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Member
Posts: 38
| I came across some pics of my Grandmother and my mother in 1961 with their Desoto. I know it’s a 57 but having trouble deciding which model this is. These are the only photos I have. I may try to hunt one down some day if there are any left. Thanks, guys!
Attachments ---------------- 1D48B887-F213-483E-9FE5-0CA9DD1994A7.jpeg (79KB - 234 downloads) B68EBC10-EBF9-4BCD-B3EC-1833D459BF08.jpeg (304KB - 237 downloads) 2728AB17-36AE-4BAD-9241-CC5BF02377EF.jpeg (209KB - 233 downloads)
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Expert
Posts: 3967
Location: DFW, TX | That is a 1957 Desoto Fireflite Sportsman (hardtop) coupe.
From what we're able to see, it is optioned almost exactly like the car on the cover of the 1957 brochure, except the car in your photo is optioned with quad headlights.
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Attachments ---------------- 57des1.jpg (79KB - 235 downloads) 57des2.jpg (209KB - 237 downloads) 57des3.jpg (304KB - 223 downloads) iu.jpg (140KB - 225 downloads)
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Member
Posts: 38
| Excellent. I knew someone on here would be able to nail it down. As a side note, the lady in the pearls, my grandmother, passed away a few months shy of her 106th birthday! She was 49 in these pics and still had 57 years to go! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 403
Location: California | That’s amazing! Think about all the changes and advancements she witnessed in her lifetime. Whatever became of the DeSoto? Did they keep it for a long time?
The 57-58’s are stunning cars. |
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Expert
Posts: 1890
| .
The original rear seat upholstery is molded for two passengers. Most likely these are seat covers…
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Attachments ---------------- 1.jpg (248KB - 235 downloads) 2.jpg (100KB - 239 downloads)
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 7207
Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | frwl - 2020-04-14 12:43 AM
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The original rear seat upholstery is molded for two passengers. Most likely these are seat covers…
That is also what struck me as the car possibly being a Firedome as the upholstery doesn't match Fireflite upholstery. However the script at the top of the back seat seems to read as "Fireflite". |
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Expert
Posts: 3967
Location: DFW, TX | That was the only thing that brought me pause. It is neither Firedome nor Fireflite upholstery. As folks here have said, they appear to be seat covers, already needed by 1961. |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 7207
Location: Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada | 57burb - 2020-04-14 8:58 AM
That was the only thing that brought me pause. It is neither Firedome nor Fireflite upholstery. As folks here have said, they appear to be seat covers, already needed by 1961.
In those days, dealers also upsold seat covers on a new car sale a lot of the time so they could have been installed at the time of sale. |
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Member
Posts: 38
| I believe they had the car until 64-65. Anyone’s guess where it is now if it still exists at all. My mother said my grandfather used to polish the car with furniture polish! Yikes! That would seem odd that the car would have needed seat covers so soon. We live in PA so not like they were Arizona sun baked or anything. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 403
Location: California | 57burb - 2020-04-14 11:58 AM
That was the only thing that brought me pause. It is neither Firedome nor Fireflite upholstery. As folks here have said, they appear to be seat covers, already needed by 1961.
You can make out the word “FireFlite” between the rear seats still. The quality of the upholstery was always a weak point on these cars |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 403
Location: California | 67Deluxe - 2020-04-14 12:41 PM
I believe they had the car until 64-65. Anyone’s guess where it is now if it still exists at all. My mother said my grandfather used to polish the car with furniture polish! Yikes! That would seem odd that the car would have needed seat covers so soon. We live in PA so not like they were Arizona sun baked or anything.
It sure was a beautiful car,thanks for sharing the photos with us. I hope to add a 57-58 DeSoto to my collection one day. The upholstery didn’t wear well,especially the fabric sections.it was one of the things criticized about these cars.
Lemon pledge! Makes the FireFlite shiny and lemony fresh. ??
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Expert
Posts: 3967
Location: DFW, TX | It may sound funny to modern ears, but furniture polish will do an admirable job of shining up a car. This was in the days before 5000 car cleaning products at the parts store.
People used to polish their paint with corn starch! Yes, really. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 403
Location: California | I didn’t know that. How did they come to use corn starch? I do know that when these cars were new there were a lot of auto polishes and waxes on the market. One “Vista” in particular,used both a 1957 and 1958 Plymouth in their wax ads! |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9904
Location: Lower Mainland BC | Suddenlyits1960! - 2020-04-14 5:15 PM I didn’t know that. How did they come to use corn starch? I do know that when these cars were new there were a lot of auto polishes and waxes on the market. One “Vista” in particular,used both a 1957 and 1958 Plymouth in their wax ads!
Corn starch would be a light abrasive, much like talcum power. They also spread corn starch on the wooden floors of dance halls (or community halls) to make gliding easier while dancing.
As for the VISTA wax, there are a few waxes in this thread:
http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=18802&...
Including this 1958 one:
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 403
Location: California | A little corn starch on the floor and you can do the “Soupy Shuffle” with ease! |
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Elite Veteran,, James Passed away March 2021, He will be Missed
Posts: 1028
Location: Melbourne, Australia | Old timers used corn starch to remove scratches from Lacquer Paint ! It’s an old trick ! |
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