I'm guessing that my friends at Hemmings are fascinated by LaSalles as much as I am. The above photo was taken by Hemmings' Richard Lentinello as he walked through the 2007 Hilton Head Concours d'Elegance and he describes it in the Hemmings newsletter as "one of the best looking LaSalles we've ever seen." I'm not about to argue, for any LaSalle is special to me. Forget, if you will, that it was a General Motors marketing stablemate for the more expensive Cadillac, not a new car built from scratch. Ignore, if you can, that the marque launched Harley Earl's career as head of GM styling. Join me, instead, in celebrating LaSalle's role as the ultimate American art deco automotive icon. As a kid I was enthralled with streamlining and although art deco meant nothing to me then, I eventually came to appreciate what it represented. Lentinello tells us the above LaSalle is a 1935 model "displayed by William Davis of Charleston, West Virginia. The car was originally bought by William's father, then sold sometime around 1939-1940. William found it in 1995, residing a mere 35 miles from where his father had sold it some 55 years earlier." By the way, a full feature on this beautiful automobile will appear in a future issue of Hemmings Classic Car magazine.

[Photo: Richard Lentinello]