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I'm thinking of building my 1951 DeSoto Deluxe Carryall into an old school hot rod. something they would have built in the 50's. I'm having a problem finding any pictures of 51's that are hot rods. I'd like to see what one would look like with a chopped top, hemi motor, different wheels etc. I'm not looking to build the fastest car around with modern technology and everything, just something they would have built in the 50's with what they had. I'd also like to keep the 6 volt positive ground. I'd love to hear your opinions and see any pictures you have. Thanks
Jason
One of the reasons that all De Soto's were marketed to folks that were in
The Upper Middle Income Bracket and to do such a thing was not in their
mind.
It was not until the De Soto was on its third or better owner that a De Soto
started being altered.
If you was a member of The National De Soto Club you can see the owners
of all Class 7 De Soto's with every Roster Issue.
Rodger & Gabby
COS
FltSgt@outlook.com
Jason,
A simple Google image search provides a few examples. Following are links to pages with more information and a couple photos of the examples. Good luck with your project.
http://forums.hotrod.com/70/9148959/gen ... onversion/
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3140942/1 ... to-custom/
Mark
Thanks for the help. I have checked out those builds on google. I was looking for some photos of older builds. I should have specified.
So essentially are you saying that hot rodders in the late 50's early 60's wouldn't have been able to afford a DeSoto at that time or was it just not a car thought of for customizing because it was targeted to the upper middle class?
That is probably a rare car you have there. You could put a hot cam in that already hot lazy 6 engine. Maybe get a dual carb set-up and a split exhaust system to get that great 6 sound. Then shave the head for more compression at the same time you are doing the valve job and slapping in new rings. You probably have fluid drive? If so, get a super shift button to put you in charge of the shifting. For appearance you could lower it a little and get wider tires with chrome or painted wheels and baby moon hubcaps.
Fuzzy dice and you're ready to roll!
Have a nice day
Steve
Jason,
I've got a sizable collection of '50's custom and hot rod magazines. Haven't looked at them in a while but as I recall you could flip through a hundred such pocket sized magazines and not see one DeSoto. It was not necessarily a "cool" car with the young folks back then, akin to hot rodding a Volvo in the '80's. Most of the customs back then were your typical Fords, Mercs, Chevies, Olds, etc. Even today, they are rarely seen and require a lot of work as evidenced by the two shown above.
Mark
Yeah I'm starting to realize this wasn't the car to hot rod. I know it would never be super fast, but I kind of see a lead sled there, low to the ground and chopped. Since the carryall isn't as common as the regular deluxe or custom I'm leaning towards keeping it as original as possible. Thank for everyone's input. If you ever want to sell those hot rod mags Mark, let me know.
. Since the carryall isn't as common as the regular deluxe or custom I'm leaning towards keeping it as original as possible. Thank for everyone's input.
Good call Jason, the carry-all is rare and I agree with keeping it original. You will have an attention getter. Rodding a De Soto is like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.
I agree Les, it just does not seem right to rod a DeSoto:)
I am going to agree again. I saw a Carryall during the Maryland NDC convention and it was a beautiful original (or restored to original).
