It is often said that the 1934 LaSalle was one of the most striking cars of the Classic Era. While technically proffered as a “junior Cadillac,” it was its own excellent piece of engineering, and in fact borrowed liberally from the Cadillac V-16 parts shelves, including even the lights, dashboard, wheels, disc wheel covers, fender trim and chevrons, and “bi-plane” bumpers—the latter a beautiful touch exclusive to 1934. It was also a fine driving automobile, as the first Cadillac product with hydraulic brakes.

The Series 50 convertible coupe offered here was acquired by Sam and Emily Mann in 2015, having been found stored for at least 20 years coated in cosmoline, as used by the military to preserve their equipment, in a hangar at a remote Long Island grass airfield. The seller claimed to be the second owner and that he had acquired the car from Percy H. Ballantine, a scion of the New York City brewing family. Its build sheet indicates that the car was ordered through the Claude Nolan distributorship in Jacksonville, Florida, and sold under consignment by Dew Motor Company of St. Petersburg. Research shows the Ballantines had winter property in Jacksonville, where Percy had been born in 1914; so it is likely the tale is accurate, and that this car did begin life with a 20-year-old heir.

Unfortunately, the Vaseline-like cosmoline preservative coating had damaged the original paint, but the work of restoring the car to its original condition proved quite easy. As Mr. Mann notes, “when stripped of paint, the sheet metal looked brand-new, without so much as a rust spot. The car needed little mechanical work and was immediately roadable.” Following completion of the restoration, in rich black over green interior, the car was shown at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, one of few LaSalles indeed to have graced that eminent event—and, even more impressively, achieved Second in Class. It has been fitted with a Borg-Warner electric overdrive to enable comfortable driving on tours in New England.

Offered by likely its third owners and a wonderful, much-enjoyed tour and show car in their hands, this is almost certainly one of the finest restored examples of the 1934 LaSalle—a spectacularly beautiful automobile then, and even more so now.