Presenting my "new" '59 DeSoto Firedome Coupe

Interesting, I bet the dealers wheeled and dealed as needed to make a sale, so unless you have an individual who knows the history it's anybody's guess

After some invasive surgery, she's back after cancer treatment and the patient is doing well ???? . Repaired previous repairs with a solid one piece of metal fabricated by a friend of mine, and the inside was addressed properly as well. Now I'll match up the paint by using the scrap metal, and she should be back on her feet again. A little wash seemed to get her spirits up ????

garage scenes from a work in progress ????. Replaced the back boards in the bumper today, with better ones from my parts car. Bumper has to come off anyways as I'm getting ready to prime and paint the new quarter panel ???? 

New shoes for Diane, she looks happy with the original hubcaps as well ????. Now waiting for September, so the seats can get redone. I'm very happy with the progress I've made since I bought her last fall, she's certainly starting to shine although a paint job would be necessary to take her to the next level. For now I'm pleased, and love taking her for rides where the real enjoyment is ????

Lookin' real good.  Good job on the quarter panel too.  What size are your new tires?  Radial or bias?  I have 225-75x14 on mine with Coker Classic radials that have the bias look to them.  That is what came on the car when I bought it.  If I had it my way I would stick with the Coker Classic radials but gone with the 235-75x14s.  There is enough room for them in the wheel wells and would fill them up better without looking too big.  I think they would be fairly equivalent to an 850x14 that came on the Firedomes and Fireflites from the factory. 

I did put a 3/16" spacer between the rim and the brake drum to bring the wheel out a little plus the offset on the wire wheels are a bit different too that allows the wheel to come out a little further as well.  So it does appear to fill up the wheel wells somewhat better with what I've got.

These are bias ply h78-14's which is equivalent to 855-14. Like you say they're much bigger than 14 radials, so they fill the space nicely. I always liked the stock look, so I'm very pleased with her appearance right now. She also rides softer with the bias ply's, and with these modern versions you're not all over the road like the originals were. I believe with new technology they improved the quality quite a bit ???? 

On my way to the exhaust shop to redo the original duals. Installed with Flowmaster 50 Series 2 1/4 piping. Stopped by a historic marker/vista on the way home from Twin Falls where the Oregon Trail wagon trains came through in the mid 1800's. Great day and the car sounds wonderful ???? 

You have done an awesome job in restoring this beautiful 59. I can just imagine what the exhaust sounds like with the Flowmasters on. I have a 66 Dodge Polara that I put a hopped up 440 in, have 2-1/2 inch exhaust with 40 series Flowmasters, and it really sounds awesome. When I am out with it, I cannot come home without my wife saying that she can hear me coming from a mile away. The Flowmasters really sound great with a MoPar big block.

I didn't go the Flowmaster route with my recently completed 60 Adventurer. I bought a complete exhaust system from Waldrons and used their mid-range sound mufflers. I did use their option to increase the size by a 1/4 inch though. I didn't want it to sound loud, but went a step above the factory quiet system.

Thanks for the kind words, really enjoy seeing this car come back to life. Yes I like the Flowmasters quite a bit, just a nice mellow sound that rumbles nicely. Been looking at those complete systems as well, maybe something I'll try in the future on another project. This one just needed replaced from the mufflers and back, as the front was solid, so I kept it to a minimum and also saved some money ???? 

Your '59 is really coming along nicely!! That paint is really looking good as well compared to when you bought it! Are you planning to keep that original aside from the patch area?

The paint looks better in the photos compared to reality, but that's how it always is. This car would need a complete paint job to be very nice, as it has imperfections throughout. However, for a driver condition it looks great so for now I'll keep her as is. If I free up some money down the road I'd like to do a complete paintjob, but for now interior comes first ???? 

Patient ready for surgery, new lifters and pushrods, all buttoned up ready to rumble ????. No more clickety clack or sewing machine sounds after procedure completed, found one collapsed lifter and suspecting a few others to be starved of oil due to old sludge. Let it idle around 2000 rpm for about 20 min to break them in, but the sounds went away after a few seconds as oil was immediately pumped into the new lifters. One happy camper for sure ???? PS! Best of all, didn't have to remove the intake manifold, so only valve covers and rocker arms assembly had to be removed ???? 

Great work.  I like the air cleaner top. to gives me an idea for my 60 DeSoto. Were the chrome valve pans on the car when you bought it or did you buy them somewhere? I would like to get a set.

The valve covers are actually painted silver metallic, just looks like chrome in the photo. The car was missing the air cleaner when I bought it, so I found these 2 hub caps at a friend's place which resembles the DeSoto hubcap, so I figured it would be a good match. It's actually from a 61-62 Thunderbird. Just trimmed off the edges and drilled a hole in it. Then took it to Napa and had them find a filter that would fit. Also shaved off the inner circle of the 2nd hubcap to fit on the carb.