12 Cars That Define Cadillac At Age 110

Nothing lasts forever. Circuit City is gone, Kinko's is fading, Kodak is on life support, and GM alone has killed off Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, and Hummer. But though it has skittered along the edge of oblivion, Cadillac is still around. And as of August 22, Cadillac has been here for 110 years.

That's 110 years of memorable cars, lousy cars, and a lot of cars no one cares about. But it's not just great cars or terrible ones that define a brand's heritage and image. It's the combined history. So Popular Mechanics rifled through Cadillac's history to pick the five greatest cars it has built, the five lousiest, and one that's the greatest of them all.

These are all production Cadillacs—no concept cars, no one-off specials, no presidential limousines and no Popemobiles. These are the cars that once elevated Cadillac into "The Standard of the World" or pushed GM's luxury division to the brink of death.

The Fab Five
1908 Cadillac

It was essentially the first production car with truly interchangeable standardized parts, and that was a breakthrough in 1908. After demonstrating this interchangeability in Great Britain, Cadillac won the Dewar Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club. That win inspired the "Standard of the World" slogan that has stuck with Cadillac ever since.