Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac was a French adventurer and explorer in the second half of the 18th century who made his fortune in the New World and even went to be governor of Louisiana. Today we remember him as the founder of Detroit. He went rich by trading beaver-furs and selling alcohol to the natives. By contemporaries he was depicted as a selfish man and a complete scoundrel, whose politics for France failed because of his need to think of himself first.The luxury car Cadillac we all know is for sure named after him. For the USA Cadillac was a status symbol, as Rolls-Royce was for the old world. You may remember the “Pink Cadillac” of Dennis Quaid or “Arizona Dreams” with Johnny Depp becoming a car-seller. Just two examples among much representing the age of huge gasoline engines which is almost over. The age of electric cars may be represented by another name? Antoine de la Mothe took the name “Cadillac” from a small village in his native Gascogne when he made himself aristocrat. It is a fact: Detroit became the capital of automobiles. Now it looks like a jungle. And no one remembers Antoine, that bad example of a “Mousquetaire”.
