59 Cadillac De Ville: emblem of the era when autos made in Detroit were the world's most spectacular and profitable

59 Cadillac De Ville
Originally uploaded by hellsexy

Once the world's manufacturing of cars was centered in the Midwest; the big companies were centered around Detroit.

The "Big Three" were
- General Motors (GM), which included Cadillac, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Corvette and others
- Chrysler - included Plymouth, Dodge and others
- Ford, which comprised Mercury, Lincoln, Thunderbird and others.

Manufacturing began with Henry Ford's revolutionary Model T and peaked in the 1960's and 1970's with the enormous, gas-guzzling sedans that might be typified by the 1960 Cadillac.

Look up photos of the '59 or '60 Cadillac to see spectacular design and excess.

Today the auto market is dominated by Asian companies such as Honda (Japan), Toyota (Japan), Mazda (Japan) and hyundai (S Korea).

In the Midwest so many auto-related factories have closed - and lie vacant - that the region is called the Rust Belt.