Statue of Abraham Lincoln outside Lincoln Motor Company Building, Detroit, Michigan, July 1924

When Henry Leland established Lincoln Motor Company with his son Wilfred in 1917, he named it after the first man for whom he cast a presidential ballot: Abraham Lincoln. Leland named his earlier firm, Cadillac Motor Car Company, after the French explorer who founded Detroit. Henry Leland possessed a rare humility -- he formed two successful car companies and named neither after himself.