1955 La Salle II roadster prototype. Image courtesy of Joe Bortz.
Back in 1988, the Warhoops Salvage Yard, located in Sterling Heights, Michigan, became the center of the automotive world when it was announced that four prototype/dream cars from the famed GM Motorama displays of the mid-Fifties had been discovered at the facility. Long thought to have been destroyed in 1958, the Chevrolet Biscayne, La Salle II roadster, La Salle II sedan and Cadillac Eldorado Brougham Town Car somehow remained out of the public eye ? yet almost right under its nose ? for 30 years.
That?s not to say they remained in good condition, or even in one piece. The Biscayne and the La Salle II roadster had been cut into pieces; in fact the former was on top of the latter in the yard, and after concept car collector Joe Bortz liberated them all from Warhoops, it took several return trips to excavate the missing pieces of the cars. Bortz reassembled both the Biscayne and La Salle II roadster for the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d?Elegance, and while the former has since been restored, the La Salle II roadster only recently emerged from restorer Marty Martino?s Martino Coachworks in Gum Springs, Virginia.
The La Salle II roadster does feature one significant departure from its original configuration. GM specified an aluminum block, double overhead-camshaft, fuel-injected V-6 for the roadster and while its engineers did indeed build the engine and install it in the roadster for the Motorama shows, they never got it running. While the non-functional engine remains with the roadster, Bortz decided to convert the car to electric power, enabling it to drive on and off concours greens. Bortz has put together a couple videos with more photos of the roadster and information on its restoration.
GM photo of the 1955 La Salle II roadster prototype, later displayed at the GM Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria.
The restored La Salle II roadster will make its public debut the weekend of March 8-10 at the Amelia Island Concours d?Elegance, where the La Salle II sedan will also be on display. For more information on the concours, visit AmeliaConcours.org
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