Mark, OLSKOOLRODDER, came by this afternoon and did some polishing on my air cleaner. It had lots of orange peel before, but it is smooth and shiny now. Thanks Mark.
Photos do not do this car justice. Closest I will ever come to seeing a brand new 1957 Desoto. Great job Bill!!!
I love this car! Brings back memories of the cars my Uncle used to have. He was a Chrysler Plymouth dealer and my Mom worked for him. I grew up hanging around and riding in all sorts of mopars.
Dropped the Firesweep off at the upholstery shop this morning. Hopefully, in a few weeks, it will be done. I'll post pictures as the work progresses. The interior colors will be salmon & milkweed. The headliner is in great condition and will be left as is. The carpet will be black. The trunk will be upholstered and carpeted as well.
My tires arrived yesterday from Diamondback and I got them mounted, balanced, and put them on the car. I will wash the blue off of them after I get the car back from upholstery.
The upholstery shop is moving along on the Firesweep. They have the dynamat all installed and also the interior carpets are installed. I also mounted my old DIXCO tachometer that I had in my first Firesweep back in '62.
The upholstery work is just about done. They still need to make a cover for the spare tire and cover the lower portion of the trunk hinge mounts with carpet. I'll pick up the car in the morning. I attached some pictures below.
Not sure if the HAMB allows videos, but I uploaded one on the Desoto to face book. Here is the link. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=702204166526329 Cathy and I picked up the car from the upholstery shop this morning and had a great trip home with it. The first thing I did once we got back here was to wash the blue protective film off the tires. Whitewalls sure look better than bluewalls. It needs a good cleaning inside and out, but it is good to have it back home again. The upholstery shop took about ten days to complete the work.
Great restoration Bill, that car brings back a lot of memories for me, as I'm sure it does for you. Keith.
Thanks Keith. Yes indeed, some great times in the one I had in '62 and hopefully some more in this one.
You might have to fight my wife for it. She told me that she and a friend of hers are going to take it on a Thelma and Louise road-trip minus the drive over the cliff.
Fine job. The upholstery looks terrific. Nice color and design. It will be a pleasure for those who see it on the road!. TEB Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Finally got around to correcting the speedometer error I was having. It was showing 90 MPH when I was going 70 MPH. I had an old S-W speedometer gear box, but the gear ratio was wrong. It was 1.202 to 1 unit and I needed to slow the reading down by about 20 percent. I ended up taking the S-W box apart and reversed the input and output gears which were pressed onto their respective shafts and also flipped the idler gear over and ended up with a gear box with around a .8 to 1 ratio. I installed the gear box between the speedometer output on the transmission and the cable that runs up to the speedometer. It landed right on the money; 70 mph on the GPS and 70 mph on the Desoto speedometer. Happy days...
What would cause the speedo to be off that much, other than a few years of wear and tear? I love this car and keep telling myself, "one day...."
I had changed the tires and they were not the same diameter as the originals. Changing the third member gears will also do it, but I think the 3.54 to 1 gear set installed in the car is stock.
Yes, there is a metal plate on the cowl that gives some of the build info. I also found the build sheet taped to the top of the glove box which provides a pretty detailed listing of the options on the car.
The 1957 Desoto Firesweep Sportsman is done.... I'm sure there will be a few things to do here and there, but I'm now enjoying the driving everyday. I just wanted to thank H.A.M.B. for allowing this space to present this project. In addition, to the many members that have offered support and suggestions, I thank you very much. I was very fortunate to have some great help on the car, including: Rudy's Paint and Body, Mangum Rd. & Hardway St., Houston, TX 77092, 713 688-0624 Custom Polish & Chrome Plating, 424 Hill Rd, Houston, TX 77037, 832 770-4925 Advanced Auto Trim, 2612 Little York Rd., Houston, TX 77093, 713 694-5528 The project took about 7 months & more $$ than I'll admit to complete as follows: 02/15/14 CAR ARRIVED FROM IOWA 02/28/14 COMPLETED ENGINE REPAIRS 03/26/14 STARTED FLOOR REPAIRS 04/11/14 COMPLETED FLOOR REPAIRS -16 DAYS 04/13/14 INSTALLED NEW EXHAUST SYSTEM 04/29/14 COMPLETED BRAKE REPAIRS 04/29/14 STARTED BODY & PAINT WORK 05/27/14 STARTED CHROME PLATING WORK 06/26/14 COMPLETED CHROME PLATING WORK – 30 DAYS 07/08/14 COMPLETED BODY & PAINT WORK – 70 DAYS 08/01/14 COMPLETED A/C INSTALLATION 08/10/14 COMPLETED INSTALLATION OF NEW GAS TANK AND 12 VDC PUMP 08/19/14 COMPLETED FRONT SUSPENSION REBUILD 08/27/14 STARTED UPHOLSTERY WORK 09/06/14 COMPLETED UPHOLSTERY WORK -10 DAYS
.....seven mmmmm mmmm months ? Well screw you for making me so slow......lol. That's incredible. Awesome work man. Beautiful car.
Very nice job. Maybe there will be a mild winter this year and extend the driving season (unless this is going to be a daily.)
We are fortunate down here in Texas; the driving season is everyday of the year. Thanks for the comment.
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