I recently bought a 52 DeSoto Custom 4 dr for a pretty good price, Originaly I was gonna rob the grille, hub caps, and bumpers for my Chevy(see pics below). The only thing is that The car is complete(But dirty), its missing nothing. Ive got it for sale right now, but I dont want to sit on it forever. This may be a stupid question, but.... do yall think theres anything wrong with basically taking what I want off of it. I dont know much about DeSotos...will it be basically worthless if I do? Heres some pics: I think the grille and bumpers would be cool on FIFTY2:
Leave the de Soto alone - you can find the parts at a swap meet and not have to store the whole car. It will make somebody a nice Kustom. Why buy the whole pig when all you want is a little sausage?
You have an opportunity to do something different,build the Desoto which would be rare or build the Chevy and screw over a rare find,there are plenty of Chevys out there so even if they are kinda loveable they ain't nothing new.The Desoto fixed up would be more of an eye catcher and attention getter.
I was thinking the same thing. I wouldn't have a problem with taking a Sawz-all to that thing and stealing the rear window and such if I needed it. I would try not to take it to the scrapper when you are done since there is always something that someone could use. I bought a '51 Chrysler new Yorker for it engine and that thing was so ugly I did not have a problem cutting through it to get the engine out easier. A bunch of guys were like "I can't believe you did that". Then I said, well if you are so sad then you won't mind taking it off my hands once I get the engine out. Nobody wanted that thing. I feel like you either get what you want off it and use the parts or keep it around and it'll sit for another 30 years. If you have a buyer by all means try to make some money and keep it on one piece. If not, it'll waste away like lot have done.
With out knowing how much you paid for the soto,i would have to say that the grill alone would cost you a shiny penny if you went looking for it alone
[/QUOTE] [/QUOTE] -------------------------- Hell.....that thing don't look too bad at all! I'd be inclined to fix the mechanicals up on it "as required" but keep the rest of it as about as is and drive it!! Seriously, Desotos that are complete as this one are not too common and I think even if you don't particularly want this car, it's too good and too complete to start robbing parts off it. If you really have to have it gone soon as well as wanting to get cash to both buy another DeSoto grill and bumper- plus enough extra for a bunch of other stuff for your Chevy too, maybe try ebaying it. The car, being a 4-door and a six, is not worth a ton of money but you might be surprised at how much you do get for it and how quick the car will be gone. Mart3406 =======================
I'd rather see you hack up that DeSoto grille than post another picture of that Chevy with black painted chrome!
The car, being a 4-door and a six, is not worth a ton of money but you might be surprised at how much you do get for it and how quick the car will be gone. [/QUOTE] yeah so someone else can do exactly what you were thinking of. DO yourself a favor, grab the parts you want, sell off the rest, either as a whole or part it out.
I dig the Desoto. 4 doors are cool if you've got a family or a bunch of friends. If you've got a coupe, why not keep the Desoto for the future? You can Borrow the grill and put it back later. Maybe you won't like it...I tried corvette teeth in my Willys, I didn't like it, so I sold them to a guy in Germany. I'd kind of like to have the car they came off of, though....
I like this idea, or whack a custom grille back in the Desoto to seel it if your only taking the grille and hubcaps the Desoto is still a good project for someone that wants it.
Chevy needs some kind of surround for that DeSoto grille to work right. DeSoto, if you painted it in primer and made it go, without dumping a ton of cash into that, would probably flip for a fair amount. While hot rod guys don't see any value there, the restoration crowd would have some interest because "it's just like the car Uncle Charlie had when I was 8" ... I guess that's the thing, a lot of guys are short-sighted and see no value in something beyond what they need. Once it's cut up, that's one less out there, and they don't make those anymore. Something like that DeSoto has a very small repro parts market for it, too, so even if a guy isn't going to fix it, he may need it for a parts car. And you have to realize the guy who needs it you're not going to find after running an ad here for one week, too.
Wish i had the DeSoto Six. Somebody will want the car without the grill. Maybe they want to put a '55 Chevy grill in it. Then some other guy can build a Gasser '55.
Rape it for the parts, that would be the true custom fashion. Cool car by itself but worth more in parts it can give.
Take what you want and CAREFULLY part it out. I am always surprised when I part out a car at the amount of money it generates. If you have the room, and the patience, take what you want and don't look back.
That's funny, I think the "restoration crowd" looking for a 52 Desoto 4 door must be the smallest crowd ever. Take what you need, part the rest then scrap the carcass. Not every old car needs to be saved.
I bought a whole '52 DeSoto coupe to do exactly what you are thinking about doing. Mine cost me $400 and there were only a couple re-sell-able parts on it (beyond the grille, pan, and bumpers) that I saved before scrapping it. Mine was very rusty (as in not fixable Wisconsin rust) but I would have done the same to the 4 door you have assuming you bought it cheap enough. If your 4 door was running and drivable/roadworthy, I might be more hesitant, but the market for total project 4 door early 50's Mopars is very very low. Look at all of the neat, buildable stuff that's changing hands right now for dirt cheap. Where is your 4 door DeSoto going to fit in on that scale? Take what you want, save what you can resell, and scrap the rest without remorse.
PS. If you do use the DeSoto bumpers and grille, DON'T PAINT THEM! Even if you have to cut and weld them, even if the chrome is poor and you can't afford to have them rechromed right away. Please, try to work with what's there.
I think scrapping the desoto would be a waste of a decent car. I feel like there are plenty of destined-for-the-crusher cars with parts you could grab instead. I also get emotionally attached to cars in the junkyards, so my opinion may be moot. -Jeremy
I’m struggling with the same issues in a build I’m doing on a 40 Ford pickup. My wife bought me the black pickup (350/350) and I love it. It had some issues and I have fixed most of them. The cab has some issues so I picked up another one to replace it. Before I knew it I had a better frame, hood, front fenders, running boards and etc. So I am building a truck that I built and can do it my way. Did I mention it will be running a Nailhead? There are a lot of parts on the truck I could use on the project. On paper the project truck needs several dollars to finish which is real close to what I have in the black truck. Yes the black 40 is too nice to part but it is just a dollar figure in the end and the end ride is what I’m after. My answer at this point is to keep buying up parts to complete the project and keeping the old truck as close to drivable as possible and selling when the project is done. At least this way I can drive the truck until the project is finished and end up with the ride I want and can trust.
[/QUOTE] -------------------------- Hell.....that thing don't look too bad at all! I'd be inclined to fix the mechanicals up on it "as required" but keep the rest of it as about as is and drive it!! Seriously, Desotos that are complete as this one are not too common and I think even if you don't particularly want this car, it's too good and too complete to start robbing parts off it. If you really have to have it gone soon as well as wanting to get cash to both buy another DeSoto grill and bumper- plus enough extra for a bunch of other stuff for your Chevy too, maybe try ebaying it. The car, being a 4-door and a six, is not worth a ton of money but you might be surprised at how much you do get for it and how quick the car will be gone. Mart3406 =======================[/QUOTE] I think that would be the right thing to do.
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