Customs THE Official "Show Your DeSoto" Thread...Cars, Not Just Grilles In Your Custom

Here is my heap---

Its a '55 2rd h/t. I've been working on it on and off for the last 2 yrs. The hemi and grill teeth were long gone when I got it(but hey, how "custom" is it to actually run Desoto grill teeth IN a Desoto, right?) The front end of the chassis had some issues, so I decided to put it on a modern coil spring chassis because I wanted to airbag it anyway.

So, a friend gave me a complete, running 1989 Lincoln Town Car, and after much mutilation, she is sitting on the Lincoln chassis. I have set everything high in the chassis and armor plated the bottom of the frame with 1/4" steel plate, so once the airbags are installed, it can drag the frame forever without hurting anything. I also used the Lincoln tilt column w/shifter and the Lincoln booster and m/c assy.

I was going to use a 413 and push button 727, but sadly found out that the 413 was junk, and the good Lincoln 302/AOD was sitting there, so in it went with a 2brl intake and a Holley 4412.






I've gotten it to the point where it will run and drive, but I think I'm going to bail on it in the immediate future so I can get my '60 Stude going.

Here was my idea for a front end treatment (4t64rd photochopped this for me). I have another complete front clip, and I was gonna cut enough meat out of it to do this----

 

HotRodHabit, you're off to a great start. I love that body style. Very sleak.
Keep it up man.




BloodyKnuckles

 

Does anybody know where i can find a new windshield for my '55 Desoto?
I've looked on numerous websites, and no luck. In fact I posted a thread on this last night and not much luck.
Thanks

 

I know you know but these aren't your everyday cars. You may want to check with the p15-d24 board. There are a few DeSoto owners there. Also check with The DeSoto land website. I don't have an address for them but I'll look.

Good Luck and great car btw.



BloodyKnuckles

 

I can tell you that the parts ain't "everyday car" cheap. I just had my back window re-installed. The window gasket alone was $200 plus shipping!!! ........, made the $100 labor for the glass guy seem cheap.

 

58 Firesweep.
Rebecca

 

Oh I know working on these cars aint cheap and parts are not pleantiful. And I'm fully aware of how much I'll end up spending, that's why its taken me five years just to get the car where its at now.
The windshield isn't broke or anything, in a few weeks a good friend of mine and I are going to chop it. It'll just be nice to have a spare 'just in case'.
But I'll try out those guys Bloodyknuckles mentioned. Thanks

 

Have you tried local "modern" autoglass shops? You might get surprised... I've dealt with bobsclassicautoglass here in Oregon.

My '56 Fireflite Moredoor Hardtop, with "Kustom" 55 grill!! The Merc guys hate me...

 

When driving my Desoto Airflow I get asked all the time by young people What kind of car is that? I say Desoto then usually a blank deer in the headlighs look is the first reaction followed by - WHAT? - I get a kick out of it every time.

 

Here was my 46 .. 440 - 727- 8-3 /4 new suspension Sold to a Hamb member and now lives a happy life in Italy

 

great i hope your happy knuckles...as if desoto grilles weren't expensive enough for mercs the price just went up because people are seeing how cool the whole entire car is and not just the grille...DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT!!!!!

 

Got ya bitch!!!



BloodyKnuckles

 

ok i just checked ebay and found this in montana...600$ no reserve, someone buy it and sell me the grille


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DeSo...014QQitemZ330286405313QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

When I was a kid my Grandpa had a '57 Desoto. He picked it up for next to nothing. It was such a clean origional car he just kept it in storage most of the year. Every summer he would bring it out, and i'd help him clean it up, we cruise to the ice cream parlor, then he'd drive it for a few dys and park it again. It was a beautiful car, turquoise and white, push button trans, still had the plastic covers on the seat. He eventually sold it sometime in the early nineties, before I got my license, or it would have been mine. I used to see it around town every once in a while. It had been lowered, and had the handles shaved, and a couple antennas frenched into the fins. I still think about that car sometimes.

 

Dude, I have 2 of those grilles in the shop. All you have to do is ask!



BloodyKnuckles

 

Here are some shots of our '56 Desoto that lived the first half of its life in Palm Springs California, in the high desert. We (my dad and I) have been the caretakers since 1982. We bought it out of Hemmings sight unseen from Bob Wingates Classic Cars and had it shipped cross country.

When I was born, my father owned a '56 Desoto in the exact same color combination. He had to sell it in 1960 since gas was getting pricey (at like $.19 a gallon!). Anyway, he always hated having to sell the car, so I found an exact match and we bought it. I remember one time he thought that he saw his old car on the back of a trailer headed over the Bay Bridge to the Maryland Eastern shore. We were coming home from Ocean City and were traveling in the opposite direction, and in those days there was only one bridge, and the traffic flowed both ways. If he had been able, we would have whipped our '66 Caprice into a U-turn on the bridge and chased the car down. He was that much in love with that car!

The erie thing was he had kept the vanity mirror which had Desoto script etched on it all those years in his dresser drawer as a prized possession, right next to his US Army service medals and antinque coins. When the car was parked out in the driveway, he went in and grabbed the mirror. When he went to put it on, damn if the marks from an identical mirror weren't on the visor.

When we got to checking, so many things were similar. This car was originally a three -tone. White top, yellow body with a black sweep. The lower sweep had been repainted white, just like my dad had done to his in 1958. Dad thought the three-tone looked like a bumble bee!

Also, as a Firedome, the car should have come with chrome headlight rings. Someone had replaced them with Fireflight, the upscale 4-barrel model, painted headlight rings with chrome trim and top spear. Dad had done the same to his in about 1959.

As I said, it was weird, but we did check and the car had never left California before we bought it.

Its in my garage right now, and I fire it up just to keep it rolling.

Jay

 

Here is a friends 56 Wagon

 

Dang I was hoping for a picture of Heather under the hood of her Desoto like in your avatar.

 

11 tooth or 9 tooth? PM me some details.

 

Well, as of Saturday I'm the proud new owner of this '55 Desoto Fireflite Sportsman. She's solid, complete, still wears the original paint, and has the original 291 hemi in it. I'm going to cannibalize all the new brake and electrical parts from my '56 plymouth to get it stopping, running, and updated to 12 volt- then I'll just drive the wheels off of it.

 

Manson that's got tons of potential...great score...I have been trolling for a nice 53 or 54 like Bloody Knuckles' but a 55 wouldn't be bad either...

 

I went with a kit from AAJ to upgrade the master cylinder, booster, front brakes, but let me know what you need, I tried to fix 3 masters before giving up. I have some extra parts left from 3 masters and a couple rebuild kits. The 55's are one year only brake setups, are real PITA to find good parts for.


This is my/ my wife's 55. I'm currently trying to make a decent interior. Gotta fix some busted glass, find a missing emblem and tune it up. The trans slipps a little when its not fully warmed. I have already put discs on the front. If anyone knows where I can get some side trim, let me know!
<br>

 

Thanks for the info. That's one fine looking Desoto that you- errrr...I mean your wife has!

Like I said, I just bought it this past Saturday, and I haven't even picked the car up yet. But I'm hoping that the brake shoes, wheel cylinders, and hoses that I've put on my '56 Plymouth will fit the Desoto. The chassis/undercarriage looks identical between the two, but I could be wrong. And I'm going to use a '70 Chevy truck dual reservoir master cylinder just as I did on the Plymouth, since the power brake setup on the Desoto had been scrapped by the previous owner because he had problems with either the booster or master cylinder going bad on more than one occasion (there's two complete power brake setups in the trunk, along with a bunch of other parts).

 

BTTT




BloodyKnuckles

 

hey knucks...how many people have pm'd you looking for teeth LOL...you lying s.o.b. lol

 

I sold both sets. Ya snooze, ya looooze. You're too damn slow. It was like a ebay sniper seminar.

Both sets went for over $2800 each. I'll sell the set from wifes for about $3200. You up for it??




BloodyKnuckles

 

About 6 years ago I bought A 53 desoto. for $4000 2 days later I cut it up. these are the pics. from my E-bay add, I had to sell it before I finished it. man I wish I still had it.

 

thats bad-ass !!!!

 

Seret- That's so badass and bitchin. I love seeing desoto's all cut up.

 

VonDust thanks. When I first saw this car it was in a Bar parking lot, I looked at my friend and said, &#8220;hey look this cars got a Desoto Grill&#8221; and he said that&#8217;s cuz it&#8217;s a Desoto stupid. I drove by the Bar every day for A week before I went in and bought it, all my friends thought I was nuts. But the way I saw it, the point of customizing was to take an ugly car and make it look good, or take a cheep car and make it look expensive, I looked at allot of Gene Windfield customs from the mid to late 50s to develop the style I was after. Wish I had not lowered it so much. And would have loved to see it in single stage burgundy. But what the hell.