Interesting thread about the Cadillac lathes. I have a 17" by 33" Cadillac lathe we purchased second hand around 1978. I was told the lathes were made in Taiwan and were basically a Moriseiki clone. Looking through the net at moriseiki manual lathes i can certainly see a family resemblance. I found an 8 page flyer for the 14", 17" and 22" series. On the back cover there is a photograph with the following caption,
"The giant Cadillac facility in Anaheim, California is devoted entirely to the production of the finest QUALITY machine tools available." I would guess they are uncrating, filling the headstock with oil and prepping the machines for delivery.
I will say the machine is heavy duty, easy to operate and capable of precision work. There is an automatic oiling system in the carriage. The spindle is A1-6, 7.5 horse motor and the 17-33 weighs 4080 lbs. But just like any other used machine, how well it was taken care of makes all the difference.
Donald