Conceived to fill a gap between Buick and Cadillac, when introduced in 1927, the LaSalle has the distinction of being America’s first styled automobile.

In order to make the new car special, Cadillac president and general manager Lawrence Fisher recruited a young designer named Harley Earl from Don Lee, the Los Angeles Cadillac dealer. Lee had his own custom body shop, and Earl had made a name for himself designing cars for Hollywood stars and other LA luminaries. Until that time, what passed for styling had been done by “body engineers.” Earl, however, approached cars as objets d’art and, taking a cue from Hispano-Suiza, sketched up a car with flowing lines accented by two-tone paint. The success of LaSalle led to Earl’s appointment as head of a new GM section called “Art & Colour,” the automobile industry’s first in-house styling department.

Mechanically, the LaSalle was a small Cadillac, with a shorter wheelbase and a shorter stroke version of the Cadillac’s L-head V-8. For 1931, hood louvers were replaced by doors on both Cadillac and LaSalle V-8s. Together with radiator stone guards, this made them resemble the big V-12 and V-16 models. Cadillacs and LaSalles now rode the same wheelbase, 134 in., and had the same 353-cu. in., 95-bhp V-8 that had been introduced on Cadillac the year before.

The seven-passenger touring offered here is recorded on its original build sheet as having been delivered to Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the time of Cadillac’s boom export markets, with the same body style that it carries today. It eventually made its way to the United States and was restored in this exciting color scheme, a reversal of the original Pearl Grey and Vermillion, and converted to left-hand drive, for ease of use on American roads and highways. With its painted wire wheels, wide whitewall tires, and rakish color scheme, led by a body-hued radiator and Goddess mascot, it looks ready to lead a local parade!

The 1927–1933 LaSalles are recognized by the Classic Car Club of America as being Full Classics, and therefore this would be a superb entrant for a CARavan or to exhibit at one of the Club’s many events. It is also, of course, eligible for any number of Antique Automobile Club of America events, and would best be used to carry several friends around Hershey during the annual National Fall Meet. It has style, performance, and brio in spades!