The engine and chassis were shipped to Cincinnati where Kettering and Chryst, who was now a part of the Delco organization, picked it up. They drove it to Dayton, arriving in the early hours of the morning wet, cold, and mud-splattered. The engine was put on a Stevens-Duryea car owned by Kettering. It was christened “Old Steve” and became a guinea pig to rank in motor car history with “Suburban Sixty.”
Almost 40 years after the invention of the self-starter, Kettering and Deeds sit across from each other at the old desk which they formerly shared. The occasion was “Deeds Day” at Denison University, where this desk is now preserved.
Detroit is a rumor factory. If the work had been carried on there, the whole city would have known about it. It was therefore necessary to carry out the experiments in Dayton and in secrecy. Deeds turned the cows out of his barn and used it as a machine shop. All the machinery was installed at night and most of the work was done while Dayton slept. The secret was well kept. Deeds and Kettering improved the Hall engine and then took “Old Steve” to Toledo, where Leland gave it a drastic tryout. It stood up under every test, proving that the V-8 principle was right.
Leland now entered enthusiastically into preparations for his Cadillac V-8. Secrecy was still necessary. He therefore rented a shop in Worcester, Massachusetts, and brought over D. McCall White who had built the British Napier Eight to design the car. White did his work well. In 1914 the Cadillac V-8 was launched with proper eclat, enhancing the prestige of American-made automobiles.
Thousands of self-starters roll down the production line in modern factory.
C. F. Kettering and C. E. Wilson, then president of General Motors, inspect the battery on the 1912 Cadillac during a 1949 visit to the barn.
If Deeds and Kettering had not carried out their experiments in the cow barn at Moraine Farm, the Cadillac V-8 might never have come into existence. Certainly it would have been long delayed. It was a labor of love on the part of Deeds and Kettering in gratitude for what Leland had done for them when Delco was little more than an inspiration. They never accepted a cent of compensation.