Many General Motors concept cars in the Bortz Auto Collection were the source for many recognizable styling cues that were to come on GM production cars. However an unusual case in point is where the Harley Earl concept, the 1955 LaSalle Roadster was almost put into production in its entirety as the 1956 or 1957 Corvette design. The original “PROPOSED” 1957 Corvette-design as photographed on February 1, 1955 was almost an exact copy of the 1955 LaSalle Roadster concept car as per the photo below.
The above design is fully recognizable in Carl Renner’s sketch that became the 1955 LaSalle roadster concept car. (Note that Carl Renner was Harley Earl’s favorite GM designer was inducted into the 2007 Corvette Hall of Fame). Harley Earl and the General Motors design team were well known for “borrowing” styling cues from one concept car and putting them onto another concept car. We know that the 1956-57 Corvette eventually took a different path for its design from the LaSalle Roadster and the 1956 Corvette basically modified the 1953-1955 Corvette design, but still it is interesting to note how the 1955 LaSalle roadster was almost the design for the 1956-57 Corvette.
Above Carl Renner’s original rendering that he handed to Harley Earl that started the project of the 1955 LaSalle Roadster concept car.
So in understanding the true history of the early Corvettes, it is very important to understand what went into production and what did not. This is where the LaSalle roadster comes into play. Most concept cars did not go into production in their entirety but may have had certain design points, called “styling cues”, that later went into GM production cars as unique features.
If you take a good look at the drawing of the 1955 LaSalle Roadster you can see the styling cues of the side indentations that did become part of the 1956/57 Corvette.
It is a fact that most General Motors concept cars were destroyed from the Harley Earl period. In 1986 the LaSalle Roadster with three other concept cars were found by the Bortz Auto Collection at the Warhoop’s Junkyard after General Motors sent them there to be crushed but have since been fully restored as pictured below.
This car when it was sent to the Warhoop’s junkyard in Sterling Heights, MI was cut up into pieces and the Bortz Auto Collection after purchasing the LaSalle roadster was able to restore 1955 LaSalle Roadster completely.
Another interesting point is that the LaSalle roadster was also designed with the most unique engine design for that period of time, which was a V6, aluminum block, Double Overhead CAM, fuel injected engine with independent rear suspension.
Unfortunately, this mechanical design for the drive train was never incorporated into any General Motors production cars at that time. Later in the 1960s and early 1970s the Europeans put into production their overhead CAMS and aluminum blocks and fuel injection and somewhat left General Motors in the dust for innovation in mechanical engine design. In my opinion this was the Achilles heel that finally matured and erupted decades later into the bankruptcy of General Motors in the 21st Century.
A further foot note to the relationship of the LaSalle Roadster to the Corvette history is that in 2013, the Corvette Museum had proposed to put on display the LaSalle Roadster from the Bortz Auto Collection as well as the 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special and the 1964 Pontiac XP833 Banshee by DeLorean.
INSERT 1964 PONTIAC XP833 BANSHEE & 1954 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE SPECIAL WHEN AT BLOOMINGTON GOLD
Fortunately, I was not able to come to an agreement with the powers that be at the Corvette Museum. They wanted to take these three cars and separate them and distribute them in various parts of the museum and I wanted them to be grouped together in the main rotunda as a museum feature. Ultimately we could not come to an agreement and these three cars from the Bortz Auto Collection never made it to the Corvette Museum where I wanted them to be displayed at the top of the main rotunda. You may remember this was the part of the building that ultimately collapsed, destroying several of the Corvettes that were displayed there. So the good luck of not sending my cars to the museum to be displayed ultimately saved these three cars from the Bortz Auto Collection from being destroyed in the collapse of this part of the Corvette building. I do think that this is another interesting foot note to the Corvette history as it relates to the 1955 LaSalle Roadster.
For further information on the 1955 LaSalle Roadster concept car or the other related concept cars in the Bortz Auto Collection, namely the 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special and the 1964 Pontiac XP833 “Banshee” by DeLorean, go to www.BortzAutoCollection.com
Check out the Youtube video “Amelia Island 2013: 1955 LaSalle II - Jay Leno's Garage”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbv1sPRgcb8
As a service to the Bortz Auto Collection and especially as a service to history if you know of any concept cars that are still unfound, please contact me, Joe Bortz at 847-668-2004 cell or
[email protected]
Stay tuned for more stories about the concept cars of the Bortz Auto Collection in the “Bortz Report”.