After 14 years, the brilliant but ultimately disappointing career of the LaSalle, Cadillac’s junior brand, came to an end in 1940.
LaSalle, Cadillac’s companion make from 1927 through 1940, was a well-regarded car in its time and is beloved by collectors today. (See our history here.) Offering Cadillac quality and fresh styling at an attractive price, LaSalle was positioned as the car for successful young people on their way up in the world. But strangely enough, the junior Cadillac seldom sold in the numbers hoped for, and it was nearly discontinued several times. On August 26, 1940, the last LaSalle rolled off the assembly line, as Cadillac and the General Motors executive board had finally pulled the plug for good.
There was no doubting that despite the name, the 1940 LaSalle was a real Cadillac. Its sole and standard engine (above) was a slightly smaller version of the 346 cubic-inch, L-head Cadillac V8, with 322 cubic inches and 130 hp. The chassis was the equal of any Cadillac’s, too, with the same independent front end and suspension tuning by GM’s ride and handling laboratories, the most advanced in the world at the time.
Introduced in October of 1939, the 1940 LaSalle was offered in two product lines. The base 40-50 series, which shared the GM B-body shell, was offered in five standard body styles and priced at $1,280 to $1,395. The fancier 40-52 Special series, constructed on GM’s dramatic new “Torpedo” C-body shell, was at first offered only as a Coupe or Sedan, but was soon joined by a Convertible Coupe and a Convertible Sedan. Here, prices ranged from $1,440 to $1,535, just below the cheapest Cadillac. Despite its higher price, the stylish Special generated 57 percent of LaSalle’s volume that year.
In fact, LaSalle enjoyed its second-best year in history at around 24,000 cars for 1940, and several styling mock-ups were constructed for the 1941 model (including the one below). But instead, the LaSalle was cancelled and a new low-priced Cadillac 61 Series was slipped into its former market slot. Cadillac then enjoyed its best year ever in ’41 at more than 66,000 cars, far greater than the previous Cadillac and LaSalle volume combined. Packard, for one, had demonstrated with its highly successful One Twenty that a luxury brand’s junior model should share the luxury name.
Since most of us only can relate to the LaSalle from the show All in the Family, “Gee our old LaSalle ran great”, research shows, since the LaSalle ended in 1940, Archie would have only been about 20, and in no position to buy one More than likely, was a used beater after he came back from the Big One, Dubja, Dubja 2, der.
Ever hear of “used cars”?
The Cadillacs, too, were a comedown from the rolling works of art they had been. So, why not go ahead and throw in the Cadillac crest on the entry level car? It is not like buying a Bentley because one is diffident about driving a Rolls Royce.
Don’t forget the old hot rodders’ use of LaSalle transmissions behind their hopped up V8s. They must’ve been stout.
Other than Pontiac out living Oakland, the LaSalle enjoyed a comparatively long life along side its big brother marque, compared to Viking, and Marquette. Interesting how some lasted and others didn’t.
Great point. ’37 and later LaSalle gearboxes were favored, with ’37 being the choice for many as it was floor-shifted.
Marquette and Viking were a good example of bringing the cars out at the perfect wrong time (1929-30?), a really good idea back in 1924 or so being badly out of step five years later, although absolutely nobody figured out what would cause the change. Don’t forget that the LaSalle was failing, too, between 1931-33, and we only got a 1934 because of the incredibly good styling. For a three years, the LaSalle a very quietly a more expensive Oldsmobile, not a cheaper Cadillac, using their straight eight and a few other cost cutting measure to get thru the next three model years until the really horrific effects of the Depression started to wane (yeah, then there was 1938 . . . . ).
My mother drove a 39 LaSalle during WW2, that my father had purchased from a woman in Florida whose driver had gone off to the war. She drove it around the Bay area while my Dad was in the Pacific. I have a number of photos of it. Appeared to be a tan model. My mom said it had a roll-up window inside between the front and back seat, but that must have been an option or installed by a 3rd party.
Proof of how fickle and status seeking the buying public is, no matter how piously they claim they’re above it. As if it wasn’t bad enough that the junior Packard carried the same name on the hood, so did the junior Lincoln. It was easier for their owners to brag about what they were driving. In the LaSalle’s case, the real snobs could always imply, “Couldn’t afford a Cadillac, could we?”