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Desoto Pics

H

Howard H.

Well-known Member

I've enjoyed Beatles and Soders old vehicle pics and thought I'd share a couple of the car I found last weekend.

I've been looking for a nice old "cruiser boat" from the late 40's to early 50's for a long time and found this one-owner Firedome Desoto fresh out of the barn at a sale Saturday. It only has 14,000 miles and still had the sales receipt and cancelled check in the glove box!

There was a road atlas laying in the back seat covered with advertisements with phone numbers like "753" and "311".

He bought it in '53 for a little over $3000 and traded in a '41 Ford coupe on it. He paid $35 for the optional "undercoating"... ha... The check was an old fashioned counter check where you write in which bank it goes to along with the amount.

It has the V8 hemi engine.


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Howard
 
wow! thats unbelievable condition! looks like the outside will just polish up original and look fine, i'll bet a lot of younger folks didn't know that back when they had "junk yards" instead of "auto recyclers" if you found a wrecked mid to late '50's desoto with "firedome" on the fender you had yourself a hemi for your hot rod, nice find!
 
OH My , What A FIND , Wish you all the Best ,,please allow me to tell of My early romance of Dads car .. He bought a red /white 57 Fireflite DESOTO htp...like on YOU TUBE BERNADINE sang by PAT BOONE ( you can visit if you like) ... I recall stopping and seeing that car at the used carlot dads army buddy ran in New Albany IN.. . DAD WANTED THAT CAR !.. Needed a motor, because someone had let the block bust ...dad helped find a wrecked ambulance motor 392/HEMI4 barrel , and paid cash for the car $2000 in 1961,.. THAT CAR WOULD FLY , passing everything but a gas station , Dad used to say .. and really would hang to the Road.! Maybe it was the 6ft fins LOL . i was with Dad when we broke the (mercury thermometer type )Speedometer , .. thought i was going to get BLOWN out the windows , Loved it !, and was sworn to silence for some 20 yrs before grinning dad and I told mom how the Speedometer got Broke.. Dad and Mom loved the styling of the 57-58Desoto Years,,. IMHO it Was probably the best Looking Car Built by all Crysler Divisions for that era .. After a decade the Gravel roads took a heavy toll on the Beautifully formed steel,, and With a need for serious Front suspension repairs,,. Just before my older brother got his drivers liscense ( Mom knew we liked FAST to much ) Dad traded it back to his Army buddy for a mere $185,,The DESOTO quikly disappeared .. Dad Thinks the motor went into a Race car , and the rest went to the junk yard ,, ain't no way i would let that happen TODAY ... Thanx for the Memories ...
 
Nice find. That may be the only '53 Desoto left in the world with BOTH its hemi engine and grill still intact- both of those items are much in demand by hot rodders. Does it run?

Counter checks, 3 digit phone numbers (my grandma's was 96X- you couldn't dial it, you just called the operator and asked for it). Those were sure simpler days.
 
My wife's dad had a hemi Desoto when I met her,
Fluid drive, would start off in high, but not very
fast. Second was just right for driving in town,
 

Thanks for the comments!

I don't think it will take anymore than a 6 volt battery some fresh gas and squirting some oil in the cylinders just to be safe and it should run. There is no mice damage anywhere or anything like that. The last oil change sticker on it inside the door is from the early 60's, so I'm guessing thats how long it was in the barn.

There were a lot of people at the sale - it was about freezing, but the wind was blowing 40-50 mph, so it wasn't a nice day!

I'm just hoping the radio works - it is pretty fancy for being AM only - it has a lot of switches and push buttons, etc, and looks like it would be a real chore to get it out, much less find someone who could repair it, if it doesn't...

Thanks for the story, J H.! They also had a '60 Desoto two door, but it was in rougher shape. It sure was cool looking, too, though! :)

Howard
 
This car has the third from the smallest Early Hemi in it and the smallest the was installed in DeSoto cars. It displaces 276 CID. It has the same bore as the Dodge 273 with a stroke that is .003 inches longer, 3.625" X 3.334" The Displacement of DeSoto Early Hemi engines were: 276, 291, 330, 341, and 345 CID.
Early Hemi's used in Dodge cars were: 241, 270, 315, and 325 CID.
Early Hemi's used in Chrysler cars were: 331, 354, and 392 CID. The 354 and 392 are the engines that most Hot Rodders want and what the most aftermarket market parts are made for.
Some will list a 260 CID which is really a 259 but this engine was made for Plymouth which NEVER had a Early Hemi install in them. You can put DODGE heads on the 259 block and make a 260 Hemi but they were NEVER available from the factory.
There is minimal parts interchangablity between the Chrysler, Dodge and DeSoto Hemis. The 241/270 Dodge and the 276/291 DeSoto did use the same bearing sets, 315/325 Dodge and 330/341/345 DeSoto use the same bearing set. The DeSoto 330 and the Chrysler 331 ARE NOT the same engine.

Kent A Early Hemi NNNNNNUUUUUTTTTT
 

It looks great, what a find. Please take some more pics, the interior, engine compartment and such. I would like to see it after a little TLC has been applied.

Tim in Montana
 
You sure find a lot of nice iron in your travels, that looks in perfect condition. Like Dean said I like those grip tires out back too. My Grandma has pictures of there 47 chevy and 50 chevy from back in the day and they always run grips out back for those muddy and snow covered roads. If they werent enough traction the chains in the trunk took care of that problem. Good luck with your new treasure.
 
Holy Cow,you got a treasure. I always thought Desoto had style. They contributed a lot of grille teeth to 1950 Mercury chop and channel lead sleds as we called them back in the day.Good luck if you restore it or better yet just leave it as is. They don't build them like that any more.JH
 

Yep - I'm keeping it original... Just going to clean it good and wax it.

It still has a cracked and peeling "safety inspection sticker" from the Kansas highway patrol that I'm going to try and glue back down with ruining it.

A friend in Amarillo had a similar very old sticker on his Model A Ford - "brakes inspected by Amarillo Police Dept"...

Howard
 
Watch it Howard ! Get bit by that antique car hobby and you're through. It'll drain ya quick. Forget any antique tractor hobby.....

My 1950 Dodge Coronet.

1950Dodge.jpg
 

Love those old Coronets, too! They had one similar to yours up there, but it was pretty rough.

Yeah, it was fun talking to "car" guys... Several of them were as big of old-tractor fanatics as old-car fanatics. I guess any of its fun for someone interested in preserving history.

Tim - here are a couple more pics - the lighting wasn't very good for these... I hope there is good paint on the engine under all that greasy dust!

<a href="http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p268/case600lp/permanent/?action=view&amp;current=DSC_9750.jpg" target="_blank">
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<a href="http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p268/case600lp/permanent/?action=view&amp;current=DSC_9752.jpg" target="_blank">
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Howard
 
Although I like the Desoto

That Cornet brings Back many fond and one Bad memory. Bad memory a long story, Fond My Dad had one just like it with the "Slush Box" we called them
 
That is a very nice looking car and a great find! Its always fun bringing an old car back to life! Take care of it and keep it original as there are not many left in that good of shape.
Be sure to check the brakes over before you take it on the road. It always fun to go fast put its always good to stop too, haha!
Enjoy it and be sure to show it off to everyone you know, thats what your suppost to do with an old car!
Thanks for the pictures.
From Nebraska,
Andrew Kean.
 
I had a 53 DeSoto back in the 60's. It was pretty worn out when I got it, and I never got it road worthy.

As I remember, it had a weird system where the engine oil was pumped into the fluid drive system. It took a LOT of oil to do an oil change, and I never could get it to not leak oil. It was about the last year of the semi-automatic transmission. The little hemi sounded good, but with that transmission, it really accelerated slowly.

Your car looks really nice. Hopefully you will be able to get it going. DeSoto parts are harder to get than Chrysler or Dodge parts, but lots of things are the same. It was really stupid for Chrysler to have built 4 different V8 engines for the 4 divisions. Good luck!
 
Howard, Long time No hear from you! That is one nice old car! Lots of potential to build a really nice RestoMod. Got to love that engine though. Keep us up on the projects progress, Please! Hope all is well with Y'all, And Harvest went smoothly! Say Howdy to Your Mom and Dad!
Later,
John A.
 
Good to see you have the courage to think outside the box ('57 Chevy, '69 Charger, etc.) I had a '53 Chrysler station wagon, currently have a '48 Nash.
 
I have seen original condition barn finds much less desireable and in much worse condition get shown at car shows and walk away with the shiny hardware.

That has to be one of the best barn finds I have seen. I am dead curious as to how much it went for, but its probably for the best that I do not know as I am already green with envy! Excellent find!

Keep in mind that with all the naysayers out there with their opinions and comments, that it belongs to you. My Dad did a restomod on a 55 Thunderbird. The car started as two wrecks and a discarded drag car. The build was abandoned by two previos owners. Dad pulled it all together. He built a work of art exactly the way he wanted to build it. He gets the rudest comments from the purists. They make remarks about ruining a 55, while quite the opposite is true.

Don't let 'em get to ya.

Aaron
IMG_0443-1.jpg
 
Nice set of wheels! Lots of fun ahead. Good find. Seems like lug nuts on one side only are left hand thread instead of like other side right hand. Check it out. Very forward technology for its time if I recall. Dave
 
Hmmmm. . .

Just saw an ad in the Capital Press (Oregon/Washington farm newspaper) for a '58 Dodge 2 ton truck with 392 hemi in good running shape. Could probably get enough for that hemi to get a Cummins for it.

Hmmmmm. . .
 
Not sure a 392 was ever put stock in a truck. More likely a 354. Could be a car engine that was put in a truck by someone needing to replace a engine. The ONLY sure way to tell it is a 392 is to pull the pan and look for rectangular cast holes through the main bearing webs. These cast holes are about 3/8 inch high, 1/2 inch long at the bottom of the cylinder bores. If it is a car engine that has been put in a truck, the motor number which is stamped in the block behind the water pump/in front of the valley pan will start with CE57, NE57, 58N, 58C or 58N3.

Kent
 

howard, if you need a radio repair, call george zaha 248-393-1732 he does great work and the price is right. wally
 

howard, if you need a radio repair, call george zaha 248-393-1732 he does great work and the price is right. wally
 

Yep - harvest is finished for this year! Just waiting on a big snow...

Hope you are doing good, too - and hope you have a Merry Christmas down there in the Garden of Eden!

Howard
 
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