The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-03-06
4 REAL THRILLER,
THIS SECRET STORY
OF FIRST EIGHT"
n,,vn inside Facts About
W." aIrth Of Cadillac V-TyPe
Engine.

interesting bit OF new news
An ardayS is contained in a
OF now first told by an official
Of the Cadillac company aoou.
Oh ,ha designing and building OF the
en;ssbt-cylinder v-type engine which
s s,ss introduced by the Cadillac IN
,h;s country as an automobile
lni a,or piant in August, 1914.
po Mccall White. designer OF
engine, and now vice president
.ne tha Cadillac Company, came
o. his country from England in
loounito and was introduced as
~ az David Wilson, of the Phoenix
,Sa r,,facturing Company" With
sna assistant he went to various
eaetorIes in the East. where pat
terms were made and parts Quilt
~ his specifications. For the
most part the work was done IN
obscure shops. AS an example OF
The precautions taken, the forked
snnnecting rods were manufactur-
~ IN one place and the straight
~eonnectine rods in another. so no
oua would associate them and gain
a possible clue.
The first crankcase casting was
r,as made In a small foundry IN
worcester. Mass, at about mid
nipht. and the sand vas cleaned
n,,f Of the casting in the light Of
Automobile headlamps in the yard
behind the building.
The parts wer shipped to De-
troit separately. The cylinder
blocks made the journey in a Pull
man car.
The assembling continued day
| and night for several weeks in an
aid one-story shack on the bank OF
the Detroit river, several miles
from the Cadillac factory. The
only approach to the building was
through q devious alleyway. The
few persons who knew the secret
and worked on the engine, when
| they visited the hidden worship,
| left their cars several blocks away
on a main street and never ap-
preached the building in groups.
All of the windows in the little
shop were frosted, and armed men
guarded the building day and
night.
Out of the many thousands Of
men employed by the company,
perhaps % knew the secret. The
drafting was done behind locke1
doors in a downtown Office build
ing, and at night the drawings
were locked in a vault.
The first engine was finished at
about five o'clock one afternoon.
Mr.. White and a number of other
officials were present when 1t
started to turn over on its own
power for the first time. They all
stood around the engine with a
feeling that a big Job had been
completed. Here Is the quietest
demmed engine in Detroit" is the
way Mr.. White. with a far-away
look in his eyes, is said to have
voiced his feelings.
When the car was tested It was
driven only in the back streets OF
Detroit. When the test driver
thought he saw anyone looking at
him suspiciously he opened the
cntout on n side, and to all
appearance was driving a four
| cylinder car. The idea prevailed
In the automobile world that the
Cadillac had something up It's
sleeve, and as a sort Of camouflage
a unique four-cylinder engine was
actually built. 1t had long cylind-
RS and many strange features.
The building Of this four-cy1inder
engine was covered up just enough
so that II would be sure to leak
out and it did.
The real truth was not known
until the Cadillac Company chose
to announce to the public that its
forthcoming product would be
driven by the first V-type eight
cylinder engine developed and built
in this country.