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.
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?”
Then there was my uncle, a metallurgical chemist. He became president of Metals Disintegrating, a NJ company that made metal powders such as what go into metallic paints. On taking the position (this was ~1955) the board proudly told him, “And, a Cadillac comes with the position.” “But I don’t want a Cadillac.” “But it comes with the position!” “I don’t WANT a Cadillac.” Flummoxed, they finally said here’s some money, buy what you want. He bought an Olds – probably a 98.
Your Uncle had real style.
I think Packard was a good example of why it was a BAD idea for a lower priced or junior model to share the name. The introduction of the 120 marked the beginning of the end for Packard, as a once prestigious marque slid into mediocrity.
The 120 may have hurt (although the alternative was bankruptcy), the 110 was definitely a step way too far, dropping the Senior and V-12 models was an even bigger mistake, and doing nothing but Clippers post-WWII was the final nail in the coffin. Packard (and Lincoln) gave the prestige market away to Cadillac.
The LaSalle suffered from the same identity crisis as the Mercury–was it a cheaper Cadillac or (as it was from 1934 to 1936) a fancier Oldsmobile (powered by an Olds straight eight)? The last LaSalles were actually a fancier version of the new Cadillac Series Sixty offered beginning in 1938. Cadillac made the right choice by folding LaSalle into the lineup