LaSalle

US, 1927 – 1940

Cadillac Motor Car Co, Detroit, Mich.

Launched as a smaller and less expensive running-mate for the Cadillac, the LaSalle car was conceived in its entirety by General Motors’ stylist Harley J. Earl – a very unusual practice for the period. Unlike other makers ‘cheap lines’, the LaSalle car was manufactured to Cadillac standards throughout, though the wheelbase of the La Salle car was 7in shorter and at $2.495 a La Salle sedan was about $700 cheaper. The engine of the La Salle car was an sv V8 of 5-litres’ capacity. Synchromesh, safety glass and chromium plating were innovations of La Salle cars shared with Cadillac in 1929 and the La Salle car grew steadily in size: first to 5.4 litres, then to 5.6-litres, with a further increase to 5.8-litres in 1930. The whole concept of La Salle cars was changed in 1934 – though the La Salle car was the guinea-pig for the turret-top steel bodies to be used in 1935 by all G.M. divisions save Buick, the La Salle car was cheapened in other respects, having a 4.2-litre straight-8 engine as used in the bigger Oldsmobiles. The price of the La Salle car was $1.595 (£725 in England). A reversion was made to the traditional V8 in 1937, the La Salle cars sharing body shells with Oldsmobile and the more expensive Buicks, and the price of the La Salle car was cut again to $1.205. The La Salle car was squeezed out of the market by the lower list prices of the simpler Cadillac models. The 1940 La Salle cars were as good as their predecessors but at $1.446 as against $1.752 for a Cadillac, there was no longer room for the La Salle car marque.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

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