LaSalle Series 303 History

LaSalle was introduced for 1927 as a General Motors 'companion make,' built by the Cadillac Motor Car Company and slotted in price just below Cadillac, between Buick and the senior marque. It was named — like Cadillac — after a French explorer, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Its lasting significance is in its styling: the 1927 LaSalle was designed by Harley Earl, hired by Cadillac general manager Lawrence Fisher, making it the first American mass-production car shaped by a dedicated stylist rather than by engineers or coachbuilders. Earl drew openly on the elegant proportions of the European Hispano-Suiza, and the car's success led GM to establish its 'Art and Colour Section' under Earl — the origin of the modern automotive styling studio.

The first cars were the Series 303, powered by a 303-cubic-inch (5.0-liter) L-head V8 derived from Cadillac practice, on wheelbases of 125 and 134 inches. Over the following years the series number tracked the growing engine: Series 328 (1929), Series 340 (1930), and the Series 345-A through 345-C (1931–1933), the displacement rising toward Cadillac's own V8s. Sales peaked early, with around 22,691 LaSalles built in 1929 before the marque's best pre-Depression year.

The Great Depression gutted the luxury market: LaSalle output collapsed to roughly 3,290 cars in 1932. By 1933 GM seriously considered killing the slow-selling brand. It survived only because of a bold styling intervention — Harley Earl's team showed management a dramatic new design for 1934, the car that became the straight-eight Series 350.