photos by Curtis Perry
Yes, I really did use to trudge a mile through the snow in zero degree weather to school when I was a kid. There was a big empty field a block away that was used as a community garden in the summer for University students and staff, and it was a convenient short cut in the winter. It got so cold one January, the snow crust on top froze so hard that I could walk on top of it; much easier than crunching though it.
But once or twice I was rescued from my Lincoln School Death March by a big burbling ’55 DeSoto that had pity on me. It was driven by Dr. Miller, head of Student Health, and who lived two houses down from us on Park Avenue. He pulled over, and opened the front door. It was like climbing into a big warm living room, that tall sofa of a seat, heat blasting out from under the dash. So it wasn’t just because I knew Dr. Miller’s big DeSoto had a hemi under its hood that made me so fond of it.
This is what greeted me as I slid in. But this brochure rendering doesn’t quite do the dash justice.
Here’s a better look at the dash. Very business like yet elegant for 1955, with the five round instruments and that dash-mounted lever for the PowerFlite automatic. And of course a whale of a steering wheel.
The DeSoto burbled along slowly, on the packed snow streets of Manville Heights. There were rarely snow plows to be seen back then on residential streets; the snow just got packed down. Well, if it was a really big snow the plow would eventually show up.
Although I was pretty young, about nine, I was somehow aware of the hemis that lurked under various Chrysler Crop. cars of that era. I’d seen ads, and probably peered into a raised hood or two. I knew they were somehow exceptional; they were certainly exceptionally big, when looking at them. Those giant valve covers were altogether different than the flatheads or typical V8s of the time. Never mind the name: FIREDOME. Very impressive, to a nine year old. Maybe that’s the demographic they had in mind when they created the name?
Oddly, the higher output 200 hp version was called Fireflite; it should have been the other way around. I’m a bit surprised that a four barrel carb and higher compression only boosted output by 15 hp. But then these were advertised hp numbers, and maybe the DeSoto’s were held back to not encroach on the Chrysler’s.
Ironically, even back then I assumed that because the DeSoto was obviously just a badge-engineered Chrysler that its engine was also just a smaller displacement variant, but no. It’s quite unique to DeSoto, with its own bore centers. But It sure looks mighty similar.
There were days when I saw Dr. Miller from across that field. Dang! I should have stayed on the sidewalks! Billowing clouds of condensation enveloped the back of his car. Nothing like a sub-zero day, with the air so dry, to create a condensation cloud.
That reminds me; the Millers invited us over once to watch The Wonderful World of Disney on their new 21″ RCA color tv console, with the round tube that was cut off at the top and bottom. Wow; that was a big deal. Our old B&W tv was in my parents’ bedroom, which was a bit odd. It’s not that they ever watched in bed. It was a fairly big bedroom, and there was a couch to watch it. So my memories of that house are of all of us kids crammed on the couch watching Ben Casey, or whatever my sister, who was the oldest, wanted to see. Fortunately, Route 66 was on her watching list.
I loved that big DeSoto, and not just because I got a ride in it a few times. It just exuded solidity, strength, safety, comfort, power, quality…As much as I loved the new cars coming out of Detroit at the time, I was a big lover of these big, tall cars of the ’50s.
One day in the early summer of 1962, I saw Dr. Miller drive up to his house with its replacement. It was a red ’62 Dodge, exactly like this one. Wow! Now that’s different! For what it’s worth, I never got to ride in it.
“Maybe that’s the demographic they had in mind when they created the name”.
1950s auto marketing has a strong juvenile appeal, imho. Everything had a cool name, even mundane items. Your Buick didn’t just have a grille, it was a Fashion Aire Dynastar grille. Transmission? Dynaflash, Hydramatic, Torqueflite, Gyro-Torque, to quote Peter Egan, its like “Buck Rogers at the laundromat “.
Style was also cool as the features and details were pure ‘boys adventure stories’ sci fi and jet age influences. Really cool for a kid but it’s hard to believe mature educated adults would be swayed by such obvious kiddie-pretend themes. A 10 year old might imagine the new family car was the spaceship it was styled to resemble, but perhaps not the owner.
The 1957 Oldsmobile brochure described their “new, higher, wider Span-A-Ramic windshield.” I just laughed and laughed when I saw that.
I think panoramic windshields were kind of a big deal when they came out in 54-59. I mean, prior to about 1952, cars had to have split windshields because it was too hard/expensive to make big curved sheets of glass. And the visibility thru the short windows and windshields of the ’30s and ’40s wasn’t that good.
So people buying new ’54 (and later, ’57 and ’59) Oldsmobiles probably really appreciated the wide-open visibility (which ironically, was better than most cars made today!)
Here’s an ad, “Vision of Tomorrow . . . !”
Many/most/maybe all of those windshields had severe distortion at the wraparound corners, and the dog-leg shape they forced on the door frame made ingress and egress awkward. But boy, were they ever marketable!
Voici:
yay!
National Lampoon. circa 1972-73. …..
…….. paving the way for SNL. several years later ……
I remember that from Mad magazine. Bulgemobile, the car that says, “Get out of my way!” Upholstered in genuine Rubberette.
Wait, it wasn’t just this parody ad? There was more to it?Whoah…found it, and its fellows! Lookit!
great car
Jimmy Stewart drove one in Vertigo, a 1956
Yes sir he did, I watch the movie just for the scenes with that car.
I had a 4door sedan exactly like that in the 90’s truly a magnificent and well built automobile, I drove mine every day for over four years from FLA to NH to OK all four seasons and she never missed a beat!
Bought it with 37,000 miles on it (did a little body work and did repaint) and sold it with 117,000 miles.
Interesting – the badges of the sides of the car say “Fireflite”, but the one on the rear says, “Powerflite.”
Great looking car, and a nice colour.
Fireflite is the model. Powerflite is the transmission.
Quite right Paul. With all those name badges, it would have been confusing to consumers, let alone parking ticket officers. They should have made another badge for the engine – Fire Dome, and stuck that on somewhere too.
A bit of creative cut-and-pasting (okay, welding) on those badges and you could have a DeSoto PowerFire with a FliteFlite!
Okay, next coffee needed…..
And its successor, the 1956 DeSoto Firedome Seville, was beautiful. https://blog.consumerguide.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2012/10/1956DSTO1.jpg
That’s a darn good-looking car. The fog lights in the bumper guards and the single gold “V” are really nice touches. And a lovely color combo, too.
Oooooh, we share this childhood memory because my Grandma drove one of these until the starter went out in 1967. I spent hours playing in that car, which was a sedan like this but “only” a Firedome that started life as pink & white but later got a repaint to turn the pink parts beige. I remember that big black and white dash and steering wheel and that dainty little out-of-the-dash shifter like it was yesterday.
I had no idea at the time that this was even a Chrysler product – DeSotos had pretty well been flushed out of the transportation system in my world by the time I started paying attention. I just thought of DeSoto as being like Nash or Studebaker – some long-gone manufacturer.
I always begged my mother to drive it when we were to go somewhere during one of Grandma’s visits, but Mom hated driving it. She claimed it was because the Firedome lacked power brakes, but I think it was just because the car looked fat and old fashioned compared to the modern F-85/Cutlasses she drove in those years.
My Father bought a brand new 1951 Dodge Wayfarer convertible off the show room floor, because he was afraid the Korean war would heat up and stop car production. In December 1955 a red light runner totaled the Wayfarer. We went used car shopping on Christmas Eve. He purchased another 1951 Dodge: a nasty green Diplomat 2 Dr Hardtop.I was disappointed
Two weeks later, he came home with a used 1955 DeSoto Firedome 2 dr hardtop in two tone green. We became a 2 car family. This was our first car with a V8 and/or whitewall tires. Of course, when they were replaced, he bought blackwall Goodyears. Our car did not have the optional clock mounted on the stalk.
In September we moved into a new house with hot water and drains in the garage so that i could was the cars all Winter long. I was introduced to Westley’s Bleche White and Dupont Formula 33 car wash powder. I didn’t mind.
I used to walk to school for my 7th and 8th grade in the late ’60s. The closest I ever got to one of these big Chryslers, was a two-tone green ’56 Windsor, abandoned at a vacant lot across busy Route 1, just around the block from where my school and church was located. I first spotted it while riding by in my parent’s car
One Saturday in ’69, I decided to ride my bicycle up there, and bravely pedaled my bike across the traffic to get a close-up look.
The hood was up slightly. So I pushed it open to see the radiator was missing, but there was this huge V8 with plug-wires going right into these huge valve-covers. (Looking back now, I guess someone had left off those ‘Firedome’ wire-shields) Except for the missing radiator, the rest of the car looked pretty intact.
Over the next year or so, I got to see that big Chrysler many times as I rode by with my folks. One day, I noticed the windsheild had been smashed. Very soon, the car was gone.
They’ve widened Route 1 a couple times since then, but never built anything at that spot. So a small part of that vacant lot still remains as a reminder.
Happy Motoring, Mark
DeSoto is one of those brand I have absolutely no stories about. I have had no experiences with one and it seemed that by the time I was brand aware, DeSoto was gone from even the lowliest used car lots. I would like to experience it first hand in some form. I have never met anyone who had one either. Many obscure brands of automobiles are in my past, so it seem remarkable that there are no DeSotos in my part or in the past of anyone I know. Crosley, Nash, Hudson, Rambler, Imperial, Continental, Studebaker – all yes – but no DeSoto, or Packard.
Sad. They look like pretty cool cars too.
Thank you for sharing your DeSoto stories!
Why are my comments here being deleted?
Respectfully, Mark D.
They’re falling victim to the board’s anti-spam systems, which do a good job at their intended purpose but can be a little overly zealous sometimes. There’s no apparent rhyme or reason to what makes it think a perfectly innocuous comment is no good. When it happens, just post again asking “Will someone please retrieve my comment from trash/spam? Thanks” and usually that’ll be done quickly.
I commented on John Li’s most recent COAL over the weekend, and my comment didn’t show up right away. Out of curiosity I refreshed the page, and there was the comment with a “comment awaiting moderation” header. That was nice, told me it hadn’t just been sent into the ozone. I don’t know if refreshing the page will always have this effect, or if it was a fluke. The comment did show up later.
Tried refreshing, but no go. Anyway, thanks again to whoever retrieved my comment.
Happy Motoring, Mark
These DeSotos were very popular in the Midwest where I grew up. My great aunt and uncle purchased a new 1955 Firedome two-door hardtop in white on baby blue. My uncle put Fingerhut clear plastic covers over the white vinyl upholstery, kept the car washed, waxed, and garaged, and it still looked like new when they traded it in for a new 65 Chrysler Newport, their first car with A/C, in preparation for retirement and a move from IN to CA.
In part they waited to trade because they did not like the push-button transmission controls used by Chrysler from 56-64. Plus the DeSoto was a very reliable, high quality car that served them well for ten years, including on multiple cross-country vacation trips. The Firedome’s V8 had enough power – my uncle got a speeding ticket on their first trip to CA in the new car.
It’s Delightful,It’s Delovely, It’s DeSoto.
Amazing the impact riding in a special car can have, and not just when you’re at school.
When I was working in the lab around the back at the hospital in Melbourne and before I got my own car, sometimes our family doctor (who lived in the next block in St. Kilda) would give me a lift if he had a clinic there that morning. Not a ’55 DeSoto though (they weren’t sold here) but a lovely Daimler 2.5 litre – the Mark II Jaguar clone with the little V8. Gunmetal grey with lovely red leather, and all that wood! I had no idea a car could be made with so much polished wood inside! And that lovely little V8 burbling away.
I felt like royalty, being driven up the the front entrance of the hospital in a Daimler!
One 1955 DeSoto stands out from my early 1960’s childhood years. Alvin Clark, a rough-hewn farm-hand type and his wife Gert were a childless couple that lived in a ramshackle house out on a dead-end country road out of town. It worked local farms and for a small manufacture, neither of which was any more than a subsistence living. He drove a dark green 1950 Dodge sedan which he probably bought off Marv Preston, our small town used car dealer, one of the ‘$5 down, $5 a week’ operators. What you need to know about Alvin, he as a prolific swearer, every other word an expletive.
My father who did carpentry and general repair knew Alvin and would visit him and Gert occasionally. Suddenly, the dark green 1950 Dodge was gone, replaced by a red 1955 DeSoto sedan with a white top. He was very proud of his new car, told my folks in his usual swear-laced way that he and Gert had gone to the Angelica, NY country fair and that “That G-D high-powered De-Soto had so much power he could hardly keep it on the road” For a man accustomed to the docile 1950 Dodge, it was quite a handful. I can’t see a 1955 DeSoto except to think of it as “a G-D high-powered De-Soto!” Thanks Alvin for the memory…
If this anti-spam filter doesn’t get corrected, I’m going to stop commenting on here.
There is nothing we can do to “correct” the spam filter. Can you “correct” Windows, or any other sophisticated software?
What happens often is that comments are briefly held up. I assume it was the comment above that was held up? It’s time stamp is 2 minutes before this comment of yours.
Almost invariably, they will appear, sooner or later. Usually the former. If that’s not acceptable, I’m sorry.
Alright, practice a little patience, software has to do its thing…
Walking home from school one day, probably Grade 1 or 2, it started to rain. The crossing guard man offered to drive me home. I was perfectly fine with that, it was only two blocks, and he had a 1958 or so Plymouth. With those giant fins I had to have a ride in this car.
A second day, and I awaited the opportunity to get a ride home in the car with him again. This time, my mother came to get me moments later, more out of concern that I was likely becoming an annoyance to him, as opposed to the likely reaction such an event would bring today. I don’t think my wife and I let our kids walk home alone from school until at least eleven or twelve years of age, and no major street crossings were involved.
Had a. 55 desoto fireflite in high school white with a coral trim 2 door hard top. Loved that car bought in 1957 used for 1200 bucks. Made a big mistake of trading it in in 1962 for a. Merc comet. Was excellent except for the tranny. In winter if u didn’t let the tranny warm up for 10 minutes the bands would snap. Replaced it at least twice. Went to auction back in 2009. Same car sold for over. 30,000
I’m not sure I’ve ever ridden in a DeSoto, nor a Hemi of any kind. But this post got me thinking about which teachers’ cars I did get rides in, and of the four I could think of, two are now bygone brands: my 3rd grade teacher’s 1963 Pontiac, and a high school teacher’s Saab 96. The other two were an early sixties Continental convertible, owned by a university engineering professor though driven by his son when I rode in it, and a dull brown ‘55 Chevy owned by my 5th grade teacher. She was very nice; her the ten year old car, less so. Come to think of it, Continentals and Chevy sedans are on the way out too, at least for now.
In the late 1980s, one of these sat in front of a small television repair shop in my hometown. The owner was selling it.
The car, sporting factory-original light metallic purple paint with a white side sweep and roof, was in surprisingly good shape. The main cosmetic issue was some pitting of the chrome. Unfortunately, I was in no position to buy it. I often wonder what happened to that car. The condition was far too good to warrant junking it, but it was a four-door sedan, which didn’t attract as much interest as the hardtops and convertibles.