1955 – National DeSoto Club, Inc.

1955

Smartest of the Smart Cars

In 1954, after many years of focusing primarily on reliability and comfort, Chrysler Corporation found itself severly behind in the styling department and in need of a major update. That update came in the form of Virgil Exner's legendary "Forward Look" design; the concept of a car appearing to be in motion even when standing still. Carried over from the previous year was the toothy grille design, but that was about it as far as design was concerned. The cars were sleeker, lower, and overall sportier in appearance compared to the previous models. Also new was the striking color sweep option that was both eye-appealing and added to the look of motion.

Going along with the theme "Smartest of the Smart Cars", the newly-designed windshield wrapped around the sides for better visibility of the road than the previous design. Newly designed one-year-only wheel covers featuring the "DeS" logo matched that of the roof badge design on the Sportsman models. Full-time power steering and power brakes were available on both the S-21 Fireflite model and S-22 Firedomes, though power steering was not available with the manual transmission. Power or manual brake cars utilized a 6 wheel cylinder system (4 front, 2 rear) for fully controlled stopping. Under the hood, the hemi was increased to 291 inches from the previous 276. For the first time, a 4 barrel carburetor was available, which was standard on the Fireflite model and produced a respectable 200 horsepower.

1955 would be the second year for both the Powerflite automatic transmission, as well as the Coronado trim package. The latter was modified from the white and teal combination of 1954 to a tri-tone combination of teal, white, and black in 1955. Those colors could be arranged in any order between the roof, main body, and sweep, for a grand total of 6 color combinations available. The Coronado was still the highest trim level DeSoto available, though that was the new senior level Fireflite model in 1955 as opposed to the top-of-the-line Firedome model in 1954 (above the Powermaster). The 1955 Coronado is noted as being the only DeSoto to come with a factory tri-tone paint scheme.

Firedome engine: 291 c.i. (hemi) 2 bbl standard

Fireflite engine: 291 c.i. (hemi) 4 bbl standard

Wheelbase: 126 inches

Los Angeles Firedome VIN Start: 64022001

Los Angeles Firedome VIN End: 64026847

Detroit Firedome VIN Start: 55185000

Detroit Firedome VIN End: 55256392

Los Angeles Fireflite VIN Start: 62045001

Los Angeles Fireflite VIN End: 62047586

Detroit Fireflite VIN Start: 50330000

Detroit Fireflite VIN End: 50364093

Production Numbers