Between 1927 and 1940, Cadillac had a companion brand for its dealers to sell, the LaSalle. They were built by Cadillac and priced lower as to be the second-most prestigious marque in the GM family. The LaSalle’s were named after French explorer, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. This 1938 Opera Coupe, built on the Series 50 platform, was the restoration project of its past two owners and now needs a third to finally finish it. Located (coincidentally) in LaSalle, Michigan, the old car is available here on eBay where the bidding has reached $8,100 with the reserve still unmet.

The LaSalle was one of four brands (the others being the Marquette, Viking, and Pontiac) that GM added to its then existing product lines to fill perceived price gaps in the portfolio. Midway through the life cycle of the LaSalle, a shift was made to share platforms with other GM makes as is common practice today. The Series 50, at least for 1938 like the seller’s car, used a Cadillac-built 322 cubic inch V8 engine. Whenever the LaSalle name pops up, I always think of the reference made to the car in the theme song of the 1970s TV show, All in the Family, where Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton recall “gee, our old LaSalle ran great.”

Until 2020, this ’38 Opera Coupe (for which a back seat was optional) had been owned by the same party for 57 years. That owner had intended a restoration and may have made some slight headway before passing on. The seller’s father bought it with the same intention, and it sounds like the car found itself in the same situation twice. Until recently, the car had been in Massachusetts for decades before being moved to Michigan.

The body looks quite solid and the cream-colored paint fair, but it left the factory wearing black, and going back to that would be ideal. The bumpers and running boards are MIA, so the buyer will have to decide whether to source and install those items. It’s not in running condition and the seller came close to getting there before discovering a severely pitted cylinder, so it sounds as though the V8 will have to be dismantled.

The brakes have had recent work done and the car rolls and stops easily. The odometer is 55,000 and change, which sounds quite plausible given the car’s overall presentation. This LaSalle comes across as a solid project car to work with, including replacing some of the interior pieces. These are not cars you see around every day, so you’d have a lot to tell folks about when you took it to shows.