Presenting my "new" '59 DeSoto Firedome Coupe

Commencing the brake job. Rear drums of course stuck, so with a torch and the correct puller I finally got them off. Brake shoes are good, so are the wheel cylinders. so I got a rebuild kit which should take care of the brakes for now. Also had a gash in the iron cast tranny housing exposing the fly wheel, so I fabricated a metal piece that I attached with JB Weld. At least now it's protected from rocks and debris

What 4 barrel manifold intake would fit on my Firedome? Looking to upgrade as I have issues with the BBD carburetor. Rather put a new 4 barrel Edelbrock on with auto choke for turn key ops.

Perhaps all big blocks ("B"s and "RB"s except HEMIS) from a 350 to a 440 would work.  But carburetors are different and therefore the throttle bores in the intake manifold are different.  Until the time they started using AFBs and AVSs, the throttle bores were smaller which is what was used on the '59 year models.  These 4 barrels were small carbs probably only as high as 600 cfm.  In fact the factory stock two barrel and 4 barrel carbs utilized the same air cleaner.

Basically it would depend on what carb you would be using in order to determine the proper intake manifold to go with it.

I was thinking about an Edelbrock 1406 (600 cfm) which I've used before on a '68 300 I had with success. I'm not sure if the BB is interchangeable with the RB intake, so I'm checking if any 383/400 block intake would do or if there are only certain years that work

Received my build card today from Danielle in Detroit. Not very clear, but as good as it's going to get according to her. She's been very helpful, and I received it after about 6 months. I know some of the codes, but I'm particularly interested in the Region and Dealer codes as I'm trying to trace back its history. Any help decoding this information would be appreciated ???? . She mentioned James Capps Motors in Breckenridge, TX as the selling dealership, but I don't see that anywhere on the card in writing, so I'm just curious

Here's a better complete photo, although upside down

@berniemoen if I am reading it correctly, your dealer code is 36582, although the third digit could easily be a "3". Anyhow, that is your dealer code. Chrysler historical must have a book or something with all of these codes corresponding to the dealership names/locations because nobody else (to my knowledge) has these. Myself and some others have put together a list of some codes as we come across them, but it's only a small percentage of the total unfortunately. I actually intend to work with @bobterpak, who maintains the current DeSoto dealer list, to add the known numbers and hopefully keep adding to that over time.

Unless everyone had a build card and forwarded that info to you, it certainly would be hard to know all these numbers for sure. At least it's a start, and we can only hope more info can be collected for future reference

New shocks installed, then wet sanded the paint to get rid of the sap and imperfections. Then used a few hours polishing, and tomorrow apply some wax and I'll call it good. Not perfect by any means, but as good as it's going to get unless I repaint it. Also got rid of the after-market oil pressure gauge that was already there, and replaced it with a "before"-market oil pressure and amp meter from a '57 DeSoto, which looks period correct. Got an estimate on re-upholstering the seats, so now I'm on the waiting list. Of course he's busy and we're looking at September before my seats go in, so I'll concentrate on other issues in the meantime. At least I can drive and enjoy her as is, so I'm good with it ???? Next up will be the correct bias ply white walls, and the correct hubcaps. These Olds caps will have to go ????. You'll see I'm missing the dual exhaust from the axle and back, but I'm also on another waiting list for the new pipes to be installed. Can't be in a rush to get stuff done around here seems like lol

Just an FYI - there have been several factory original '59 DeSoto wheel covers for sale on eBay lately ranging anywhere from one or two to complete sets.

I already have a set of original hubcaps, but since they put the weight on the outside when balancing these wheels they won't fit. When I put the correct 850-14's on I'll make sure they get balanced on the inside only ???? 

Question; been trying to track down the history on my '59 Firedome, and going back to the 60's is was still an Eastern Idaho car. When I received the build sheet I was told by Danielle that the selling dealer was James Capps Motors located in Breckenridge, TX. Does that mean it was actually sold there, or could it have been traded to another dealer before it left Detroit? I know dealerships wheel and deal if there's a for sure buyer somewhere else in the country, so I'm just curious to find out if it physically was sold in TX and ended up in Idaho shortly after, or could this car have been sent directly to a dealer in Idaho in exchange for another vehicle on the assembly line possibly? I know this is all speculation, just wondering if that kind of thing was feasible back then. Can't find any info on the dealership in Texas, so I'm at a dead end for now. Haven't been able to locate family members of the deceased first owner here in Idaho, so there's a gap which I like if have filled if possible. If I know for sure it was shipped to Texas off the assembly line, I can try doing some research from the other end instead.

If it was traded to another dealer before it left Detroit it would have a sold to dealer in Texas and a ship to dealer in Idaho on the window sticker. However if it was traded to another dealer after it was shipped to the "sold to" dealer, there is no paper trail from the factory if the car was dealer traded after that.

Fred

Either way I guess it's impossible to know at this point, as there's no paper trail. The only way would probably be to find relatives who can shed light on the family history of this car. It was in their possession for at least 30 years, so someone should know.

@berniemoen my '59 Fireflite information came back from FCA as being sold at "Mahoning Motors" in Ellwood City, PA. However, I have the original sales receipt from a "Miller Motors", which oddly enough has Dodge-Plymouth logos at the top - nothing for DeSoto. The car was sold only about 9-12 days after it was built, so I can only assume it was ordered or something like that. I wonder if Mahoning Motors was a district distributor name or a DeSoto dealer and then Miller Motors was a favorite of the customer that somehow got ahold of the car to sell? I have not been able to find anything on Mahoning Motors to learn more about that.