Another car makes its first appearance at CC, except for its headlights, which are of course hidden behind their flip-up covers. Dubbed “Airfoil” headlights, the De Soto’s were the second American car to have them after the 1936-1937 Cord 810/812.
Given that only 24.771 ’42s rolled off the lines before they were shut down for the war, these were rare birds from day one.
This rendering of a ’42 De Soto makes it look a whole lot more sleek and futuristic than in person. So much for truth in advertising. But that was par for the course back then.
It’s not hard to figure out where this design came form: the De Soto Cyclone concept by Alex Tremulis.
By the way, the headlight covers were operated manually via cables to a little handle under the dash.
The ’42 De Soto was given credit in Mike Butts’ survey of Hidden Headlights, Part 1.
An extremely cool find for out in the wild. I always wondered why they never brought those hidden headlights back after the war. I guess they could sell all the DeSotos they wanted to without the extra expense.
Last summer I saw the first of these I think I have ever seen in the metal, it came to a local show.
Since the tooling was already there for the fenders and all the associated hardware, you’d think the accountants would want them to use it. Unless management decided to use Chrysler fenders and cash in the DeSoto tool for the scrap metal drive during the war.
The original “The Postman Always Rings Twice” movie had a 42 DeSoto as the District Attorney’s ride. If that isn’t enough eye candy, Lana Turner was in it too.
Interesting that DeSoto advertising for 1942 touted “New Rocket Bodies”. This was seven years prior to Oldsmobile Rocket V-8s.
Never heard of these, and I guess it’s inevitable that the advertising art makes the car look less lumpy than the real thing. One more image, a little closer to the truth:
Chrysler should have left its ’41s alone. All four brands were reasonably attractive by Chrysler standards, and all four brands had a real identity for the first time. The ’42s returned to normal ugliness and lost a lot of the identity.
This car is in amazing condition. A little sun-rust, no water-rust or salt-rust or dents visible. Looks 20 years old, not 77 years old.
Cool find thank you for sharing. I’ve never seen one of these before and it looks quite fascinating. Sure is an eclectic group of cars with a DeSoto next to a Hyundai, Ford, and Chevy.
I am not sure if I would consider the styling to even be rocket “inspired”, although I guess if I
was standing in the rear looking forward they might almost look like some of those rockets that we saw in movies and movie serials in the 40s and 50s.
I seem to remember one of these, but a convertible, appearing in a movie from the 40s. Within the first few minutes of the movie the owner runs into a fairly large object which you would think would put the car out of commission for a few weeks. But these must have been pretty robust cars as the mechanic at the all night garage tells him he can pick it up in a couple of HOURS.
Believe that movie was “The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers” with Barbara Stanwyck.
The alignment of the light covers, hood and fenders instantly makes me think “Renault 5”.
Be still, my heart!
Space is reserved in my lotto garage for any ‘40s DeSoto with Fluid Drive. A ‘42 coupe would be especially sweet.
My favorite part of these was the tagline:
“Out of sight, except at night”
Ha! That artwork makes the car look 25 feet long!
Quite aside from the cars, I love advertising from this era – the Art Deco “Machine Age.”
Snazzy! Can anyone make out what’s above the 6Y-4099 on the licence plate of the red postcard car?
I think it’s gibberish. There’s a high-resolution version of this image at oldcaradvertising.com and a blow-up of the license plate from that version shows nothing intelligible:
Thanks, Eric.
Shame this was so short lived, I’m a huge fan of hidden headlights which puts this pretty high in my favorite pre-war car list. It may not be as sleek as the renderings make them appear, but the 46s looked generic and bugeyed by comparison, and indistinguishable from Chrysler.
Never seen or heard of these before, very cool. Cars from this era are not really a focus for me but I love seeing anomalies like this. Very unique.
+1 wondering why the hidden lights didn’t come back after the war.
It’s quite rare to see a 1942 passenger car around here, since by that point Canada had been at war for two years.
All of the cars in the user images and stylish illustrations actually look pretty good (including JP’s black coupe and the suicide-door sedan). It just the feature 2-door car with its larger quarter windows that falls short.
It’s a pity Chrysler did away with the hidden headlights, post-war. But, as someone mentioned, pent-up demand meant the manufacturers were able to sell everything they could build so Chrysler saved the money on the hidden headlight tooling. What’s more, I guess they could claim it was ‘brand-new’, even if the only change was going with exposed headlights.
Still, hidden headlights on Desotos would have went a long way to establishing an easily identifiable, upscale feature to separate the marque from other divisions’ cars and might have kept it alive a bit longer. In fact, imagine if Chrysler had, somehow, incorporated hidden headlights into the styling of the 1957 ‘Forward Look’ Desotos.
Of course, with the depths of the quality control in 1957, hidden headlights surely would have experienced issues with some of them ‘winking’ with one eye open and one closed, or not working, at all.
I too wondered what if DeSoto had kept the hidden headlights as a mark of the marque. Might have been a good idea.
Here’s a ’57 from a previous CC. I can imagine the peaks of the fenders rolling down with headlight covers, and that full-width bumper opening establishing the foundation of the front end. Different, maybe great?
It’d be a nice Photoshop exercise for someone skilled in the art (hint, hint).
Cool photo! That gaping maw across the centre of the grille looks like the crevice tool from a vacuum cleaner. Ha!
That’s the weird cheapo model Desoto that used Dodge front end instead of a Chrysler one but with the same bumper/grille stuck on it. Probably on a Dodge wheelbase. (Sorry, didn’t bother with research!)
Yes, it was called the Firesweep. The ’58 Windsor pulled the same trick, and both were on the Dodge 122″ wheelbase. They went back a single fender style for ’59.
Love these and what a find.
I wonder if the “Kustom” builders of the 50’s and 60’s like George Baris, Bill Cushenberry, Larry Watson, etc. were influenced by the deceptively stretched and lowered car ads of the 40’s and early 50’s.
All those Kustom tricks like lowering, chopping roofs, sectioning midlines, frenching/deleting trim, channeling etc. all lend themselves to making cars of this era actually look like the ads they were portrayed in.
The ’42 DeSoto Custom town sedan only was offered as a Fifth Avenue edition with more plush interior, standard fender skirts and a small badge on the hood sides. This may be the first case of Chrysler applying the ‘Fifth Avenue’ moniker to one of its products.
The “Fifth Avenue Ensemble’ was a factory installed option package with it’s own Body ID tag. It was available only on the Custom line initially, not the DeLuxe. On the last 3,000 made after 12/7/1941 (‘Black-Out’ models) it was also available. Most of the add-ons were available as dealer installed options, i.e. cigarette dispensing steering wheel, rear wheel shields, etc. I have a 4dr Fifth Avenue sedan and I have seen two 4Dr Town Sedans, one of which was a ‘BLack out ‘ model, and also a 5th Avenue convertible. There is no easily accessible source for the total number which were built in Detroit. I’ve seen at least one ‘clone’ 5 coupe.
About 35 tears ago, there was a green 4 door `42 De Soto with the hidden headlights for sale at a small used car lot on 3 rd. Ave. in Park Slope, Brooklyn. One day I stopped by the lot and looked at it. The salesman said it was in good running condition, but it had some minor rust and needed a paint job.The gray cloth interior was fairly clean, but it had a few water spots on the seats. When I asked him what he was asking for it, he told me $3,000.00, but the price was negotiable. I was seriously considering buying it, but………………
WW2 interupted supplies of new cars here in Sept 39, Ive never seen that model in the metal.
My first thought was it was a result of the blackout stipulation for the war effort. But apparently not.
These were very popular as NYC taxi’s in the day. Great to have Fluid Drive. That alligator hood seemed restrictive though. Good thing they used in-line engines.
“Concealed running boards” – exterior door panels were designed to be flush with the sills when the doors were closed.