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Agreed about what to remove. Ironically, Virgil Exner hated fender skirts! He believe that the look of an exposed wheel was important to the look of the car. The last thing a car as flashy as that needs is more crap tacked onto it.

In the sixties, Ford published a series of Lincoln Continental branded cookbooks. They were given away to wives in households who bought Continentals. They show up on Ebay all the time.

Oldsmobile straight eight engines were used in LaSalles for 1934, 1935, and 1936. For 1937, LaSalle went back to a Cadillac built V-8. The LaSalle V-8 was a 322 CID which was used until the end of LaSalle production in 1940. Cadillac cars used the same exact engine, except that the version used in Cadillacs displaced 346 CI, due to a larger cylinder bore. Very often, over the years, the LaSalle engines, when they were rebuilt, were bored out to the larger displacement. The larger and smaller engines are identical in appearance. Except for the pistons and rings, their parts are identical. The 346 lasted until the end of 1948 production. I cannot help you with the casting numbers for 1937 engines. Cadillac cars in that era were identified by the chassis number, which can be found on the top of the frame, near the steering box. This number would not be found on the engine. In order to confirm the original engine number, you would need to have the build sheet for that car. Matching numbers are not an issue on prewar Cadillacs. I have owned a 1940 LaSalle for many years. These are great cars. To my eye, they are better looking than their Cadillac brothers. I would look this car over like any other vintage car. They don't have any particular problems except that they are 85 years old. Look carefully. Remember that with every year that passes, improvements on these cars have gotten more expensive and harder to accomplish. Good luck!

Sad. Dave Brady was a great guy. He hosted our Cadillac-LaSalle club region in his shop a couple of times. He and his wife were lovely people. He was a true artist of his trade.

You are quite welcome.

It also looks to me like the 50 may have been lowered. Also, shouldn't both of the Buicks have the "Buick Eight" script on the upper grille bar? Neither one has it. I think that this was a digitally faked scene for the VW commercial.

I believe that that is from a 1952 Cadillac. There was one of these on each outer edge of the 1952 grille. They were there to honor the 50th anniversary of Cadillac.

1948 and 1949 were the only years that the Series 61 and 62 Cadillacs used the same body. 1948 had the very unusual and one year only "pod" type instrument panel. This is a very cool car. I like it a lot.

My 1940 LaSalle is virtually the same as your 1948 Cadillac. I also run an electric fuel pump in series with the mechanical pump. I have the same bubbles. They don't seem to affect anything. The car has been running fine with them for at least ten years. I think that modern fuel boils at a much lower point than fuel did years ago. Back in the seventies and eighties, I had several early OHV Cadillacs. They had the same glass bowl in the fuel pump. I don't recall ever seeing any bubbles back then. The electric fuel pump fully cured my severe vapor lock problem. I can live with the bubbles.

Before the 1950's most police cars were two door models. Philadelphia and New York both used two door cars. I am guessing that if an arrest was made, the arresting officer would call for a wagon to pick up the prisoner. It seems odd to us today because we are so used to four door police cars.

In the early seventies, my everyday driver was a 1965 Cadillac. Radial tires were just becoming popular and I bought a set for my Caddy. A couple of months later, I came outside one morning to a flat tire. When I took the flat off, I found that the wheel had cracked open on the inner sidewall near the bead. The sidewall had gotten pinched in the crack and cut, letting the air out of the tire. I realize that this is just anecdotal and doesn't prove anything, but I believe that radial tires cause extra stress on wheels that were not designed to use them. To this day, I will not run radials on a pre 70's car.

I thought that all 1956 Thunderbirds had continental kits. Was I mistaken?

Gray faux fur? What were they thinking? In 1950, Cadillac did a convertible show car called the Debutante. It had Pearlized white paint, gold plated trim, and genuine leopard skin upholstery. I guess things were getting tough at Packard by 1952 and they couldn't afford real fur.

When I was single, I had a Cadillac with wire wheel covers. I tried cleaning them in the dishwasher. The results were disappointing. Now of course, I wouldn't dare!

When I was in high school, I knew a girl who drove one. Her father was an AMC dealer. I asked her what year it was, and she said 1962. I was confused because I thought that they had stopped making them before then. More recently, A friend of mine who owns a lot of cars bought one. Whenever he took it to a show, it drew a crowd of females who oohed and aahhed over how cute it was. If you are looking for a genuine chick magnet, look no further. They were notorious for rust. The engine was a detuned version of the MGA 1500. I was also told that production of them was stopped in 1959, but that it took until 1963 to sell them all. AMC and British Motors kept updating the paperwork each year to pass them off as new.

The sign on the front of the trailer says "Re-elect Pres. Roosevelt". Had to be 1936.

How did the mat work out? Where did you get it? I have been thinking about one for my 4052 series LaSalle for years, but the Buick people that sell them are not very encouraging to LaSalle people. I have not pursued it because of that.

When considering the ownership of these items, it is well to remember that these people were, first and foremost, a gang of lowlifes and grifters. Any time that they could shift the cost of their indulgences onto the citizenry, they would have been certain to do so.

Looking at the shopping district in Havana reminds me of something that my former law partner told me. He took a vacation in Cuba in 1957. He was surprised to find that almost all of the retail businesses in Havana were open 24 hours. He was from New York and had never seen such a thing.

In the early seventies, I owned 1969 Cadillac Deville. At about 60,000 miles (maybe-considering where I bought it), It developed an an odd transmission problem. From a cold, parked overnight, start, the car would not go forward right away when shifted into drive. The service guy at the dealership said that the torque converter was leaking into the transmission case while the car was parked. Once the car was started, the converter would fill up again and drive would work. It was expected to be an expensive fix. On an off chance, I invested a couple of bucks in a can of DuPont transmission sealer. I followed the instructions exactly. After about two days, the problem went away! The service guy at the dealership pronounced it a miracle and said that I must be God's favorite. DuPont, as far as I know, is no longer in the additive business. The transmission was fine for about five years and eventually was rebuilt for other problems. I offer this because it is true and because there must be other, similar, stories.

over the years, I wonder how many women have burned their legs on that exhaust pipe.

Some years ago, there was an excellent article in Antique Automobile about the phasing out of car production in 1941 and 1942 and the changes made to "black out" the final cars. I recall reading that production of whitewall tires was discontinued in July of 1941 because whitewalls require more rubber than blackwalls. I also recall that the bumpers remained chrome plated until the end of production.

Try e-mailing them. A lot of places today find telephone calls to be intrusive.

Good looking LaSalle! I own a 1940. They are great cars. The rear window and the windshield are the most common places for leaks that stain headliners. If you don't already have stains there, I would guess that you are not leaking. The fellow up above this post is right that you need to look closely at your rubber gaskets, paying particular attention to the rear window and the windshield. If the gaskets appear shrunken and dried out, there can be a problem. They have all been reproduced, so they are available, but pricey. For the fixed windows, Permatex puts out a silicone gasket sealer that comes out of the tube in a flowable, liquid state. It might be a good idea to try some of this on your fixed glass. Good Luck!

six-way power seat, but no radio. odd choices.