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Grandpa bought a used ’55 De Soto hardtop—beautiful charcoal and pink. The previous owner had purchased and installed Imperial-like accessory item sparrow-strainer taillights on top of the rear fenders. They provided a little more light but, even then, they seemed a little over-the-top and a slight insult to the basic great design of the Chrysler 300, New Yorker, Windsor and De Soto hardtops. However, I could appreciate the cut out rear wheel wells on the ’55 Imperials on my ’55 C-300. Even then, I guess I was somewhat of a purist, even having sold tons of mudflaps, portholes, foxtails , dummy antennae, vent window scoops, sun visors, foglights, running lights, curb feelers, fender edge indicators, hood ornaments, necker knobs, non-OEM wheel covers & etc. at my father’s Western Auto store in Oelwein, IA. W.P. Chrysler’s son W.P., Jr. was born in Oelwein and old W.P. bought his first car there—an ’08 Locomobile, as reported. He also told the Chicago Great Western to take their job and shove it while managing the CGW shops and operation out of the “Hub City” of Oelwein. The rest is history as he gradually transitioned from operating and maintaining a RR, to building locomotives to manufacturing automobiles. They have a small park in W.P.’s name there now although I don’t recall ever hearing a thing about W.P.’s years in Oelwein when I was a teen there in 1949-51. I really enjoyed Burt Bouwkamp’s recollection of the mentality/ethic of having separate engines for each line/brand. I recall there was also an issue of making sure the most expensive car in the line would outperform the lesser models. New Yorkers should outrun Windsors, Roadmaster’s should outrun Specials, Mercury’s should outrun Fords & etc. The ’55 Chrysler 300 effectively upset the apple cart and pretty soon Chevy’s were outperforming Olds & Buicks and one could buy the smaller models with the monster engines as with fuelie Chevy wagons, Century’s, 442’s, blown Fords, GTO’s and Road Runners. The horsepower and NASCAR wars really strengthened the performance and safety of the breed with a net side effect of fewer deaths/100,000,000 miles traveled—dropping from about 6 in 1955 to a little over 1 now. While our population has nearly doubled since 1955, the daily death rate has stayed about the same at about 90-100/day—so be careful out there. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year C300K’ly, Rich Barber Brentwood, CA 1955 C-300—sorta like Grandpa’s ’55 De Soto-on steroids. From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 'Roberta and Mark' randm291@xxxxxxxxxxxx [Chrysler300] The shared sheet metal of our cars has led to some interesting “hybridizations” over the years….back in the 60’s my folks had what I called our “Dodgsoto”, a ’52 Coronet that had received a DeSoto rear sheet metal transplant (still bearing DeSoto nameplate) after a fender bender. In the 80’s I saw a ’56 DeSoto enhanced (?) with the addition of ’56 Imperial fender top tail lights. The general effect of the triple lenses with a sparrow strainer on top was rather flashy. Asked the owner about it and he said he really wanted an Imperial, but decided the best he could do was to make his DeSoto look like one. Roberta Cottrell From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mark Souders MRS954@xxxxxxx [Chrysler300] Last evening I was washing my 300H and my Challenger in the driveway and an unusual car went down the road. It was a very nice looking 1957 or 58 DeSoto, salmon and white in color, could have been a Firesweep or Sportsman 2 door hardtop. The unusual thing was, it had what appeared to be 58 Chrysler taillights. I thought Desotos had three stacked round lights, but this looked like the 58 Chrysler lights. Anyone know anything about this? I know a lot of DeSoto sheetmetal was shared, but did DeSoto use Chrysler lights in any of their models in 57 or 58? I have never seen this car in my neighborhood before, so naturally, I noticed. Happy Moparing, Mark Souders 300H Mohrsville, PA
__._,_.___ Posted by: "Rich Barber" <c300@xxxxxxx> To send a message to this group, send an email to: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or go to http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Chrysler300/join and select the "Leave Group" button For list server instructions, go to http://www.chrysler300club.com/yahoolist/inst.htm For archives go to http://www.forwardlook.net/300-archive/search.htm#querylang __,_._,___ |
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