Behind the Wheels of a 1940 Las Salle Series 50

4 DOOR CONVERTIBLE SEDAN1940 LA SALLE SERIES 50

The year is 1940. Only a few short months before, on Sunday 3 September 1939, an unprepared England had told Hitler he had crossed the line in the sand. That very same Sunday afternoon, many of the biggest English motor manufacturers had gathered to plan support to build or repair the envisaged materiel required for the war effort. ”From Ploughshares to Swords”. Thus ended vehicle manufacture in England virtually overnight.

However it was a different matter in the US. Although Roosevelt could see the inevitable, the politicians feared a voter backlash if they joined the fray, so it was just another day at the factories for the auto industry. It must be noted though that Packard did sign a huge contract with Rolls-Royce in September 1940 to manufacture Merlin engines, so they did have a tenuous connection to the conflict up to the time auto production ceased in February 1942.

After WWI Cadillac had the luxury car market sewn up but lost the lead to Packard in 1925, however all was still going well for General Motors from Chevrolet through to the upmarket Buick. From there though, there was a big price gap to the cheapest Cadillac, and Packard had introduced the bargain priced Single- Six to the luxury market with great effect. Additionally, Cadillac planned to introduce the V-16 engine in 1930 which would have left the bean counters worried that a lesser Cadillac with a V-8 engine might take the shine off big brother. Therefore, the answer was to use the name of another famous explorer and create a marque to provide the stepping stone from Buick to Cadillac, and it started rolling off the production line in 1927.

Read the full article in Beaded Wheels 359