1931 LaSalle 345A Convertible Coupe - Rare Car! Harley Earl!

Price: - Item location: Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Description:

1931 Other Makes LaSalle 345A Convertible Coupe

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1931 LaSalle 345A Convertible Coupe Offered as a reserve auction.

This Rare Convertible Coupe can best be described as a stalled project. All of the hard work been done-the body has been rewooded where necessary, the sheet metal has been restored, and the chassis has been cleaned. The car does run and the engine has good compression.
The car is believed, but not guaranteed, to be complete with all parts necessary to finish the car.



We have many more photographs of this car, please click on any image to be taken to our full-size image list!
The LaSalle was sold as a companion marque of Cadillac from 1927 to 1940. The two were linked by similarly-themed names, both being named for explorers—Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac and René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, respectively. In an era where automotive brands were somewhat restricted to building a specific car per model year, Alfred Sloan surmised that the best way to bridge the gaps was to develop “companion” marques that could be sold through the current sales network. Under the plan, Cadillac, which had seen it base prices soar in the heady 1920s, was assigned LaSalle as a companion car to fill the gap that existed between itself and Buick.
What emerged as the LaSalle in 1927 is widely regarded as the beginning of modern automotive styling, and its designer Harley Earl would launch a thirty year career as GM’s Vice President of the newly created Art & Colour Studios that still guide GM’s designs to this day.Prior to the LaSalle, automobiles essentially followed a set pattern, with design changes set by engineering needs. Earl, who had been hired by Cadillac General Manager Lawrence P. Fisher, conceived the LaSalle not as a junior Cadillac, but as something more agile and stylish. Influenced by the rakish Hispano-Suiza roadsters of the time, Earl’s LaSalle emerged as a smaller yet elegant counterpoint to Cadillac’s larger cars, and unlike anything else built by an American automotive manufacturer. Built by Cadillac to Cadillac standards, the LaSalle soon emerged as trend setting automobile within GM, and Earl was placed in charge of overseeing the design of all GM vehicles.
LaSalles were offered in a full-range of body styles, including Fisher and Fleetwood built custom body designs. The roadster could also be ordered in two tone color combinations at a time when dark colors like black and navy blue were still the most familiar colors produced by manufacturers. Earl’s design even included a nod to the inspirational Hispano-Suiza with the marque’s circled trademark “LaS” cast into the horizontal tie bar between the front lights. Our Ebay Policies:
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