1927 LaSalle Sport Phaeton

In the mid-1920s, General Motors was losing customers to rivals Chrysler, Packard, and Peerless. Those who wanted a car nicer than a Buick, but less expensive than a Cadillac, had to look elsewhere. To solve this problem, GM tapped young automotive designer Harley Earl to design a new line of cars. Taking just three months to move from sketches to mock-up, Earl designed four new vehicles for the line that came to be called LaSalle.

In 1924, the DuPont Chemical Company developed a fast-drying automotive paint. LaSalle was the first auto manufacturer to take real advantage of this new paint in their styling. A LaSalle customer could choose from an astonishing 482 color combinations of two- and three-tone color schemes. Based on the LaSalle’s success, General Motors added a new “Art and Colour Section” to design all future autos and placed Harley Earl at the head.

More from our automobile collection:

In our current exhibit, From Carriage to Classic: How Automobiles Transformed America, we present the origin story of the American automobile through 23 cars from Heritage’s permanent collection of antique and classic automobiles. Come along for a ride from the late 1800s to the 1960s and watch the car evolve from a horseless carriage to a streamlined symbol of freedom and independence.