. The SF Toyopet was the first truly popular Toyota car, with a modified engine (still putting out 27 horsepower) and a taxi version. An RH model with a 48 horsepower engine came out shortly after By 1955, Toyota was making 8,400 cars per year; by 1965, 600,000 cars per year.
In addition to all these cars, Toyota started producing a civilian truck named the Land Cruiser. Styled like Jeeps, the original Land Cruisers were, according to Schreier, based heavily on the legendary Dodge half-ton weapons carrier as well as the Bantam (predecessor of the Jeep) They used a bigger engine than the Jeep (their Chevrolet-clone six) and a size and configuration more like the Dodge weapons carrier, whose capacity it shares (one half ton).
Starting in 1955, Toyota produced its first luxury car, the Crown, powered by a four cylinder, 1.5-liter engine with a three-speed column shift, followed by the 1-liter Corona; only 700 cars per month were made in 1955, but this rose to 11,750 in 1958, and 50,000 per month in 1964.

Biography of Sakichi Toyoda

Sakichi Toyoda (February 14, 1867 – October 30, 1930) was a Japanese inventor and industrialist. He was born in Kosai, Shizuoka. The son of a poor carpenter, Toyoda is referred to as the "King of Japanese Inventors". He is often referred to as the father of the Japanese industrial revolution. He is also the founder of Toyota Industries Co., Ltd.
He invented numerous weaving devices. His most famous invention was the automatic power loom in which he implemented the principle of Jidoka (autonomous automation). The principle of Jidoka, which means that the machine stops itself when a problem occurs, became later a part of the Toyota Production System.
Toyoda developed the concept of 5 Whys: When a problem occurs, ask 'why' five times to try to find the source of the problem, then put into place something to prevent the problem from recurring. This concept is used today as part of applying Six Sigma methodologies to solve problems, improve quality, and reduce costs.
Sakichi Toyoda had two younger brothers, Sasuke Toyoda and Heikichi Toyoda (1875–1954, father of Eiji Toyoda). Sakichi's three children were: son Kiichiro Toyoda (1895–1952), founder of Toyota Motor Corporation, and daughter Aiko Toyoda. He was awarded the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon and the Order of the Sacred Treasures Third Class.

History of Toyota

The official Toyota history is, like that of most companies, fairly glossy and bare-bones. An article by Konrad Schreier, printed in the Complete Book of Toyota (a bit of a misnomer since the book is mainly a bunch of reprints of then-current, gushing, “no criticism allowed” car reviews), brings up a large number of missing pieces - as does The Standard Catalog of Imported Cars.
Sakichi Toyoda, a prolific inventor, created the Toyoda Automatic Loom company based on his groundbreaking designs, one of which was licensed to a British concern for 1 million yen; this money was used to help found Toyota Motor Company, which was supported by the Japanese government partly because of the military applications. The Japanese relied on foriegn trucks in the war in Manchuria, but with the Depression, money was scarce. Domestic production would reduce costs, provide jobs, and make the country more independent. By 1936, just after the first successful Toyoda vehicles were produced, Japan demanded that any automakers selling in the country needed to have a majority of stockholders from Japan, along with all officers, and stopped nearly all imports.
Toyoda's car operations were placed in the hands of Kiichiro Toyoda, Sakichi Toyoda’s son; they started experimenting with two cylinder engines at first, but ended up copying the Chevrolet 65-horsepower straight-six, using the same chassis and gearbox with styling copied from the Chrysler Airflow. The first engine was produced in 1934 (the Type A), the first car and truck in 1935 (the Model A1 and G1, respectively), and its second car design in 1936 (the model AA). In 1937, Toyota Motor Company was split off. From 1936 to 1943, only 1,7,57 cars were made – 1,404 sedans and 353 phaetons (model AB), but Toyoda found more success building trucks and busses. The Toyota KB, a 4x4 produced starting in 1941, was a two-ton truck similar to the prewar KC; it had a loading capacity of 1.5 tons and could run up to about 43 mph. The GB was based on the peacetime, 1.5 ton G1 truck, which in turn was based on the Model A1 cars.
The first Toyoda truck was roughly a one-ton to one and a half-ton design, conventional in nature, using (after 1936) an overhead valve six-cylinder engine that appears to have been a clone of the Chevrolet engine of the time: indeed, a large number of parts were interchangeable, and Toyoda trucks captured in the war were serviced by the Allies with Chevrolet components. There was also a forty-horsepower four cylinder model, very similar to the six cylinder in design but rather underpowered for a truck with a full ton of capacity.