Grayle and Miriam Leech’s 1940 LaSalle 5227 Coupe

My wife Miriam and I are new members of the NSR/CLC. We joined in May 2002.  Roy Boone asked to write something about Cadillac’s for his column. The earliest Cadillac I remember in our family was the 1947 4dr dark blue/ medium blue tu-tone that my dad purchased used when I was in junior high. After he sold it he soon purchased a clean 1949 4dr light blue that was probably ten years old.  I soon had my driver’s license and I learned to drive that car. I remember the manual steering and manual brakes. Nothing was power assist.

   Soon after this my dad became interested in the old car hobby and during the 1960’s he acquired a few restored cars from the twenty’s, thirty’s and forties. This must be where I found an interest in the cars too. I can remember how much fun it was to borrow his 1923 Lincoln touring car and drive to Snuffies Drive-in in Minnetonka!

   Somewhere around 1966 he was visiting his hometown Luverne, MN when he came across an interesting car at the local Cadillac dealers used car lot. Sitting in the back row was the 1940 LaSalle 5227C coupe.   He made the purchase and drove it home and found it to be in pretty good shape and mostly complete. During my senior year of college summer school, I needed a car so I borrowed the LaSalle and drove it around Menomonie, Wisconsin. After graduation I found myself in the Army for two years and the Vietnam War.

   During my years in the Army, my family moved to California and they drove the LaSalle to Sacramento. There it eventually received a new paint job and a new interior and the correct 16-inch wheels. However the spare was still a 15-inch.  It was also fitted with new wide whitewall tires. When   I was discharged from the Army, my family had moved back to Minnesota and had driven the LaSalle back here.

   A couple of more years passed and in 1973 I purchased the LaSalle from dad and moved it to my home. Over the years I re-plated many of the chrome parts and enjoyed searching for the few missing parts that I needed to complete the car. My next project with this car will be to overhaul the engine and clutch sometime during the next year. To my knowledge the engine has never been opened and is the original deal.

   Miriam and I belonged to the AACA club for many years when we first bought the car. I decided to join the CLC now because of all the excellent Cadillac –LaSalle knowledge in this club. I have been having a difficult time locating repair parts recently and I will be looking for help during the upcoming overhaul project. After this is done we look forward to driving the car more often to club functions and shows around the area. I plan to see all at Back-to-the 50’s in June.

Grayle Leech, Club Member