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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 500
Location: Upper East Tennessee | ...she ain't CRUSHED!!!
Today I saved this car from the crusher.
Strange story on this. I was at Carlisle a couple weeks ago on Thursday night when folks were just getting set up a guy in the 1st row (south side) had a very distinctive Hemi for sale. I knew it was a 1957 341 DeSoto Hemi. He was asking $800 for the engine and I told him it will be sold before Saturday. Of course it was. I wasn't so interested in the Hemi but I asked him what happened to the rest of the car. He mentioned that he still had it and one person was interested in buying the body for the front suspension. This person has a '58 Dodge. I told him the suspension from the DeSoto would not work in the Dodge because the DeSoto is a Firedome. He said if this guy didn't buy it... the car was going to the crusher. I was very saddened to hear this. The guy spoke with a yankee accent. I can recognize general 'yankee' but cannot distinguish between New England territory dialects. LOL! All I knew was this car was far away from my house. After further discussion, it turns out this guy was from New Hampshire but now lives near Forest City, NC. Hmmm...a mere 125 miles from Bulls Gap, TN! I was more interested. He said if I was interested in the body we could work something out. I had the parts on hand that work in the '58 Dodge. So, between me, the seller, and the guy who needed the '58 Dodge suspension parts we made the deal. Everyone was a winner! I picked up the car today. She'll never see her former glory but will be a great organ doner for those on their way. I like this method of recycling much better!
(HPIM1023a.JPG)
(HPIM1024a.JPG)
(HPIM1025a.JPG)
(HPIM1026a.JPG)
(HPIM1027a.JPG)
(dash.JPG)
Attachments ---------------- HPIM1023a.JPG (86KB - 152 downloads) HPIM1024a.JPG (86KB - 142 downloads) HPIM1025a.JPG (91KB - 132 downloads) HPIM1026a.JPG (77KB - 140 downloads) HPIM1027a.JPG (80KB - 144 downloads) dash.JPG (71KB - 139 downloads)
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Expert
Posts: 3480
Location: Montreal, Canada | Glad you could save it from the crusher!! I love '57 Desotos! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1053
Location: Ny | She really doesn't look that bad. Thanks for saving her! |
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Expert
Posts: 3037
Location: N.W. Fla. | Jessica - 2010-07-21 4:58 PM
She really doesn't look that bad. Thanks for saving her! Using it as a parts car just delays the crusher a while. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 500
Location: Upper East Tennessee | The car is much much worse than the pics show. Not worth restoring...but will help with others. That's better than crushing it now and getting no benefit. Anyone is welcome to give it a try and sink $30-$40K into a car that will be worth at most $15K. But wait...where will you get the parts? Some cars are just parts cars. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
Location: Finger Lakes NY | nice save tim!! |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 7810
Location: Williams California | Goog going, Tim. You'll get a lot of dollars worth of good parts from that car, and make others happy as well.
---John |
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Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015. You will be missed, Neil!
Posts: 19146
Location: bishop, ca | its got those cute little window shades on it, too.
You might check to see what size its brake assemblies are: 12"?
Nice score!
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Location: Parts Unknown | ALL 57-58 big body DeSotos got the 12" brakes.
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Expert
Posts: 1489
Location: New Castle PA | Hey, Tim, I wish you would have gotten that motor number for my database! Do you mind sharing the VIN and previous owner's name? You may PM me. I have several cars that COULD be that one in the database now, but I don't have pics of them, and can't confirm it. If you're interested in "supplying" any parts, I can include you in my list of places/people I send folks to when they're looking for something. Like everyone else, thanks for your efforts to save her for now... |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 500
Location: Upper East Tennessee | 57desoto - 2010-07-23 7:32 AM
Hey, Tim, I wish you would have gotten that motor number for my database! Do you mind sharing the VIN and previous owner's name? You may PM me. I have several cars that COULD be that one in the database now, but I don't have pics of them, and can't confirm it. If you're interested in "supplying" any parts, I can include you in my list of places/people I send folks to when they're looking for something. Like everyone else, thanks for your efforts to save her for now...
Ed, she still has the vin plate in the door jam so I can get that. Sorry I wasn't thinking clearly at Carlisle (too much distraction with all the mopar stuff!) so I didn't get the engine number. I did see a strange pulley on the engine and I asked the guy if it was an air conditioned car. He said it was very "plain jane" so then I figured it was the idler pulley for a manual steering car. Sure enough, it has manual steering and brakes. The history of this car is that it was in a salvage yard in North Carolina for many years and just recently the yard was sold off. Before entering the salvage yard the car had a full life as the brake and accelerator pedals are nearly worn to the metal and the odometer has turned over the 100K mark. The guy who bought the car from the yard (and sold it to me) had it for only a couple of months. He said the salvage yard was loaded with Edsels but this Desoto was the only FL era Mopar they had. I will be parting this car out eventually but I plan not to offer parts until I get my cars completed.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 530
Location: Wake Forest, NC | Good save she doesn't look too bad, how the frame? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 500
Location: Upper East Tennessee | Fins/413 - 2010-07-23 8:32 AM
Good save she doesn't look too bad, how the frame?
Frame is good. I will be using it on another project. Floors, trunk, and rockers are pretty much gone. I'm amazed I didn't lose the gas tank out from under it on the trip home. |
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