New Desoto owner with questions

Ed's decoding page for the '57 will give you some hints.

http://www.angelfire.com/de/petrus/page21.html

I can tell you that in general I have found many differences between my 1949 Convertible and Gene's 1949 Convertible. Mine was made in the Detroit and Gene's was made in LA. They are both Green and have the same interior code.

I have found parts that are the same design but the casting size is very different. The trunk handle for one. I have found that wiring is routed in different ways. The turn switch can is mounted in a different spot. There car metal caps on the ends of the doors to "finish" the door window slit on the LA car and not on mine. The LA cars got the radio water diverter and mine does not.

There are many other little items that are different.

Don't be surprised by any differences between Detroit and LA cars.

James

I'm beginning to think you're correct about inconsistencies between assembly plants. The 57 data plate looks more closely like mine then then the 56's. My car was originally purchased in December of 55 making it an early assembled 56. I'm actually glad it has the Sportsman trim. The car has seat covers. They are in like new condition. I hate to remove them to see what style the original upholstery is especially since I believe the original is well warn. I'm assuming the Seville and Sportsman interiors are different.

I'm beginning to think you're correct about inconsistencies between assembly plants. The 57 data plate looks more closely like mine then then the 56's. My car was originally purchased in December of 55 making it an early assembled 56. I'm actually glad it has the Sportsman trim. The car has seat covers. They are in like new condition. I hate to remove them to see what style the original upholstery is especially since I believe the original is well warn. I'm assuming the Seville and Sportsman interiors are different.

The seat thing is a hard one. Let me explain. "Back in the day", it was common practice to put factory seat covers on brand new cars. I have had several of them over the years. The idea was that come time to sell the car the inside would look great and you could get more money for it.

The question is: are the seats in great condition or did someone put covers on later because the seats are in bad shape. I would post a photo of the covers so people can chime in on if they look like factory ones or much later ones.

Best, James

I'm getting closer to defining exactly what I have. I contacted the Chrysler History Group. My car was built on October 13, 1955. It is a Sportsman with Seville Script on the rear which is no doubt an error made in the LA plant. Unfortunately the build card
codes did not match up correctly and they were not able to decode the options. My only remaining hope now is to get the LA Assembly firewall data plate decoded.

I am posting this under this thread as well as the thread about the LA firewall tags. The decoding of the tag is done to the best of my knowledge. It is entirely possible that I have made a mistake or that something is not included on the tag.

SG-4: If Greg's assumption about this was correct, SG is the Accessory Group, and it would be number 4 in your case. If this is the case, that group includes: Heater, all weather; radio and antenna, push-button tuning; white sidewall tires; solex (tinted) glass; dual exhaust system; hand brake signal (this is the little red light mounted to the black painted metal under the ignition switch); prismatic (day/night) mirror; vanity mirror (clips to passenger side sunvisor); license plate frame (this is a three piece frame); outside rear-view mirror, left (standard on Sportsman and convertible models).

The only reason that I question whether SG is actually the accessory group is because we're fairly certain my dad's car came with the regular radio, but if SG is Accessory Group, it should have had a seek-and-scan. I suppose this could be a factory mistake or changed early on. Until I can prove otherwise, we'll assume that SG is Accessory Group.

M5-2: Power Seat
M6-2: Color Sweep
M8-4: Power Brakes
M9-3: Power Steering

SCH (Schedule) -1011: Build Date 10-11(-55)

I would like to note that this is two days earlier than the build card reads, so I can only assume the tag and the build card are created at two different times. The build card may, for example, have been created before the car and lists a scheduled build date while the tag was made with the car and reads the actual date, or some other such scenario.

NO-4015: This particular code has yet to be completely solved, but it is something to the effect of 15th car (Fireflites, Firedomes, Chryslers) produced on that day, or 15th Firedome produced that day, etc. The number starts at 4,000 for L.A. built cars and goes up from there and is "zeroed" out every day.

MODEL-S23: Firedome

BT (Body Type)-026: S-23 Firedome Eight 2-Dr. Sportsman

The telegraphic code specific to this model was "Lark"

PT-411: Shell Pink Lower/Iridescent Gray Upper

Let me clarify that by "upper", the roof color (and sweep) is indicated and "lower" translates to the main body color.

Since the original owners son insisted that it has always been pink/white, this could very well be a factory screw-up (misinterpretation of code for example). It also could be that the dealer decided that pink and white would be better. Or, the original owner either had the dealer or someone else paint the white over the gray early on in it's life. It is hard to say without seeing pictures of the car early on what the actual color was. At this point, I would argue that either the white or gray would be correct.

TR-568: Gray cloth and vinyl

Standard Equipment on a Firedome Sportsman: Exterior mirror, left; suncap visor (protruding front of roof, top of windshield trim); tailpipe extension, chrome.

VIN 64028530: 530th L.A. built Firedome (the numbers start at 640285001)

I would also like to note that I believe I have a logical explanation for the "Seville" scripts on a Sportsman model. Since this car was built very early on, is an LA car (which built fewer De Sotos than Detroit), and a fairly early model, I believe that the worker who installed the emblems probably did not realize there was a Sportsman AND Seville model, or how to distinguish the two. Keep in mind that in 1955, there was only a Sportsman model, not a Seville, so that was a new concept.