Hello ALL! Thought I will tell you all about my adventure from a few weekends ago. The goal was to drive from North Alabama to Augusta GA to pick up a nice solid 1960 Brookwood wagon. I stumbled on to a Craiglist add that reads like this. "$3000.00 obo, will run, call for details ask for gary **X-**X-**** no calls after 9pm please no emails I will not check them". Well I called the guy and talked to him and get more details. Well to keep it short he said that the only things missing on the car was the chrome down the driver side and things like the door panels. He did text me some pics of the interior(not great ones) and I was aware there was going to be some work. "The floor pans only have a few small holes that would need patched and the car will run and drive." I then started talking price and got him down to $2500. I asked tons of questions and was ***ured that the car was what it appeared to be a nice solid base. We discussed him holding the car and he wanted me to Western Union some money. I respectfully declined and explained how I have been burnt by that before and lost some money. I said I will be there Saturday evening. I had some things I had to do Saturday morning and it was close to 12:00 by the time I hit the road. I head out with my enclosed trailer and truck. I pull up to the location and see the car sitting down the hill. As I walk up my stomach starts turning right away. I wanted the patina that was on the paint and the driver side of the car from the door back has been primed with a spray can! The roof has the same treatment! I think ok well I have come this far I know a few body guys that can fix this. I then walk to the front of the car and see the rounded part of the windshield on the p***enger side is busted all up. Then I ask where the p***enger rear quarter gl***(curved) was. "Its missing and we don't have it. I told you that." No I think I would have remembered that! Turns out that all of the trim on both sides was missing. The rockets and all! The floor pans are rotted(looked like the whole floor was shoot with buckshot)with one spot so bad I could stick a football through it. Well I was almost physically sick by this point. I explained to the guy how this was not the car that was described and there was no way I could pay that much money with the shape it was in and all the missing parts. I climb back in my truck and drive back up to the interstate and get on my phone and start surfing cl***ifieds and craigslist to try and have a good reason for spending $300+ in fuel to drive over. I made lots of calls with no one answering and left lots of messages. We decided to get a hotel since it was almost 9:00 PM by this point. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o> </o> Well late that night I get a phone call from a man I called about a 1937 Plymouth Desoto. He tells me that he bought a warehouse and found this car buried in the back corner all covered up. I ask him what his bottom dollar on the car was and he gave me a price. It was more than I had planned to spend this weekend but I figured it was worth a look. I had a fall back plan of a 1950 Chevy 4 door that was all original that had also been tucked away in a garage for many years and untouched for near the same price. We get up the next morning and drive over to see the Desoto. I was shocked when I saw the car! The car has 38K original miles on it and is only missing 1 wiper, a center cap and the roll up blind for the back window! The guy put a new battery, coil, and spark plugs in the inline 6. He also **** another carb on it and drove it around the block. It appears that everything works on the car and it has amazing patina! We opened the trunk on the car and it still has the spare(blown out) and all kinds of old tools in it. It even had snow chains for the car. You open the glove box and it looks brand new and still feels velvety. The front seat has wore through but it otherwise in good shape for 76 years old. The car was last tagged in 1968! My guess is that it has been buried in that warehouse since then. The vent tube on the engine has no oil reside in it. I have been under the car and it appears to only have surface rust. I pulled the front mat out of the car and it had some moisture that had started some rust on the panel that bolts in. Its only surface with exception to a spot that looks like a there might have been a wep hole or something and its the size of a dime. I will post some of the pictures but you can go to my gallery in the link below to see them all. At the end of the day I ended up with a much better car than even what I thought I was going to get. heres the gallery: http://s298.photobucket.com/user/92Greymare/library/37 Desoto <o></o>
Good score dude...looks to be inthe same condition my 37 coupe was in when I found it...you will probably find that ol girl will fire up sweet and go forever...we havent had to touch ours yet and its had a couple of 700 mile trips under its belt now. Cant wait to see more pics.
,,,,,,a great find,,good deal,,,,that pillar switch is the same as in my recently acquired 1954 DeSoto,,,,,,
Long story, but a Good One.......... Good Score, some of My best finds were when I got on the wrong road looking for something eles. Those bumper guards are hard items. Good Luck. smokey2
Ditto on that! You beat me to it. I was going to tell him the exact same thing. that DeSotos were their own make - not a model of Plymouth. In the marketplace, Plymouth was Chrysler's low-line, entry-level brand, while the DeSoto was placed just above the more upscale Dodges and just below the actual Chryslers. Kids these days ...Sheesh!!
DeSotos are pretty nice old cars. As said, next to the top line Chrysler. In terms of re-sale, I don't think they will bring same as a Ford or Chevy. Just gotta find the guy who appreciates one. DeSoto was first made in 1929 and ended production in 1961. Here is a link to Wikipedia giving a history of DeSoto. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeSoto_(automobile) Designated a model S3......there was only one model level that year. 228.1 c.i. Here's one that's been customized.....................llink to a picture of one that's been customized...........http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmentd1/5566290315/in/set-72157626368762690 Another with skirts and wide whites...............http://pics.livejournal.com/tarrantry/pic/0001kfc5/s640x480
Thanks all and good to known about the Plymouth part. Will check out all the links later. I'll part with the bumpers but you get everything in between. Lol yes the radio does work.
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