'Crushed' concept cars united

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Certain celestial and numerical events, like some eclipses or a 12/12/12 date, are occurrences that will never repeat in our lifetimes. Joe Bortz's display of two 1955 GM LaSalle II concept cars at the 2013 Amelia Island Concours is unarguably one such event. Created by Harley Earl for GM's famed Motorama show circuit that year, these two cars, one a roadster and one a hardtop/sedan, were the last attempt by GM to resurrect what had been one of the company's fabled nameplates before the war. Some feel the LaSalle II introduced styling cues that were later seen on the Corvette but the designs went no further. The unappreciated and then-obsolete show cars were ordered destroyed by the bean counters and lawyers in 1958. Fortunately, the salvage yard ordered to crush them neglected to do so and Bortz acquired the pair in 1989. The roadster had been cut to pieces and many parts had disappeared, so to restore it, large portions of the fiberglass body had to be recreated from photos and the original drawings sourced from the designer himself. The roadster was restored first, with the largely-intact sedan to follow by 2015, which allowed for this unique almost "before and after" display.

Neither car was ever drivable, and Bortz wished to retain the pistonless and non-functional experimental V6 under the hood, so the roadster has been powered with an electric motor and batteries hidden at the rear of the car. The process is documented on YouTube and can be seen starting here.

    

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