Cadillac introduced a four-cylinder Model D in 1905, but their single-cylinder cars were sufficiently popular that they remained in production through 1908. That year, a team of three Model K Cadillacs triumphed in the Dewar competition in England, being disassembled, their parts scrambled, reassembled, and easily started. This demonstration of Henry Leland’s precision manufacture earned Cadillac the Dewar Trophy and led to the slogan “The Standard of the World.”

However, under-seat engines were becoming passé, so Cadillac disguised the fact by mounting a dummy hood over the front axle on 1905 models, with a vertical radiator at the front. New single-cylinder models for 1906 were the K and M, which differed only in wheelbase (the M was two inches longer). For 1907 the front fender contour was flattened and a factory-installed Victoria top was offered.

Cadillac’s Victoria Runabout is often called “Tulip” because of the shape of the seat.

This car was completed on 2 June 1906 and shipped to Foss Hughes Motor Car Company, the Philadelphia dealer. Its early history is not known, but in the 1980s it was in the famed Harrah’s Collection at Reno, as attested by a certificate in the car’s file. It does not seem to have been in any of the dispersal sales. It was acquired by the Merrick Auto Museum in 1998 from Walter Cox of Naples, Texas.

After an 1,100-hour-plus restoration, it appears now much as it did when new, with a maroon body but with pinstriping of gold and black, versus the original carmine. The black buttoned leather seating is original, with new stuffing, and matches the black Victoria top. Behind the tulip seat is a duck-tail compartment for small items. Rushmore acetylene headlamps complement brass kerosene side and taillamps. The undercarriage and wheels are a bright crimson, the latter mounted with all-white tires.