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Cadillac and La Salle Insignia
La Salle insignia
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(le résumé en français se trouve en bas de page)
La Salle Miscellaneous Insignia
I guess that growing automobile traffic and related safety issues had something to do with the demise of the hood ornament. Indeed, who would have enjoyed being impaled on the sharply-pointed beak of a Heron hood mascot or on the speeding bullet of the one mounted atop the 1940 La Salle ?!?!
Hood mascots
1. A cast figurine representing Sieur Rene Robert Cavelier De La Salle, the French explorer, who gave his name to Cadillac's lesser marque, was used on the early La Salle models, up to 1932. That mascot, like the Cadillac trumpet tooter, was available from accessory houses in the late twenties and early thirties. La Salle was an adventurer and explorer of the Mississippi; the mascot shows him standing beside a campfire with the tools of his adventuresome trade, including an axe and a broken canoe paddle, from the days when he regularly got lost in Canada's frozen north while looking for a direct route south, to the great Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The statuette is marked Cadillac Motor Car Co. Des Pat. 1927; it is made of nickel-plated pewter. This is a patented design by E.E. Burr (#74168 of January 3, 1928).
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2. From 1930 to 1932 the Cadillac "Heron" ornament was commonly use. That long, slender neck was extremely delicate. Finding one today in fine condition is rare; often you will see necks that are bent or repaired.
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3. From 1933 to 1940 the La Salle models featured a torpedo hood mascot (also known as the bird in flight or the bullet). It was perfectly suited to the modern, flowing styling of the car.
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4. From 1934 to 1936, the torpedo remained basically unchanged in its general shape, although minor modifications were made to the base. The Master Parts List (MPL) gives the following part number for the years 1934 to 1936
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5. 1937 La Salle models had their own torpedo although it remained very similar in design to the torpedo of the previous three years. The Part number is : 1420945.
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6. In 1938 again, some minor changes were wrought to the general design and the torpedo ornament again got a different number: #1425131
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7. The final La Salles for 1939 and 1940 bore a similar mascot to previous years but its aerodynamic properties were even more pronounced. The part number is: 1433097
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Hood, radiator grille and trunk emblems
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Wheel cover emblems
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Horn Buttons
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© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle
Club, Inc.
[ Background image: superimposed Cadillac and La Salle emblems, 1929 ]