Liberty V-12 Model A Airplane Engine, Lincoln Motor Company, circa 1917

Summary

The 400-horsepower Liberty V-12 engine powered military aircraft during World War I. When pacifist and General Motors head Billy Durant wouldn't let Cadillac build the engines, Cadillac founder Henry Leland quit in protest, formed Lincoln Motor Company, and manufactured 6,500 of them. Packard, Ford, Marmon, and -- after Durant relented -- Buick and Cadillac also built Liberty engines.

The 400-horsepower Liberty V-12 engine powered military aircraft during World War I. When pacifist and General Motors head Billy Durant wouldn't let Cadillac build the engines, Cadillac founder Henry Leland quit in protest, formed Lincoln Motor Company, and manufactured 6,500 of them. Packard, Ford, Marmon, and -- after Durant relented -- Buick and Cadillac also built Liberty engines.

Artifact

Photographic print

Subject Date

circa 1918

 On Exhibit

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

00.1334.219

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 7.5 in

Width: 9.5 in

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