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I was lucky enough to find the address of the son of the original owner of my 1950 Desoto . I wrote him a letter asking him if he could tell me any story of his parents and the Desoto . I sent him a picture of the car..I got home to find a long message on my answering machine . He told me a few things about his family and that he will call me soon . I was happy to get a little info on the history of my car .Hopefully I will get a few stories i will tell at car shows .
I was very lucky to get a reply .He is 86 years old .I think he was surprised that the car is still around 63 years later .
Jerry, that is really cool that you have made that contact and am able to get more information about your Desoto. I always wonder about the past owners of my Desotos and may have discovered who the first owner of my 1950 was. His name was listed on the radio tag that was filled out and attached the day it was purchased (and remains on the radio to this day). Unfortunately he is no longer alive to tell its story.
Keep us posted as you find out more!
How wonderful it would be to obtain information like that!
I bet we'd all love to know more about the history of our cars.
Congratulations, Jerry!
I was lucky to have paper work from all the owners .I have the first owners drivers license .It took me a few years to get some of the information .I found sadly most info on 3 of the owners from the find a grave website . The first owners daughter info was there which lead to an obit which helped me find her brother . I am looking forward to talking to him.I want to ask about the Stand Rock decals on the side windows [ a vacation with the grandkids maybe] .I will let everyone know what i learn .
The first owner bought the 1950 Desoto Deluxe Coupe new in 1950 [at age 59 ] .He drove it till his passing in 1960 . His wife drove it until sometime in the 1980s when she passed away . The next owner drove it until about 2000 when he gave it to his daughter and it was shipped to NJ from Iowa . He passed away in 2008. The daughter took it to NY and drove it until it stopped running . I got it in 2006 .The Desoto is now back in NJ where i now live. I am so looking forward to talking to the son of the first owner.It will give the car some history.
Jerry: What is the name/address of the selling dealer?
On the left side of the home page is a heading "Dealers" which lists the names and addresses of over 3300 DeSoto dealer
Hopefully we can pick up a new name
BTY-where in NJ are you?
Bob Terpak
the dealer was Wilwerding's Garage in Earling Iowa .I just talked to Mr Wilwerding . The dealership was his cousin's garage .It was a small repair shop that also sold Desotos .The cousin passed away a while back. He was very happy to get the picture of his father's car .He got a laugh about where the car had gone in the years since it was sold by his family
Bob ,I am in Medford NJ .
And the Stand Rock decal from Wisconsin Dells was put on by the second owner .The Visor came on the car from the dealer .
I will write to the last owner and see what i can find out about her father . Hopefully she can tell me a few stories .
It's sad that some of the owners could not live long enough to see that you have preserved their old DeSoto, Jerry.
I think that most folks would be totally shocked to hear that a car that they had owned sooooo many years ago still existed, let alone that it is being so treasured and well cared for by its new owner!