GM (General Motors) does not build many cars like the LaSalle with 303 cuin L-head V8, built from 1927 the vintage years, when coachbuilders still shaped most of what was sold.
How it came about
LaSalle was an American brand of luxury automobiles manufactured and marketed, as a separate brand, by General Motors' Cadillac division from 1927 through 1940. Alfred P. Sloan, GM's Chairman of the Board, developed the concept for four new GM marques – LaSalle, Marquette, Viking and Pontiac – paired with already established brands to fill price gaps he perceived in the General Motors product portfolio.
Sloan created LaSalle as a companion marque for Cadillac. LaSalle automobiles were manufactured by Cadillac, but were priced lower than Cadillac-branded automobiles, were shorter, and were marketed as the second-most prestigious marque in the General Motors portfolio. LaSalles were titled as LaSalles, and not as Cadillacs. Like Cadillac – named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac – the LaSalle brand name was based on that of another French explorer, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 303 cuin L-head V8; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a 3-speed synchromesh manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 125 in (1927-1931) / 134 in (1927-1931) / 130 in (1932-1933) / 136 in (1932-1933). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in GM (General Motors)'s history is not in doubt: it was built at Wyoming Road Assembly, Detroit, Michigan, United States. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Hispano-Suiza Type H6 B (32 cv) coupé-chauffeur, the Maserati Tipo 26B, the Vauxhall 20-60. Its GM (General Motors) stablemates include the 1955 Chevrolet and the 1957 Chevrolet.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the LaSalle — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.