Is there such a thing as a cool Desoto?

Thanks a ton for the photos. I just love those illustrations.

That cyclone prototype would be a wicked build. More than I could handle but man would that be cool.

Butch

 

You can say that AGAIN, Butch! Chrysler, I think, build TWO of the Thunderbolt show cars, one a dual-cowl phaeton. I wish they built at least ONE Cyclone!!!

What a GIFT that would have been to automotive posterity!



Here's one of only 82 '58 Adventurer 'verts built.
It sold for around $200,000 a few years back!

 

After looking at all those photos and illustrations for a second time I'm once again reminded how awesome this country is to have a history involving cars that are this unique.

I need a bigger garage.

 

'59 Adventurer -- one of 96 -- THANKS to Flickr. Last of the REAL DeSotos.
After '59 production wound down in midyear, the old DeS plant was shuttered,
for VARIOUS reasons, and ALL remaining DeSotos for the next year-and-a-half
rolled off Dodge ***embly lines and were mostly built of Chrysler and Dodge
components. VERY rare, but IMO they just don't do the once-proud DeS make
proud. Few know that the compact Valiant was conceived on DeS designers'
drawing boards. And after DeSoto's cancellation in November of '60, many
of the DeSoto staff were transferred to Plymouth.

 

Don't we ALL, Butch! I'd settle for A garage! As for awesome, I've always been amazed at how folks in other countries love American iron so much. In the past, low-priced gas surely did allow wus in the U.S. t build cars in a way very different from how most foreign cars wre designed and built.

That was THEN. Now we've got lots of plastic and no chrome.

 

Imagine showing up at a Saturday-night cruise-in driving THIS. People would cream.


'59 Firesweep, THANKS to CarPictures.com!

 

Whoa. Wires and a Hemi, too???

 

That's interesting, I had no idea that was the case with the Valiant. Imagine what that must of been like. Each year was a new design for all these companies and each year they tried to "one-up" and give the consumer something to look forward to each year. My Dad would tell me stories of how they would be excited as kids wondering with anticipation as to what the automakers would build. It was an exciting time.

Like you said, gas was cheap and the public learned to expect change. Imagine this for a moment- A company could actually produce tooling that only was good for a year and still make money. It's like those wings on the DeSoto, the tooling must of been crazy and 12 months later the tooling had to change. Beyond just the steel panels as well because the wild chrome trim had it's own tooling also. Bumpers are the same thing.

Nowadays, tooling lasts for a couple of years and in some cases darn near a decade. No chrome=no tooling, no bumpers=no tooling.

On the highway things are just a blur. Just like you said, you go down the highway in that 59 people pay attention. Even if you don't like cars you would still crack a smile.

Good conversation

Butch

 

The DeSoto/Valiant connection reminds me of the very similar story of Comet and Edsel. And perhaps explains why Valiant (like Comet before it joined Mercury) was a standalone make for a while before it became a Plymouth model.

-Dave

 

more '42 ads:

 

BIG thanks, Dave! You can ALWAYS learn new things on the HAMB -- main thing I love about it! I did not know that BOTH the Comet and Valiant were, at FIRST, intended as stand-alone makes. Awesome fact to know, bro.

Though slighly OT, I've seen early "EDSEL Comet" artists' renderings, but I have never seen a Valiant drawing showing any DeS badging. I wonder if such a thing exists, or ever existed. Fun to wonder, and to search the 'net. Sometimes a blind squirrel finds an acorn, as the old-timers say. (Hey, I AM one! That is old-timer AND nut!)

 

THANKS, Rusty! I haven't seen this particular art on the '42. Even one HAMBer said the '42 wasn't made. So, it's nice show that, yes, DeSoto -- like other companies -- got between a quarter and a third of their '42 production out the door, before shutting down for war production in February of that year.

 

Here is a rendering of what the '62 DeSoto might well have looked like, had it made production. It was based on the themes of Exner's Dodge Flitewing concept, which reached full-size clay mockup. IMO, the roofline has a strong Chrysler Norseman influence!

Depending on your taste and point of view, an internal SUPER-SNAFU in communications resulted in the cancellation of many new full-size MoPar products and hastened the premature -- and preemptory -- cancellation of the DeSoto line. Ouch.
For more on the SNAFU, search:

Chrysler, Plymouth, and Dodge cars of 1962 including Valiant, ...
www.allpar.com/history/plymouth/1962.html


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Here is a 49 S13 Convert that i built. Not a four door, but I do hAVE A 4 door parts car if anyone is interested.

 

Sweet ride there, Charlie! THANKS

 

58 Desoto fireflight.. one of the coolest cars ever.

 

Dave, found a pic of one of the first Valiants. Being that it's a 4DS
and one of the more powerful Valiants (round emblem, front fender),
I'm guessing '61.

 

This has really become a great thread!

Butch

 

Glad you like it, Butch! I think rarity (as I said before) is why som many people TODAY don't know how many COOL DeSotos there were and their potential for cool customs, cruisers AND hotrods. More evidence:



The old De Soto gets some wood! Very rare and desirable (er,uh, well, everything in the photo!) ... the '49
DeSoto woody is an eye-catcher owned by the Drummoyne Birkenhead Hotel, New South Wales.

 

The DeSoto Sweptside pickup was built for the export market and was the same
as the '57-'59 Dodge Sweptside, but for badging. The one shown here may have
gone to Hawaii which was considered an export destination in those days before
statehood. NONE of these DeS Sweptsides are known to have survived! A Can-
adian-built FARGO Sweptside does survive -- just one! Pic THANKS to HAMBer
RoadKillontheWeb.

 

Showing its Plymouth Fury heritage on its sleeve, this '57 DeSoto 'vert went
to Hawaii, returning to the mainland with a returning serviceman in 1967.
Thanks again RoadKill!

 

Living proof that the popular DeSoto name lives on in markets worldwide,
though no longer MoPar related. Jason Jones shot this snazzy DeS ride in
Maipu city, Mendoza Province, Argentina, in March 2010. I've heard of De-
Soto-badged vehicles in AustralAsia, South Africa, South America, plus
Turkey where medium and large DeSoto trucks have long been popular.

 

Here's a rarity, a DeSoto Skyview Cab. These operated in NYC from about
1941 through the '40s. Developed by the Waters auto dealership on VanNess,
the Skyviews sat on a long wheelbase and featured a plexigl*** roof panel,
allowing p***engers to gawk at New York's skys****ers.

 

Wow, imagine lounging with your family and friends at a show in this '52 DeSoto
"SedAmbulance"! HAMBer buddy SunRoofCord explained to me that a real market
once existed in less urban locales for a transport alternative to local he****s, which
often did double duty as ambulances in many small towns and rural areas. And so,
the SedAmbulance was born for the benefit of sick or injured folk, squeamish about
being transported about in vehicles regularly occupied by stiffs.

Walter McCall shot this long ride for LMS of Chatham, Ontario.

 

I did'nt think ther was that many '46/48 long wheelbase cars still living. long wheelbase 'sotos and chryslers was 139.5". And had the 8 cly. suspension, maybe frame weight even though they both came with the 252.5" six. 3.90 rear gears too.

 

A post-war Skyview DeS cab co-starred with Dan Dailey
and Constance Smith in the 1953 romantic comedy, "Taxi."
Poster image thanks to Coachbuilt.

 

The conquistador himself, seemingly caught in a moment of reflection. A DeSoto
buyer had the option of a lighted, amber-color insert of DeSoto's face or a chrome-
plated insert. In good shape these go for a hundred bucks or more nowadays.
This version appeared only on the '50-'52 models. Photo thanks to FlickR.

 

When well-known French body builder Facel decided to built its own complete cars for 1954,
their choice of DeSoto running gear could, IMO, have been somewhat influenced by the eye-
catching DeSoto show coupes built in the early '50s for stylist Virgil Exner in Turin, Italy, by
Pininarina.

In three consecutive years, '54 through '56, the first Facel Vega two-door pillarless coupes were
powered by the very Hemis featured in those years in production DeSoto Firedome models. The
Hemis, namely, were the 276-, 291- and 330-CID engines. These were available with either the
Chrysler Corp. Powerflite two-speed automatic or the durable, proven and smooth-operating
French Pont-a-Mousson four-speed transmission. (Note: The 276 Hemi reportedly remained an
option through the rest of the 1950s.)




1955 Facel Vega FV, powered, stock, by the DeSoto Firedome 291-CID Hemi, as shown in 2008
at the '''Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este,” Cernobbio, Italy. Nice fan shot is in the public domain
and is THANKS to the WikiMedia Commons project.



This DeSoto-powered Vega looks just as good going as it does coming, eh? Seems a little odd
that someone obscured the faces of spectators for some unknown reason, what? Interestingly, in '54/5
a handful -- a mere six -- FV convertibles were offered, out of a total of only 47 FVs built!

 

After '55, the FV was succeeded by the FVS whose key design update was a beautiful panoramic windshield
and a 180-hp 330 DeSoto Firedome Hemi. After '56 Facel used Chrysler 301 Polys and 354 Hemis, through
the '59 model year when it was in turn succeeded by the upgraded model HK500. 107 of the smart FVS model
were built for 1956. The above sharp FVS was shot in 2007 in Germany at the Sinsheim Auto & Technik
Museum. Photo THANKS to S. Kormann and the WikiMedia Commons project!

 

HAMBer PavlovsFV3 has one of the Chrysler-powered Facels. He notes that definitive info about
the line is pretty spotty, and some info on the 'net is unreliable (possibly even including my source
in the previous two posts, to be fair). Information is only as good as your source, as they say. BUT,
seeing is believing, and these pix of his car don't fib!

Yup, it's got a Hemi.​