{"id":10923,"date":"2019-02-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studebaker.priemerhosting.com\/the-1912-cadillac-a-self-starter\/"},"modified":"2019-02-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T00:00:00","slug":"the-1912-cadillac-a-self-starter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studebakermuseum.org\/the-1912-cadillac-a-self-starter\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1912 Cadillac: A Self-Starter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-5833 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.studebakermuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cadillac-1-Web-Version-1024x732.jpg\" alt=\"1912 Cadillac\" width=\"495\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/studebakermuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cadillac-1-Web-Version-1024x732.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/studebakermuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cadillac-1-Web-Version-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/studebakermuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cadillac-1-Web-Version-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/studebakermuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cadillac-1-Web-Version-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/studebakermuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Cadillac-1-Web-Version-2048x1463.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/>In a major way the advent of the autonomous vehicles today compares closely with the arrival of the controversial horseless carriage over a century ago.\u00a0 Initially neither innovation was broadly embraced by the general public.<\/p>\n<p>The debate at the turn of the 20<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0century was why buy one of those new-fangled gas-powered, horseless carriages that were 1) difficult, even dangerous to start, 2) not dependable and 3) made an awful noise that scared horses and small children when you had behind the house the dependable old mare and buggy in the barn.<\/p>\n<p>The horse vs. automobile debate continued on for a decade and a half. It is of note that during this period of uncertainty a number of all-electric cars like the Detroit Electric, Studebaker Electric and Baker Electric were making great headway in attracting buyers.\u00a0 And why not, early horseless carriages with internal combustion engines could only be started using a hand crank.\u00a0 Hand cranks, if used improperly, resulted sometimes in serious injuries including broken bones and even death.\u00a0 An electric car could be started by pushing a button.\u00a0 Milady would naturally prefer the ease of driving an electric car.<\/p>\n<p>Why electric motors did not become the dominant power source in automobiles in the early 20<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0century was twofold.\u00a0 First, battery technology at the time was primitive and provided little range.\u00a0 Second, on February 27, 1911 in Detroit inventor Charles Kettering demonstrated his electric automobile starter on a Cadillac\u2019s motor with the press of a button.\u00a0 In 1912 Cadillac put the electric starter on its Model 30 1912 Cadillac and the new invention changed everything.\u00a0 The shift from range-limited electric propelled cars to ones powered by internal combustion engines was immediate and the rest is history.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the Author<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>St. Joseph Michigan resident Dar Davis is a life-long automobile enthusiast.\u00a0 In the late 60s he worked briefly for GM as a clay modeler.\u00a0 He has written for 19 years a weekly Sunday car column for The Herald Palladium newspaper.\u00a0 Dar founded and ran for 13 years the Lake Bluff Concours d&#8217;Elegance (formerly the Krasl Concours) in St. Joseph, a car show even that raised funds initially for the Krasl Art Center, then for Hospice at Home.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>About the Series<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>This series of essays explores the vehicles that made up our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.studebakermuseum.org\/?exhibition=ten-cars-that-changed-the-world\">Ten Cars that Changed the World<\/a> exhibition.\u00a0 The exhibition was a partnership with the <a href=\"https:\/\/autohistory.org\/\">Society of Automotive Historians<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Image courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/visitsouthbend.com\/\">Visit South Bend<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a major way the advent of the autonomous vehicles today compares closely with the arrival of the controversial horseless carriage over a century ago.\u00a0 Initially neither innovation was broadly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-exhibitions","category-ten-cars-that-changed-the-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - 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