William E. Metzger

William Ernest Metzger (September 30, 1868 – April 11, 1933) was an automotive pioneer and salesman from Detroit. He opened one of the first automobile dealerships in the United States and participated in the early development of several automobile companies, including the Cadillac Automobile Company and the E-M-F Company, in which the "M" stands for his name.

Early life William Metzger was born in Peru, Illinois, in 1868. At the age of 10 he moved to Detroit with his father and later graduated from Detroit High School in 1885. He immediately got a job at Hudson & Symington furniture (owned by J. L. Hudson).

As a young man, Metzger became enamored of bicycle riding, becoming the first vice president of Detroit's Wheelman's Club and finishing a number of 100-mile bicycle rides. Soon his hobby became his business: in 1891, Metzger joined Stanley B Huber to open Huber & Metzger, a bicycle shop located in the center of downtown Detroit. Impressed with what he saw, he went on to visit the factories of Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, then the leading automobile manufacturers in the world (albeit with less than 200 each). He returned to Detroit convinced of the automobile's future, and immediately sold his share in Huber & Metzger. The 1903 production of Cadillacs outstripped every other manufacture in the US save Oldsmobile. In 1905, Cadillac reorganized, merging with Leland & Faulconer; Metzger obtained 3000 shares of the merged company.

In the late 1920s, Metzger turned to aircraft. He had been a good friend of the Wright brothers, and felt the US needed more airplane manufacturing. In 1926, he helped Edward Stinson form the Stinson Aircraft Company. The next year, he organized the first All-American Aircraft Show in Detroit. In 1929, he organized the Cadillac Aircraft Co. The company built technically superior aircraft, but the onset of the Great Depression hurt the company.

As the Great Depression started, William Metzger's health began to decline. He was incapacitated for four years and succumbed to heart attack on April 11, 1933.