1935 LaSalle Series 50

Alfred P. Sloan was the president of General Motors and Lawrence P. Fisher was the president of Cadillac when they conceived a companion marque for Cadillac. GM had a hierarchy of brands for 'every purse and purpose' by the mid-1920s, but the gap between Buick and Cadillac was over $1,000. Hoping to keep customers within the GM fold, the LaSalle marque was birthed.

Heading up the newly formed 'Art and Colour Section' was a young designer named Harley Earl, who had caught the attention of GM management for his stylish, elegant and colorful custom body designs. Earl and his team were tasked with creating new coachwork for these 'junior Cadillacs', what they penned were youthful, sporty, and modern, and intended to be driven by its owner rather than by a chauffeur.

The LaSalle brand debuted in March 1927, and although its existence was brief, it is best remembered for establishing the automotive world's first inhouse styling department. Its demise was ultimately in its success, as many would-be buyers of Cadillac were attracted to LaSalle, and as it encroached on Cadillac's sales, GM reluctantly made the difficult decision to bring its existence to an end in 1940.

Like Cadillac, which was named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the LaSalle marque was named after another French explorer, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.

LaSalle automobiles were manufactured by Cadillac but were shorter than Cadillac, less expensive, and often benefitted from its technology and luxurious accouterments.

Considering the Great Depression, 1935 was a pretty good year for the LaSalle marque in terms of sales. The prior year, the company had sold 7,195 examples; in 1935, it had a total of 8,651. The numbers would continue to rise in the years to come, with 13,004 units sold in 1936 and 32,000 sold in 1937.

The post-Great Depression era was a difficult one, resulting in many marque's dropping the prices on all of their vehicles or adding additional paint schemes, numerous options, and many incentives in order to create a sale. Packard introduced its One-Twenty line, and Lincoln had its Zephyr, which were strong competitors in the low-cost luxury market.

The base price of the LaSalle in 1935 was around $1500. Few styling changes had occurred over the prior years. A two-door and four-door 'trunk-back' sedan body style was added to the line. Horsepower rose slightly, from 90 to 95.

The L-head, eight-cylinder engine displaced 248 cubic inches and had five main bearings, mechanical valve lifters, and Stromberg Duplex downdraft carburetors. It used a three-speed, selective, synchromesh transmission with a single plate dry disc clutch. Hydraulic brakes were located on all four wheels. The wheelbase measured 120 inches and had a length of 200 inches.