With Halloween just passed, I feel like I’m chasing and seeing ghosts around here. Those hearses from yesterday’s posts may have something to do with it too. I may as well just spend some time with another marque that lives only as a ghost, and devote today’s gallery to DeSoto.
There are some sharp and nicely appointed numbers in this collection, and I can see why the brand’s name resounds to this day after all this time. Today’s images go from the marque’s dowdy postwar years to the sleek toothy period and finally, the fin-tastic late ’50s.
In the days of the DeSoto, the approximate useful life span of a car was 10 years or so, so I’d make a guess that 95+% of DeSotos were off the road by 1970. And that was approximately the year that I started becoming cognizant of cars. I don’t think I ever saw one on the road.
When the TV show “Happy Days” came out in 1974 and the protagonist’s father drove a DeSoto, I had to ask my father what a DeSoto was.
I imagine that someday soon, a fictional character will be seen driving a Plymouth, or a Pontiac, or an Oldsmobile on-screen, and a young kid will have to ask their father what those names mean.
Dad’s ‘48 DeSoto was sidelined in 1966 when the crankshaft and/or rod bearings started making expensive noises. It got parked in back of our house for a couple of years but dad never had the time or money to do the repairs. Meanwhile, my brothers and I enjoyed hooking up the battery charger and listening to rock & roll on the wonderful 8 tube radio that was nestled in the chrome Wurlitzer jukebox dashboard.
It was great seeing all the DeSotos in this post. Even the everyday sedans had a little something extra in the looks department compared to the “low-priced three.” Sometime I’d like to see a similar post featuring the 1940 through 48 DeSotos.
It’s somewhat surprising to me that DeSoto lasted as long as it did, considering it was a slightly decontented Chrysler with somewhat different styling. But once the Eisenhower Recession hit in 1958, coupled with the great expansion of models under each brand starting in 1960, the death knell for DeSoto was sounded.
On another note, can you imagine naming a brand after a conquistador today?
That reminds me of this article about Chrysler’s medium/premium price-field collapse vs the Edsel one. https://www.indieauto.org/2023/06/23/chryslers-collapse-in-premium-priced-field-was-a-bigger-deal-than-edsels/
More surprising then DeSoto menaged to live a bit longer in South Africa.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/45904802@N08/5850635211
https://www.stltoday.com/brandavestudios/the-desoto-automobile-wasn-t-dead-just-yet/article_20e51efa-51ca-11eb-a814-ef5813c41b91.html
It would be fun to see if there’s still some South African 1962 DeSoto survivors.
DeSoto was redundant to Chrysler as soon as the company acquired the Dodge brand and its dealers.
DeSoto probably shouldn’t have been revived after WWIi. But Chrysler had to be in an expansive mood then. Ford was a rotten shell of a company. Ford was too rich to go broke, but it easily could have become a placeholder that persisted in selling a decreasing number of cars to dwindling diehard loyalists. Chrysler would have picked up a lot of that volume.
Another possibility Chrysler didn’t create Imperial as a separate division and decided to go head to head against Cadillac and Lincoln leaving a more wider field for DeSoto or throw the towel about Imperial more earlier like 1960-61 instead of 1975 where Imperial is rechristened as Chrysler New Yorker.
Too bad the author didn’t have a movie still of Jimmy Stewart with his all-white `56 Fireflight hardtop from the movie “Vertigo!”
HERE YOU GO
I recall the car being a bit pink.”Barbara Bel Geddes” VW KG” was my fav set a wheels in that pic.
In the 7th picture the Pennsylvania license is sort of redundant. Everything in the scene is COAL.
“Tell ‘em Groucho sent you.”
My grandfather bought a new 1955 DeSoto 4 years prior to retiring which is in the background of my photo. My mother’s new 1966 Ford Fairlane and my father’s 1960 Lark convertible are to the right. In the foreground is the chassis of a 1921 Rowe truck which I was restoring – it had a Wisconsin 4-cylinder 4″ x 6″ L-head engine with 4 main bearings (no main between cylinders 2 & 3). That truck is currently in a private collection in Pennsylvania, not far from where the truck was built.
I remember the DeSoto – it was the last car that my Grandfather owned even though he lived another 24 years after he purchased the car. He liked it and he didn’t spend money frivolously.
I have a 1930 DeSoto K. . Runs super good. Not bad for a 94 year old
I don’t recall seeing any DeSotos on the road, but being car fanatics, my family made sure I knew what they were. I guess they just weren’t all that big, they just were “there” in the market for a generation. I would definately know when I saw one, I’ve seen so much written and photographed, I’d probably feel like I’ve seen one before – but honestly, I really can’t say that I have.
I was at the Route 66 car show a month back, and I don’t believe I saw any DeSoto automobiles there. Interesting.
Our family cars were DeSotos in the 50s and into the 60s. I best remember a 56 Firedome that we had until it was replaced by a used 62 Impala. The 56 DeSoto was one of the prettiest cars ever made. I loved the rear fin and tail light arrangement. The 62 Impala was a big step backwards as far as the interior went – metal dash instead of the padded dash in the DeSoto. The 56 DeSoto had a radio that had seek and scan functions long before they became common on digital radios.
The dashboard of the 55-56 DeSotos is really cool – sporty looking with twin coves, a businesslike collection of round gauges in front of the driver.
I mostly preferred DeSoto’s overall styling over Chrysler’s. Especially its rear end styling with those triple lens taillights which they kept to the end of the 50’s.
Nice pictures, all .
I’m quite fond of the two tone paint jobs .
When I was young DeSoto was quite the optional aspiration car .
-Nate
Being born in 53 I remember seeing DeSotos on the highway.
Chrysler’s hierarchy was patterned after GM’s. Plymouth vs Chevy and Ford, Dodge vs Pontiac, DeSoto vs Oldsmobile and Chrysler vs Buick with Imperial filling the top dog spot. According to what I read the recession of the late fifties did DeSoto and Edsel in as markets constricted and the compacts arrived across the board in the shape of Valiant, Falcon and Corvair. DeSoto had been a viable and desirable option for folks for decades by that time and Edsel (which was Fords effort to enter the GM type hierarchy) was a good car at the wrong time. Mercury had its hands full trying to cross the line between Olds and Buick thereafter and true to form usually got the leavings after Ford took what it wanted. By 1960 Chrysler messed in its own cornflakes by making Dodge a direct competitor to Plymouth.
Oh yeah. As a young punk, I saw MANY a big-finned car sail up the Stielacoom Blvd hill towards the State hospital from my back yard view..T-birds, Fords, Olds, Studes, & those wild, beady, red-eyed, flashy tail lamp pods on those big, long fins! I caught one or two of the 57’s & 58’s carousing round the corner of the then red-signed SkyChief (!) corner gas station we lived near.
I have a soft spot for DeSotos – my grandma had a 55 Firedome sedan painted salmon pink and white, and kept it until 1967 when the starter went out. I knew it was an orphan, but was never told that it had been a product of Chrysler. Today I like the details on the 56 better, but I would not turn down a 55.
That last shot is extra ghostly, with the Stude Lark right behind Mr. Car-Proud’s DeSoto.
My father had a 1952 Desoto similar to the one in the 3rd picture with the two kids. It was a gray color. Being born in 1951, it was the first car I remember. In 1959 we took it on a trip from Iowa to Arizona. Everyone told my dad that it would never make there and back. It almost came true when the water pump went out on a Sunday in Kansas. We got it fixed at a Sears auto center and were on our way. We got on Route 66 in Oklahoma and made it to Tempe. I rember it having a fluid drive which was kind of a hybrid manual/automatic transmission. My mom learned to drive in it and got her driver’s license in 1956. We kept it until December 7, 1961 when my dad bought a new Chrysler Newport.
Our parents bought a used 1955 Desoto Firedome in 1958. It was our family’s first “modern” car. Served us well and it became my first car in 1966 when I turned 16. And Mom bought a gorgeous pink and grey 1956 Desoto Fireflite in 1962. Both cars survived wrecks and sketchy repairs and were eventually sold. But fond memories remain!
Captain Gort – Great story – Thanks! Your family’s ’55 DeSoto looked just like my grandfather’s car.
I’m pretty sure the only Desoto I ever really looked at was a ’42 model I saw in the early ’50s. I’d never seen a car with eyelids. Next to a few Airflows of that general era it was the only Mopar I ever really looked at.
My older brother’s first car was a 1949 DeSoto series 1 coupe for $200 and we drove it home. This impressed me as it had faded dust covered paint, dull trim and bald tires! This was 1972 so our friends all had the usual “what a tank” or just “Why”? comments. We washed and vacuumed the “Beast”, changed oil in the crankcase and air filter. New plugs and wires a carb cleaning and fuel filter and you literally coul not here it run with the hood closed! Our older brother came over with some polising compound and chrome/stainless polish and after 4 hours of elbow grease, it was a gorgeous dark blue with a huge stainless steel toothy grin up front. The third brake light was too cool and even the clock worked. It became a neighborhood favorite and all the parents had DeSoto stories to tell. The big Chrysler six was very strong still(53k miles)and my lead footed brother could outrun any six or small V8 on an incline. That is until the fluid drive solenoid went out on a hill climb against a 307 Chevelle. Suddenly high revs, no oil pressure and knocking ensued. Pulling to the shoulder in the middle of nowhere we saw the devastation. Boiled over radiator and boiled out oil. Undaunted my brother sent me to a nearby creek with a bucket while he poured in a gallon of ND 30wt. we had in the huge trunk. The “Beast” fired and ran but a light low end knock told the tale. We slowly drove in 2nd gear the 20 miles to our destination. The next day at our friend’s house we all decided to go to the lake. My brother volunteered the DeSoto and ignored my warnings. Needless to say. it was my first time hearing an engine lock up. In the end Chris sold it the next day for twice the purchase price and learned many a valuable lesson. That blue bomb was the toughest car any family member ever owned. It will not be forgotten!
West Point cadet in the first picture? I wonder how his career the Army went?
To J P Cavanagh: That salmon pink color on your grandmother’s 55 DeSoto was called Emberglow. My Dad who was a DeSoto-Plymouth dealer had a 55 DeSoto Fireflyte 2 Dr hardtop as a demonstrator. It was beautiful. Even my brother who was 5 years old remembers it. I had the pleasure of remembering many DeSotos over the years, especially the ones I would drag race on the streets. They were fast.
Learned to drive on a Black 55 Firedome and have loved DeSoto ever since. At same time parents friends had a 55 two tone 55 Fireflite. 57 Firesweep combined part of front end from 57 Dodge for an entry level DeSoto. Parents passed up chance (1960) to trade for a 59 ADVENTURER and again in summer of 61 to get the last 61 in our community, only to trade the 55 in 1962 for a new Plymouth Belvedere (one of the ugliest cars ever). Two of my ultimate dream cars are 1961 IMPERIAL LEBARON and last 61 DeSoto! Both were the GRAND finale for Exners fabulous finned fantasies. At least DeSoto went out with FINS soaring high and was spared 62 downsized look of Plymouth and Dodge! Yes, 🎵 It’s Delightful 🎶It’s Delovely 🎵 It’s DESOTO 🎶! And DO tell them GROUCHO sent you! .
My first car ride (home from the hospital) was in dad’s ’55 two-tone blue DeSoto. (He had also owned a ’53). I think I have the invoice for the car. I have zero memory of it-other than one family Kodachrome slide where my Gpa and Gma are posed beside it. By the time I turned 2, Dad had traded for a ’58 Plymouth Suburban wagon to haul us 3 boys around!