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Comments
See that red piece on top of the Brougham's fender well? I need one of those! Andre, could you ask you mechanic if he can find one for me? I'd certainly appreciate it!
I'll ask him the next time I see him, Lemko. He's pretty resourceful at finding obscure stuff, so he might be able to help.
How is the interior?
Old paint is actually an "in thing" these days, and red can shine up really well - I bet it will look and drive awesome.
And when you're done, you could sell it for a cool $40K !!
The interior is getting new seats, door panels, and carpeting. The seats had been recovered at some point in time, before I bought it, but I didn't realize it. It would make sense though, because I always thought the material seemed a bit downscale for the car, although I had just presumed it was a cost-cutting move by Chrysler. When the mechanic showed me the proper material, it seemed a bit more appropriate. The material was in good shape in the back seat, but up front, the driver's side was wearing. Oh, and the padding was deteriorating. The door panels weren't in bad shape for the most part, although the silver mylar stuff and the armrest on the driver's side were a bit shot. I also wonder if the vinyl portions had faded, as well? It's a two-tone combination of red and a light grayish brown, but the red part seemed a bit more orange/peach. Or, maybe they just did that, so that interior color could be used with other exteriors? For instance, there was a salmon-ish color offered called "Mandarin Rust" (a bit sarcastic, I think, to use the word "rust" in a color for a 1957 Mopar!) There's also a color called "Sahara Tan" that seems to have just a touch of peach in it. And even a "Spice Brown" where I could see that interior combo working fairly well with.
Andre, you alwyas say your 'mechanic', but that's a restoration shop! Man, good for you! I had a body-on done on my '63 Studebaker Lark Daytona Skytop, which corrected a lot of Rube Goldberg things that had been done over the years, but as I got older I wished I'd have had the shop go farther and do a body-off. My restorer used to kid, "Only six bolts away from body-off!". I reigned him in on costs, but he worked with me on that. It was either $18 or $21 an hour, can't recall which, when I took it there in summer '93. I provided most of the parts, but he did provide some. Very cool. I'm envious that both you and fintail have guys in your area that are willing to work on old cars. They're almost all gone in my area...it's all 'git 'er in, 'git 'er out'.
It's been getting harder and harder to find shops around here that will work on old cars, as well. That's actually one reason my DeSoto has been taking so long...because everybody's coming to him, now that he's one of the few that still will work on them.
That's a lucky thing about old German (and British and Italian) cars - most larger towns of any decent size have specialist shops, and they aren't afraid of older cars. There are a few I know of that I could patronize, but I choose the one I've been to since I moved here, as the owner is honest and pleasant.
Not restoration shops though - if I wanted to do a real restoration of the car and know it was being done right, I'd probably have to send it somewhere.
I'm envious that both you and fintail have guys in your area that are willing to work on old cars. They're almost all gone in my area...it's all 'git 'er in, 'git 'er out'.
Do you ever see any similar cars at the shows you attend? I see very few old Mopars of any brand from that era out here. It will be a really rare car. Can't wait to see finished pics.
There are two other '57 DeSotos that I can think of that I see on a regular basis at shows. One is a black '57 Fireflite sedan and the other is an Adventurer hardtop coupe, black with gold roof/spear IIRC. This past year though, I saw this Firedome 4-door hardtop for the first time...
About 6-7 years ago, I also spotted a yellow Firedome hardtop sedan on a flatbed truck, in a parade in DC. It was kind of rough looking. I wonder if it was the same car, just restored?
I only see the Adventurer at the Mopar show in Carlisle, PA in July. The black Fireflite usually shows up there, and sometimes at the August car show in Macungie, PA that I go to as well.
I think the last time I saw a 1958 DeSoto was about 10-11 years ago, in Hershey, PA. And it had to have been the holy grail of DeSotos...Adventurer convertible, of which only 82 were made, but with its optional fuel injection still intact! Most of the injected models were converted back to dual quads.
Now, it seems like Dodges from that era pop up much more often, but they built more of those, too. Dodge sold about 287K units in 1957, to DeSoto's 117.5K. For 1958, Dodge only sold around 137K, compared to 49K for DeSoto. And, thanks to "Christine" most likely, I probably see more '57-58 Plymouths at the Mopar show than I do '55-57 Chevies at the GM show! There's definitely some sample bias in there though, because the Mopar show is much, much bigger than the GM show.
Because of that Mopar show, I probably see more '57-59 Mopars than I would, otherwise. Most of them have been through various stages of restoration over the years though, with new(er) paint, so when I do start taking mine, it'll probably stick out, simply because of the 57 year old paintjob!
Interestingly, it seems there's always a good turnout of '60-61 DeSotos, considering the low volume (~26K for '60 and something like 3,034 for '61).
Seems like there's always a few Imperials from that vintage around, as well. As for '57-58 Chryslers, they seem about as rare as the DeSotos. Which probably makes sense, as they also sold in much lower volume than a Plymouth or Dodge.
I like the '60 DeSoto, too--I can spy one in your pic. When I was a kid, I had an AMT model of one.
Makes sense, I know why I see few of them - this region just doesn't have the large scale shows you guys get on the east coast. And I am sure even our mild rain and damp could rot out those cars, it would just take longer.
Are you going to keep those bias ply tires, or update to wide whitewall radials? That yellow car would look so much better with wide whites.
It's going to get radial tires with the wide whitewalls, most likely from Coker Tire. The mechanic is saving that for last. Originally he was trying to say that the tires on the car should be fine, if they don't show any signs of dry rot. However, those tires will be 21 years old this summer, and there's no way I'm going to trust the car with them, especially after all the money I'm sinking into it! Plus, I keep thinking of what happened to Lemko, when he had that blowout on his Brougham!
Yeah, there's no way I'd trust tires that old. I bought 195-75-15's for my Lark, despite a couple buddies saying they were too small, but they were the closest thing to the size that were on the car when new per the build sheet (can't remember exactly what those were). Anything bigger on those wheels wasn't exactly safe, either. Those (new) tires were about eight years old when I sold the car and I was starting to get a 'waddle/wobble' at low speeds...at ten years I'd have probably replaced.
I was putting around 1K miles a year on the car, a good number at highway speed.
I just checked the Coker website, and it looks like the radial equivalent for my DeSoto would be a 225/75/R14, which has a diameter of 27.62". The stock tire, an 8.50x14 bias play, is 28.10" in diameter, so they're close. The Radial's diameter is about 98.3% that of the bias ply, so that shouldn't throw the odometer off too much.
A 195/75/R15 is probably more than enough tire for a Lark...that's actually the stock tire that came on a 1979 Newport/St. Regis! Coker tire shows a 6.00X15 being the base tire on a Lark, with a 6.70x15 being optional. For radial equivalents they show a "165R15" which must be a typo, and a 205/75/R15 as the option.
Good idea. 20+ years is way too old. Last year when I got new tires, I had a little front end work done, and on the invoice they put "needs new tires" and highlighted it in yellow. They were 13-14 years old, but probably had 25K miles on them.
Fintail takes 185/80R13 - not easy to find, but it can be done. IIRC a Corvair takes the same size, maybe the MB is a little under-tired. A 13" wheel is small.
Thanx! I really appreciate it!
Here's the build sheet for my '63--6.50 Firestone 500 as an optional tire.
http://www.studebakerskytop.com/jtskyktopPO63V5224.jpg
i really like this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=321306096834
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
weird. that above post took like a couple of days to show up. oh well.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Our fault - we keep forgetting to check the "new" spam queue feature and the html or ebay stuff triggered it as spam. I though I'd already "verified" your account over in Chronic Car Buyers so that wouldn't happen any more for you but we'll try again.
(Yeah, that means you are now free to link to Canadian pharmacies and skinny belly tricks.
)
Not bad looking for the price if you want a four door granny drivetrain car
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
At least it has the 200 cid with the 2-speed auto, but yeah, those wheels are making promises that engine can't keep...
Said 3 speed in the ad.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
If it's a 3 speed it didn't come with it, factory put in the 2 speed with the 6.
He's pretty optimistic asking $3K--paint's shot, interior is wrong, wheels are wrong, carpeting is botched, heater acting up, and it's a 4-door. Might make a nice rod, though, or, as he says, just drive it into the ground. I'd say $2,000--2,200 is all the money.
i would pay for it. i think it has potential. i save even the junkiest cars ever that i think are restorable. i would say SAVE everything.
If you have a lot of acreage or spare buildings, sure, why not? Just don't expect to make money on it.
i would never sell the car
Ah, so you'd be a "collector" in the TRUE sense of the word---okay!
yes i am. and very proud of it. i got a some cars my parents owned a 67 mustang 69 chevelle that they were going to scrap. and i restored them and rarely do they leave my yard for anything but car shows
I'm kind of like that but honestly, trying to get out of the habit. It seems the more land/spare buildings you have, the more stuff you end up accumulating! I've been toying with the idea of letting my '85 Silverado go. It's getting pretty rough looking, got harder and harder to start and eventually killed the battery, and I just don't feel like dealing with it anymore. It was nice to have around as a spare vehicle for awhile. I'd drive it into DC instead of my 2012 Ram, partly because the Silverado was easier to park, but also because I wouldn't care as much if it got damaged. But, the Ram isn't so "new" anymore, and I've gotten more and more accustomed to parking it in tight spaces. The Silverado also uses about 50% more gasoline than the Ram in local driving, which is mostly what I do.
Plus, when my '57 DeSoto finally comes back from the mechanic, I'm going to have to kick my '79 5th Ave out of the garage (either that, or clear that fourth spot out), and I don't want too many cars littering the yard.
If I had land, I'd have a MB junkyard/retirement home. I'd probably also save other oddballs that I thought might be going to the crusher. Gotta save the unobtanium parts. Would be tough to make a business out of it though, so I'd need a powerball jackpot too. And maybe build a hangar style building for storage.
Speaking of project cars, fintail is in the shop now for its brake issue, can't wait to see what this costs. Started right up this morning, which was nice.
Crazy price, but I kind of want one of these
Now that is what a Mercedes is supposed to look like.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Indeed. I am kind of fixating on 140s right now - getting really hard to find nice ones.
Edmunds is having fun with their CL65 (I think that's what it is) long termer.
Fun, except it won't start. Died at the track in fact. Naturally the dealer couldn't reproduce it.
Monumentally complex car - the electrics and suspension are insane. Now 10 years old, buyer beware. If you couldn't afford it new, you probably can't afford to keep it on the road now - as parts and labor on this once 180K now 30K car will cost as much as on a new one. The older (say pre-2000) V12 cars are many degrees less dramatic (but still a labor of love to keep going).
9 year old Benz V-12 with electrical problems? Yeah, good luck with that. Welcome to Hell.
Just ran an errand and checked on the fintail. Ugh. When your car is up on a lift with all wheels removed, you know there's fun to be had. Brake lines were easy - $40 in parts and no more than a couple hours labor. Parking brake service was easy - but a rear wheel cylinder was leaking and both were pretty worn (installed in 1999, I remember it), so they now get replaced. And I had mentioned to set the timing on the car, as it developed an intermittent cough. Diagnosis - worn out cap and rotor, which is believable as they date from 2001, I think. Three cheers for deferred maintenance, and bills that end up 3x more than original estimate.
I talked to my trustworthy indy mechanic, who has taken on a new car - a 1992 600SEL. Black with that peanut butter color leather, and kind of anodized looking exterior metal trim. He likes it a lot - but he can do his own work.
i need an 85 silverado
You might think twice, if you saw it!
bet ya i wont andre
i would do a restoration of it
Maybe it's time to sell, Andre! Give it to a good home.
Well, thar she blows...
.
This was taken about 3 1/2 months ago. Trust me, it looks a LOT better in that pic than it does in person!
That is just nasty. No offense intended of course.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Ah....probably time to say goodbye Andre! Are the floors rusted out too?
i would take it. i dont care what it looks like. i had a jeep that is in storage that i restored and it had rusted floorboards
i see potential in it to be a great dependable vehicle