By: Rénald Fortier
Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
A prince and his Cadillac; or, How Prince Olav of house Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, heir to the throne of Norway, got his first jalopy – with information on other miniature Cadillacs, part 1
A lilliputian Cadillacs which might be the one mentioned in the title of this article, 1912-13. Anon., “La plus petite voiturette automobile au monde.” La Science et la Vie, August 1913, 275.
Hei, min lesevenn, hvordan går det? Det går bra. Takk for at du spør.
Temaet for denne utgaven av vår fantastiske blogg / bulletin / dings er... Sorry, sorry, yours truly forgot that I was conversing with you in Norwegian.
The topic of this edition of our wonderful blog / bulletin / thingee is an automobile. But not any type of automobile. Nay. A Cadillac. Yes, yes, a Cadillac.
Only once in my long life have I had the opportunity of placing my curatorial posterior on the plush seat of a Cadillac. A front seat no less. On the passenger side, which was safer for everyone. The vehicle in question was a small crossover sport utility vehicle. Black. Very classy, and totally unexpected. You see, my reading friend, that vehicle was a rental car. (Hello, EP!) I kid you not but I do digress.
Our story began with an apprentice locomotive engineer born in Warrington, England, in April 1874. Frederick Stanley “Fred” Bennett was one of the many, and I do mean many, young male Homo sapiens who fell under the spell of an all too often noisy, smelly and unreliable contraption known as the automobile. Indeed, he put together a gasoline powered tricycle around 1897.
By early 1903 at the latest, Bennett was an employee of a small English firm, Anglo-American Motor Car Company Limited. It was at that time that he read about a new American automobile, the Cadillac Runabout / Tonneau, a vehicle retrospectively known as the Cadillac Model A, made by Cadillac Automobile Company.
Founded in August 1902, Cadillac Automobile was formed from the remnants of Henry Ford Company, a firm formed in November 1901 from the remnants of Detroit Automobile Company, a firm formed in August 1899. Being the perfectionist that he was, Henry Ford, an individual mentioned many times in our wonderful blog / bulletin / thingee since august 2018, was not easy to work with. The disputes between Ford and the investors who were financing him had played a non-negligible role in the collapse of Detroit Automobile and Henry Ford, the firm of course, and the creation of Henry Ford, again the firm, and Cadillac Automobile. End of digression.
Inspired by Bennett’s enthusiasm, Anglo-American Motor Car imported a Runabout. That vehicle was the very first Cadillac automobile imported into the United Kingdom and one of the first American automobiles imported into that country.
And yes, the Runabout was the first automobile produced in any number by Cadillac Automobile.
Bennett was sufficiently impressed by the Cadillac Runabout to become the first representative of Cadillac Automobile in the United Kingdom. He was seemingly based in London, England.
Convincing the well off and posh British chaps who had the means to acquire the rather expensive automobiles available in 1903 and in later years that the vehicles produced by Cadillac Automobile were at least as reliable as any equivalent vehicle produced in the United Kingdom, or in France for that matter, was not easy.
In July 1903, Bennett and the Runabout took part in a hill climbing competition organised by the Midland Automobile Club. They did very well, a success which surprised more than a few observers, including the judges.
Bennett drove the Runabout in September 1903 during the 1 600 or so kilometre (1 000 or so miles) reliability trial organised by the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, an organisation known from 1907 onward as the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), and the organisation which was the governing body for motorsport in the United Kingdom. As you may well imagine, many of the automobiles which took part in that gruelling event did not cross the finish line. Bennett’s Runabout crossed that line with flying colours.
One could argue that this dynamic duo had been lucky. You see, one of the wheels of the Cadillac got smashed one day. Keeping his cool, Bennett rushed to the nearest train station and boarded a train to London. He then rushed to a friend’s shop and acquired a sample automobile wheel imported from the United States some time before. Bennett immediately re-rushed to the train station and boarded a train to rejoin his crippled automobile.
Realising that the hole in the new wheel was smaller than the hub of the Cadillac’s axle, Bennett knocked on the door of a nearby residence and asked the owner if he could heat a poker (and some iron rods?) in the fireplace of his chimney. He then enlarged the hole in the wheel until it could be fitted on the hub of the axle of the Cadillac. As this was done, Bennett’s mechanic completed repairs on the axle and steering gear of the automobile.
I kid you not.
By the time the Runabout’s repairs were completed, the RAC’s official observer had left the scene, certain as he was that Bennett was out of the running. The latter asked that a substitute observer be made available, however. His request was granted. Bennett and the Runabout were therefore able to complete the day’s run – and eventually complete the RAC’s reliability trial.
That success did not go unnoticed. Over the following weeks, an increasing number of people knocked on Anglo-American Motor Car’s door. An increasing number of them actually bought vehicles.
A milestone in the continuing efforts made by Bennett was the so-called standardisation test he conducted in March 1908. As part of that test, he supervised the disassembly of a trio of Cadillac Model K automobiles and their reassembly from a pile of their mixed up parts. The reassembled automobiles ran like the proverbial sewing machines. The board of directors of the RAC was so impressed that, in January 1909, it awarded Bennett or, more precisely, Anglo-American Motor Car the 1908 edition of the prestigious Dewar Trophy.
In November 1913, that same board of directors awarded a second Dewar Trophy to Bennett or, more precisely, a firm founded in late June or early July 1910, F.S. Bennett Limited – a first for that annual award which rewarded the most meritorious automobile related realisation / performance made in the United Kingdom during a particular year. Oddly enough, the tests surrounding the road trials of a Cadillac Model 30 automobile which gave rise to said trophy had taken place in (September and?) October 1912.
What was so special about that automobile, you ask, my reading friend? Well, the Model 30 was the first production automobile fitted with a revolutionary apparatus, an electric starter designed and made by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco), which also ignited the air and gasoline mixture in its engine and operated its headlamps.
And yes, Delco was most definitely an American firm.
And yes, again, one could argue that Bennett introduced the electric starter into Europe.
The miniature Cadillac made by J. Lockwood & Company Limited, London, England, fall of 1912. Frederick Stanley Bennett’s daughter, Mona Bennett, was / is at the wheel. Her brother, Geoffrey Frederick Bennett, was / is at her side. The stuffed ape in the concealable rumble / Dickey seat was / is a tad disturbing, do you not think? Norsk Teknisk Museum, C 19538.
Bennett was so proud of the Model 30’s starter that he decided to promote it far and wide by commissioning an English firm, J. Lockwood & Company Limited, to build a miniature (2:5 scale) yet very accurate version of a Model 30 roadster which would be powered by, you guessed it, a Delco electric starter. How accurate was this vehicle, you ask, my car nut reading friend? Well, it was pretty darn accurate. And yes, it had a horn.
The resulting vehicle was cute as a button, even though it might have been painted grey. Although mainly designed to carry two small Home sapiens, in other words children, it could carry a third, very small Home sapiens in a concealable rumble / Dickey seat.
If truth be told, the miniature Cadillac was seemingly designed around Bennett’s young daughter, Mona Bennett.
The miniature Model 30, quickly christened Baby Cadillac by amused British journalists, could travel up to 24 or so kilometres (15 or so miles) on a single charge of its battery, and this at a speed of almost 19.5 kilometres/hour (12 or so miles/hour).
Small the baby Cadillac might have been but having it run over your foot would nonetheless have been a most unpleasant experience.
The miniature Cadillac at the XIIIme Salon de l’Automobile, du Cycle et des Sports with three members of the F.S. Bennett Limited / Cadillac Motor Car Company team, Paris, France. The gentleman on the right might be Frederick Stanley Bennett. Anon., “Accessoires – La voiturette Cadillac-Lilliput.” La revue de l’automobile, 25 December 1912, 477.
As you may well imagine, Bennett’s baby did not go unnoticed when it turned up at the Olympia Motor Show, held in London between 8 and 16 November 1912, and at the XIIIme Salon de l’Automobile, du Cycle et des Sports, held in Paris, France, between 7 and 22 December 1912. Would you believe that the mini Cadillac caught the eye of Armand Fallières, a gentleman mentioned in a March 2022 issue of our stunning blog / bulletin / thingee, as the latter strolled through the Grand Palais des Beaux-Arts? Indeed, it did. Better yet, the French president asked several questions, which were promptly answered of course.
And, yes, you are quite correct, my reading friend, there was at least one full size automobile on display at the stand of F.S. Bennett in London and at the Parisian stand of F.S. Bennett and / or Cadillac Motor Car Company, a corporate identity adopted in October 1905 when Cadillac Automobile merged with another American automobile manufacturer, Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company.
Better yet, there was also an automobile whose chassis had been cut open to show what was going on inside. And yes, some of the components might have moved, slowly of course. Sadly, the Parisian authorities politely refused to allow the F.S. Bennett / Cadillac Motor Car team to connect the small electric lights used in London to illuminate the movable parts.
And yes, at the time, Cadillac Motor Car was a division / subsidiary of General Motors Company. That subsidiarisation had actually taken place in July 1909.
And yes, again, General Motors was mentioned in several / many issues of our stupefying blog / bulletin / thingee, and this since March 2018, but back to our story.
An article on the Paris motor show published by the Paris daily L’Auto had a few words to say about the baby Cadillac. You may wish to note that the words in question, translated here, were / are a tad disturbing.
Have you seen the little Cadillac? It is a darling of a car. I was told it was built for the dwarf Delphin. In fact, it is very possible. But who will tell me for which pygmy Alin and Liautard built the small triple berline which appears, under glass, in the Grégoire stand. I think it is for the Arts et Métiers. But I am not any surer than that.
While yours truly has no intention of drive you batty with gloses that will turn out to be longer that the previous paragraph, I would be remiss if I did not provide you with some brief comments.
Delphin Sirvaux, a little person better known as Delphin, was a relatively well known French singer and movie actor.
Alin, Liautard & Compagnie, on the other hand, was a French coachbuilder which sometimes / often worked with a French automobile and aeroengine maker by the name of Grégoire & Compagnie.
I would again be remiss if I did not point out that, back in 2009, in an illustrated web essay put online by what was then the Canada Aviation Museum, today’s Canada Aviation and Space Museum, in Ottawa, Ontario, yours truly had stated that the word Gyp in the name Grégoire-Gyp given to an aeroplane and aeroengine made by Grégoire & Compagnie might have been partly inspired by the writer pseudonym of Countess de Martel de Janville, born Sibylle Aimée Marie-Antoinette Gabrielle de Riquetti de Mirabeau, a right-wing anarchist / anti-Semite / society figure / writer. I was out to lunch. That word was actually an acronym based on the name of the firm’s founder, Pierre-Joseph Grégoire.
The small triple berline, on the other hand, might, I repeat might, refer to a magnificent miniature version (1:5 scale) of a real automobile based on a 1912 Grégoire 14/24 HP. That luxurious and unique machine, able to transport no less than 6 people, had been ordered by a Russian prince. It might have attracted more attention than any other vehicle on display at the XIIIme Salon de l’Automobile, du Cycle et des Sports. Yes, the big one, not the model. In any event, it certainly caught the eye of the aforementioned Fallières.
Would you believe that this vehicle subsequently became the property of tsarina Aleksandra Feodorovna “Alix” Romanova, born Princess Alix Viktoria Helene Luise Beatrix of house Hessen und bei Rhein, spouse of tsar Nikolai II, born Nikolai Aleksandrovich “Nicky” Romanov?
The expression Arts et Métiers, finally, referred / refers to the Musée des arts et métiers, the oldest science and technology museum on planet Earth and a component of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, a renowned French higher learning institution specialising in science and technology education and in the dissemination of such knowledge. The museum is well worth the visit, trust me, but back to our story.
And yes, I know, the word count of my gloses was / is more than 5 times that of the text which originated them. Are you actually surprised? Cur uno verbo utimur, si quinque verba sic bene faciunt officium? Is that not a motto of museum curators around the world – and the bane of exhibit planners? (Hello EG, EP, VW, etc.!) Sorry, sorry. I digress, and…
You can translate that Latin sentence in your spare time. You have text to read, do you not? There might be a test.
And this is where we meet our princely automobile driver, Prince Olav of house Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, heir to the throne of Norway but born Alexander Edward Christian Frederik of house Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, prince of Denmark.
At some point in late 1912, the spouse of King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra, born Princess Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia “Alix” of house Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, heard about the miniature Cadillac put together at the request of the aforementioned Bennett.
Yours truly has a feeling that the royal consort heard about the lilliputian automobile as early as November 1912, when it took part in the Olympia Motor Show.
For some reason or other, Queen Alexandra thought that this vehicle would make an excellent Christmas present for one of her grandsons, Prince Olav.
It should be noted that contemporary press reports noted that Prince Olav was the favourite grandson of Queen Alexandra. If true, one had / has to wonder if the future kings Edward VIII and George VI, respectively Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David and Albert Frederick Arthur George “Bertie” of house Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, knew they were outranked by a foreigner in their grandmother’s favours.
A brief digression if I may. Prince Olav’s co-progenitor, Prince Carl of Denmark, born Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel of house Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, had changed the name of his 2 year old son to Olav the day he, yes, the Prince Carl of Denmark, was crowned king of Norway, under the name of Haakon VII, in June 1906.
Olav, as we both know, was a good Norwegian name, just like Haakon actually.
It is interesting to see how some monarchs have changed their first names to fit a changing situation. Indeed, monarchs have been known to change their family name. The Windsors were / are a case in point. Before July 1917, their family name was Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Faced with the ever increasing outbreak of Germanophobia sweeping across the United Kingdom since the onset of the First World War, the British government thought that it might be a good idea to sweep under the rug the Germanic lineage of the British royal family.
And yes, the co-progenitor of the future kings Edward VIII and George VI, Edward VII, was born Albert Edward “Bertie” of house Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and…
Does the house name of King Haakon VII ring a bell, my royalist reading friend? Why, it should. You do know Prince Philip, born Philippos of Greece and Denmark of house Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a royal spouse mentioned in January 2021, March 2023 and May 2023 issues of our amaaazing blog / bulletin / thingee, do you not?
And yes, there are indeed lots of Schleswigs, Holsteins, Sonderburgs and Glücksburgs in this edition of our stupefying blog / bulletin / thingee. What can I say, that is the way it is. But back to our Cadillac.
Given that the miniature Cadillac was scheduled to take part in the XIIIme Salon de l’Automobile, du Cycle et des Sports, Queen Alexandra had to bide her time. Indeed, by the time that automobile, cycle and sports show came to an end, several individuals had indicated a willingness to knead the necessary volume of dough to acquire the lilliputian automobile. The royal consort’s pole position meant that she won the jackpot, however. Incidentally, the baby Cadillac allegedly impoverished Queen Alexandra by a sum comparable to the cost of a full size automobile. If yours truly may say (type?) so, that was / is one heck of a Christmas present. It must be nice to have moolah.
And yes, someones seemingly had to scramble to move the miniature Cadillac from Paris to the royal estate in Sandringham, England, in time for Christmas.
In order not to get in the way of those someones, those unrecognised people without whom the mighty of this world would have perished, would perish and will perish, why not wait until next week to discover what happened next?
And here is the test: What is an aeroplane?
Answer 1 – True
Answer 2 – False
Answer 3 – Both of the above
Carpe diem! What am I saying? Carpe decennium! Carpe centuria!
Rénald Fortier
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