Cummins, now a multinational Fortune 500 company that operates and serves customers around the globe, was founded in Columbus, Ind., in 1919 as Cummins Engine Company by Clessie Lyle Cummins - a self-taught mechanic and inventor.
His company was among the first to see the commercial potential of an unproven engine technology invented two decades earlier by Rudolph Diesel.
Clessie Cummins believed in his diesel engine so much that he replaced the gasoline engine in his 1936 Cadillac with a Cummins Model A diesel.
That car had long ago been stored away in a section of the Cummins plant and was forgotten about. Then, some years ago, it was literally uncovered in an old, unused section of the plant.
Cummins personnel decided to restore the car to like-new condition - inside and out.
On an exclusive tour of the Cummins headquarters, I got the chance to not only see the Caddy, but I watched while it was started up - something most people, including many Cummins’ employees, never have seen.
The old diesel started right up, and with that came something I have missed - the smell of diesel exhaust.
What a treat.
