St. Patrick's Day Edition
Cadillac & LaSalle
I mentioned before Cadillac was formed by Henry Leland from the Henry Ford Co. after a dispute between Henry Ford and his investors, Ford left the company along with several of his key partners in March 1902. Cadillac was named after the founder of Detroit, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. The 1903 Cadillac was essentially a Ford design with a Leland designed engine and was almost identical to the 1903 Ford Model A. Cadillac pioneered precision engineering and interchangeable parts. By the time General Motors purchased Cadillac in 1909 they evolved into a high quality luxury automobile.
In 1927 Cadillac introduced the LaSalle to fill the price gap between Cadillac and Buick. The LaSalle was mostly a junior Cadillac with a V8 engine from 1927 to 1933 and again from 1937 to 1940. From 1934 to 1936 it was more like an Oldsmobile with an inline 8. The LaSalle provided Cadillac with enough sales to help them weather the depression. By 1940 the price gap between Buick and Cadillac disappeared and LaSalle sales were cutting into Cadillac. Although they built 2 prototype 1941 models, GM dropped the Marque after 1940 and replaced it with the lower priced Model 61 Cadillac. After WWII Cadillac became the premier American luxury automobile.
The idea of the LaSalle never completely died. The 1963 Buick Riviera was originally to be sold by Cadillac dealers and carry the LaSalle name. Cadillac also considered the LaSalle name for their compact 1975 Seville.
Here are some 1/43 models, there are far too many to list them all here.
1932 Cadillac V16 sedan from AmerCom.
1933 Cadillac Phaeton from American Excellence (NEO)
1934 LaSalle sedan from Brooklin
1939 LaSalle sedan from Brooklin
1947 Cadillac sedan from Brooklin
1949 Cadillac Sedanette from American Excellence (NEO)
1952 Cadillac sedan from Brooklin
1957 Cadillac Coupe DeVille from American Excellence (NEO)
1959 Cadillac Limousine from True Scale Models