A 1929 LaSalle, wedding photos, and Father’s Day
A head-turning 1929 LaSalle resurfaces years after it was used as a wedding vehicle.
We had multiple possibilities for celebrating Fathers’ Day this year.
Our son suggested bowling, a cookout, and watching the US Open Golf Championship. And we did do those things.
But what I really wanted to do on Father’s Day was put in a call to Dave Pierce in Saugus and renew a connection with my dad. For many years, my father and some friends would head to Amherst, N.H., for the last-Sunday-of-the-month swap meet and automotive flea market.
Dave was a member of that group, along with Don Clark, and Jim and Alan Riley. After Dad died in 1995, we lost touch with his group of “car guy friends.’’
That was until late in the summer of 1999 when the phone rang.
“Hi, this is Dave Pierce. I was a good friend of your dad’s. I understand your daughters are getting married in October. As a remembrance to your dad, I’d like to offer my car—with me as the chauffer—for the wedding.’’
Dave and the car were a terrific addition to the festivities. The car was a head-turning 1929 LaSalle painted cream with red fenders and a red roof.
Both added to an already momentous day in our family. We had twin daughters having a double wedding. It turned out there were two sets of twins at the altar. One bride was marrying a twin, whose twin brother was his best man. There also was an international flavor to the day with a contingent in town from Milan, Italy, as our second daughter was marrying an Italian.
After the wedding, we again lost touch with Dave.
For years, a photo of the wedding party standing by the car was in a pigeon-hole on my desk, a thank-you to Dave from the girls.
Then, six or seven years ago, I saw an obituary for a David Pierce in the paper and felt pangs of guilt for not following through and tracking him down.
Fast forward to this summer.
On a cool spring Thursday evening I went to North Reading for the weekly cruise night at Kitty’s Restaurant.
My purpose was to recruit any El Camino owners at the show, reminding them to attend El Camino Night at Lee (N.H.) USA Speedway on Friday, July 10.
That mission was forgotten when I saw, gleaming in the late-afternoon sun, the 1929 LaSalle, looking just like it did on that wedding day 16 years ago. It had to be the same car.
“Didn’t that used to be Dave Pierce’s LaSalle?’’ I asked a gentleman standing near the car. My thought was to share a bit of the car’s history with the new owner.
“It still is Dave’s car,’’ replied the fellow, who turned out to be Bob Stone of West Peabody, a good friend of Pierce’s and the owner of a gorgeous yellow 1934 Ford Model A hot rod.
“But I thought Dave died a few years back.’’
“Nah. He’s too ugly. He’s inside [the restaurant] having dinner.’’
And so he was.
We chatted that night and again on Father’s Day.
Story continues after gallery
Ford, Other Car Manufacturers Were Once Tied to Massachusetts
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The car’s full story is a bit long to share here, but suffice it to say that Pierce trailered it home in 1980 and spent a year just disassembling it. Then he painstakingly prepared the body for painting while sending the rolling chassis out to a friend who rebuilt the engine.
Another friend started the paint job. “Then I bought a spray gun and finished the job myself,’’ says Pierce.
“I chose the cream and red because I wanted the car to stand out,’’ he says. “Originally, it was green with black fenders. I have an original LaSalle brochure that shows that paint scheme.’’
Pierce finished the car in time for it to have a coming-out party at a Cadillac-LaSalle Club show on the grounds of a Newport, R.I., mansion in the summer of 1982.
“When I say ‘finished the car,’ I was still putting it together the night before,’’ he says.
Cadillac introduced the LaSalle in 1927 to slot in just below the Caddy in prestige and price as the second most expensive car in the General Motors portfolio.
“My 1929 was a family sedan, if you will,’’ says Pierce. “It wasn’t a phaeton, coupe, or roadster, which you might consider more collectible today. But it cost $2,495 new. For comparison, three years later, a 1932 Model A was $400.’’
The LaSalles were a bit smaller and lighter than the Cadillacs, but both were powered by the same V-8 engine. That combination earned the LaSalle its reputation as a good handling and performing car for its time.
Over the years, as other pursuits got in the way, Pierce’s LaSalle would sit idle for long stretches, but it came out for many proms and weddings. “I’d guess close to two dozen weddings,’’ he says, “but they were all for friends and family. I never took a nickel for those.’’
Meanwhile, the years have passed.
“I’ve had some fuel issues with the car,’’ he says. “Twice, I had to have AAA tow it home, and that’s made me a bit reluctant to use it. It’s at the stage where it needs some attention.’’
But attention is what the LaSalle attracts each time Pierce takes it out.
And, we have a photos to prove it.
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