DeSoto may have been on the ropes by the time the 1960s models arrived, but this happy family was either faithful to the make or paid no attention to those matters. So here they are, alongside the finned wonder and their Lo Liner travel trailer, creating a joyous “Space Age meets the outdoors” scene. A reminder that these stylish (and sometimes outlandish) machines were still part of everyday life, and were expected to do whatever was asked of them, fins, chrome, and all. And in today’s image, a case of tailfins meeting trailer duty.
DeSoto’s position in the Pentastar’s hierarchy had been iffy for years by the time the 1958 recession sent the division into its final dive. As such, DeSoto’s 1960 lineup had been reduced to two trim lines, Adventurer and Fireflite, and were available in only three body styles; 4-door sedan, and 2-door, 4-door hardtops. Engine choices were V8s, limited to two displacements, 361CID and 383CID.
As to which of the two trims today’s feature car belongs to, it seems to be a Fireflite, which had a bit less glitz on the body. If so, it was one of 3,904 built that year. Not that any of the other DeSotos fared a great deal better.
For 1960, who was finniest of them all? I won’t be able to answer that conclusively on this post, but the full-size DeSoto/Chryslers gotta be near the top. And from this angle, with the family in waiting, this 2-door hardtop seems ready to take flight.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1960 DeSoto Adventurer – Really, Really, DeLovely
Curbside Classic: 1960 DeSoto Adventurer – Late Life Adventures
In the early ’60s our next door neighbor, an electrical engineer at Westinghouse in Baltimore, had a 1960 DeSoto Fireflite 4 dr sedan, silver over blue interior. I thought, and still think, it was a great looking car. It and my Grandpa’s ’57 Dodge were the cars that lead to my total fascination with ForwardLook Mopars, my favorite along with the Fuselage cars. Mr Kenney’s had a 361 and the coolest looking dashboard with its rows of buttons on each side of the speedometer.
He traded it in on a medium blue metallic ’65 Polara, also a nice middle class car, then a ’68 Newport with 383 V8 in Lime green, a move up in his mind that ended up a disappointment as it was somewhat problem prone, and not as well assembled and finished. A green (weren’t they all) ’71 Coronet followed it, and then we lost touch. But that silver ’60 DeSoto remains a real standout in my mind to this day.
There’s a place in my heart for all the orphaned auto makes: DeSoto, Edsel, Pontiac, Hudson, Imperial, and Kaiser, to name but a few. But I’m well aware if they were still extant, all they’d be making are SUV’s. That raises my spirits a bit.
I have to assume that buying a DeSoto in 1960 was a lot like buying a Pontiac in 2009. Everybody knew the brands were on the ropes, so there were bargains to be had buying a new one. At the same time, the parent companies were still very much alive, so there were few worries about future availability of parts and service. If I was of a mind to buy a 1960 Dodge, I might have stopped by a DeSoto dealer to see if I could find one cheaper than what the Dodge dealer was offering.
I remember a lot of 1950s DeSotos. I can’t remember seeing ’60 or ’61 models on the road. The ’60 DeSoto looks like what it is. A Chrysler body, a Dodge dashboard, a smaller engine & a few pieces of shuffled the trim. Promotional material and dealer support probably cost Chrysler more than any hardware differences between the cars.
The base price of the bottom line DeSoto Adventurer sedan was $3014. The base price for the bottom line Chrysler Windsor sedan was $3055. An extra $45 provided an upgrade to a 383 engine, the perceived prestige of the Chrysler name plus a seriously prettier dashboard.
That dashboard alone would have persuaded me to buy a Chrysler. The DeSoto may have been a good car. It was not a good value.
Thanks for sharing the pictures of the dashboards. My family had Buicks during this period, so these dashboards aren’t familiar.
Much more rarer would be the DeSoto Diplomat sold in export markets, before 1960 it was a “Plysoto” but for 1960 it was a “Dodsoto” or “Desodge”. https://flickr.com/photos/sg2012/8758289405/in/photostream/ or how about the South African 1962 “Dodsoto” Diplomat? https://www.flickr.com/photos/45904802@N08/5850635211/
Did they fire the DeSoto stylists in 1958 or so? The 1960 and 61 DeSotos looked like Chryslers hit with an “ugly” stick. So disappointing. No wonder they didn’t sell well and they stopped making them.
Oh, I don’t know… I rather like the 1960 MY. But the reason is it looks so much like a Chrysler. And a 1960 Dodge instrument panel is a thing of wonder!
I like this weird and wonderful “car of the future” .
-Nate
Those fins maybe out of this world but so is that front grille.
DeSoto taillights 1959 (left) & 1960 (right). Professional designers probably would prefer the later interpretation with the Fresnel ribs but there’s a charm to the classic triple stack.
Can anyone identify the location of the first photo?
The author asked a rhetorical question which I would like to offer an answer to:
“Which 1960 cars were the finniest of all?”
And in my eyes, there were two from Chrysler–the Imperial and Plymouth. Both had sky-high fins, more so pronounced on the Plymouth. growing up, a good friend’s parents had a white over copper `60 Fury Sport Suburban 9 pass. wagon when seated in the far rear seat, you got the impression looking out that the fin was another car the wagon had slaughtered in traffic!! LOL And years later, I built Jo-Han’s `60 Plymouth wagon kit of the very same model for my friend–even in the same colors! He still has it & we’re both 65!
Hi ! Cool feature on a forgotten about marque. Thank you for that. I’ve got a 1960 Desoto for sale, $30,000. I can be reached at (425) 478-4586 in Edmonds, Washington.