Most of you remember your first automobile. I remember well my first automobile, a bright red Corvair, made by Chevrolet. I obtained this automobile when I graduated from college in 1962. Subsequently, automobiles I owned were all from the Chevrolet family: an Impala, a Super sport and eventually another Impala. The Impala was the last automobile that I owned from any American Automobile Company. In 1971, I ventured into the foreign automobile market where I have remained. I remember my purchase of a Mercedes Benz, 250SE; it had a silver bottom, black top and black interior. I thought that it was an exceptional automobile. It even had air-conditioning.
When I drove to my parents for them to see it, my sister’s words were devastating. She asked, “Why did you purchase such an ugly automobile?” She questioned why I would spend a lot of money on a Mercedes Benz when most people from the neighborhood that wanted a high-end automobile opted for one that reflected their conclusion that they had gained a level of importance. So, I invite you to take this trip back to a time when the Cadillac was the dream automobile for many Blacks; the automobile that “indicated they had arrived,” back in the day.
Regardless of your age, you surely have heard of the love affair between Blacks and Cadillac. So, what do you know about this romance? You may be surprised to know that this love affair came by accident. In an internet opinion column, “African Americans Saved Cadillac,” posted on July 11, 2019, in Business News by Mebra Holyfield, a Memphis business owner, insight about this relationship is provided. According to Holyfield, and supported by other internet columns such as “Black People and Cadillacs” by Jeffey Kass, the Cadillac, introduced in 1903, was General Motor Corporation’s most expensive product and the top of the line. However, the great depression of the ‘30s caused the General Motors executive committee to meet to consider placing Cadillac on the chopping block. Nicholas Dreystadt, a gifted mechanic who had been placed in charge of the GM service department, was not invited but asked to be admitted to address the committee.
Dreystadt indicated that through his travels across the country, he observed a significant number of Black Americans waiting in the service departments of Cadillac dealerships. They were boxers, entertainers, lawyers, doctors and ministers. At the time, GM had a policy not to allow its dealerships to sell Cadillac to Blacks as they believed that selling to Blacks would not be good for the image of their luxury brand. Dreystadt, in interactions with Blacks, learned that they paid whites $300 to purchase a Cadillac for them. So, rather than whites getting monies that could go to General Motors, the policy was changed. As a result, in 1934, Cadillac sales increased by 70%, and on June 10, 1934, Dreystadt was made head of the Cadillac Division. From there, the relationship between Blacks and Cadillac blossomed through a diversity marketing campaign and a strong belief among Blacks that owning a Cadillac rather than owning a home made them appear to be special, important, and, ahead of the Joneses.
According to a 2018 study from the Marketer’s Guide to African American Millennials., the Escalade, Cadillac’s luxury sports utility vehicle, remains a favorite among many in the Black community and Blacks purchased 25% of the large Escalades in the prior year. Furthermore, Cadillac had over 30,000 Black workers, including many top-level executives. A friend asked me to think about the times that I saw a white driving an Escalade, suggesting that this was evidence that it was a car mainly for Blacks. Also, this same 2018 study indicated that Blacks and Cadillac maintain a close relationship today, just as they did, back in the day.
Those who were around in the ‘50s and ‘60s may recall seeing photos of people such as Mom’s Mabley, Redd Foxx, and other entertainers driving a Cadillac. I remember the great boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and his pink, Fish Tail, Cadillac. Blacks that were “somebody” drove a Cadillac. One of my colleagues told me that her father regularly owned a Cadillac. She also told me that even though their home might have been in disrepair, her father always had a new Cadillac that he kept “spitting” shine. Another colleague described how whenever it rained, his father went outside, wiped down his Cadillac and waxed it so that it was always as shinny as possible. Do you remember neighbors owning a Cadillac that was so long that it required two spaces in front of their homes for parking?
In the early ‘50s, a cousin thought that he was on top of the world when he purchased his powder blue, fish tail Cadillac. You could not tell him a thing; people stared at him as he drove through the streets. Then there was a close friend that shared his first experience behind the wheel of an automobile, at age 18. That automobile happened to be a Cadillac. This opportunity occurred when he was washing his father’s Cadillac because the fender skirt prevented him from washing the entire white-walled tired, he had to pull the car up a foot or two to reach the other half of the tire. You may recall that the Cadillac, as many other automobiles, had white-walled tires that many cleaned with brillo pads, back in the day.
Today we see Blacks driving automobiles such as Mercedes, BMW, Jaquar and Porsche. Do not think that the Cadillac has been replaced by these high-end automobiles. In the previously referenced study, Marketer’s Guide to African-American Millennials, Blacks have a 57% preference for a Cadillac compared to other demographics in the same age group. Thus, it is not a weird stereotype about Blacks and the Cadillac, as Blacks love for the Cadillac began by accident and continues today, just as it did back in the day.
