My dad, John J. Forbes Sr., worked at the Leo Adler dealership at 13800 W. 7-Mile Rd, in Detroit. I'm not sure of the exact years he was there, but I do have some idea...

One day at lunchtime, he came home* in a new '56 Desoto off the lot, and another salesman picked him up afterwards to collect a 3rd car further west out 7-Mile. They left the new Desoto parked my dad brought home in the driveway, beneath the kitchen window. My Mother, wanting to clean up the kitchen and get the dishes washed knew that I'd be quiet, content and entertained if she put me in the car for a few minutes (only 2-yrs old, but I had straight 40w oil in my veins, and still do).
My Mom, she was a Good Mom, periodically looking out the window over the sink, seeing me playing with the steering wheel and all the knobs could tell I was happy.

Next thing she knows is that I'm screaming, and she can't see me through the smoke filling up the interior! The wiring harness has shorted and going up in smoke. She runs to get me out of the car then calls the fire dept__they're pretty close__incident scene is handled and they're rolling up hoses as my dad and salesman #2 drive past on 7-Mile, noticing the fire trucks...

They make the block, knowing exactly what happened (not about me__this was before cellphones) because they'd already had a few cars on the lot go up in smoke.  Nobody in or even near those cars, so it wasn't about me touching the buttons, switches and knobs! I guess it was a thing(?).

And I know my dad still worked at Leo Adler's when he took delivery__for himself__of the first 1960 Valiant that came in, a light blue/blue V200, and still there by Thanksgiving 1959, because we went downtown to see the annual parade in a brand new '60 model Plymouth demonstrator__and I threw up on the floor in the backseat. 

I really did like Desotos more (my Mom thinks it was my older brothers that taught me how to say "desoto" BEFORE I could say "daddy") and can remember the most expensive Desoto they sold in '58, a black Adventurer with gold trim, spending time with it in the showroom while my dad "babysat" me until my brother could come and get me on his bycycle.

But HEY, this is my First Post on here (I just registered an hour ago) so I apologize for being so long-winded, and if possible, I'm going to post a picture of a car I spotted while my wife & I were out today__a 1957 Desot service car; a freaking sixty-seven (67) year old Desoto Ambulance!  How cool is that?!?!

Pictures might work, fingers crossed!

Again, sorry about the long post, but, car guys, am I right ;) 

One last thing, now that I know about this forum, I'll try to make time to go through some of the old family photo albumss, as I think there were quite a few with cars that the group here could find interesting.

* We lived a few miles further west, 5 houses off 7-Mile, near Evergreen rd