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Elite Veteran
Posts: 693
  
Location: Kangasala, Finland | Hi,
out of a curiosity I went to see a '57 DeSoto Diplomat yesterday. Bit rought, but all there. Car was a straight six & poweflite - and no power anything...
It was suprisingly solid and straight.
Here a couple of pictures of this rare bird. It was in a dimly lighted shack so the pictures are a bit dark.
ps. oh, the car is located in souther Finland
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 front.jpg (91KB - 1432 downloads)
back.jpg (82KB - 386 downloads)
drivers.JPG (90KB - 380 downloads)
doorpanel.jpg (72KB - 322 downloads)
speedo.jpg (84KB - 345 downloads)
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Location: Staffordshire, England | Wow, that rear end is a bit low, what's it carrying in the back? or have the springs come up through the floor?
Looks like it's surviving quite well though bodywise considering the conditions are less than ideal. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 693
Location: Kangasala, Finland | Ian,
the trunk was empty and springs/frame ok. Well, maybe they were sagging a bit. The photo makes the rear look worse than it really was.
The shack was build on a hill. The floor was not straight - the floor decended rather heavily towards the rear of the car. Maybe that also helps to give that impression...
Jan
'60 Adventurer
'57 Fury |
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Expert
Posts: 2308
Location: The Bat Cave, Fairborn, OH | That's one rare bird alright. The speedometer is calibrated in km/hr and that was pretty rare. Are you going to snap it up? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 693
Location: Kangasala, Finland | No, it was too expensive, and I have one allready. A dismantled 4d sedan project that I bought years and years ago (and then later one rought parts car) that I don't know if I'll ever get to finnish it. All my spare money/time (and I don't seem to have much of either right now) seems to go into the Fury. I do have one or two extra km/hr speedos stacked somewhere in my partspile... maybe one faceplate with 'Dodge' in it for a '58 Dodge Kingsway too (uses the same Plymouth speedo).
I just wanted to see what one in more or less one piece and in 'orginal' condition would look like.
Edited by FinFury57 2005-01-31 7:30 AM
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Wise Old Village Idiot
Posts: 3591
Location: Dellslow, West ("By God") Virginia ! | Now that would be something! Have that speedo here stateside and show the 'Golden Fin'
guys, "LOOKEY HERE! My car is geared faster than yours!" Whoo-Haw! |
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Location: Bjorneborg, Finland | Hi Jan - it's amazing that there are still these rare birds out there already not found over these years. Before the wide importing of old cars begun (prior-1985), there were not enough old U.S. autos for everyone who wanted them. Demand was greater than supply, so guys rescued and dragged fins out of swamp and built a car around the fins.. This one is better condition what others were usually.
Most Diplomats had 3-speed stick-shift, but this one has a push-button automatic. Is the steering wheel deluxe model? Btw, there's a rare '57 Diplomat Convertible in Finland what was originally oddly equipped..: slant-six, stick-shift, manual steering, power windows, power seat.. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 709
Location: Poznan, Poland, Europe | The steering wheel looks like the one placed in low-price Plazas, but I don't know what status it had on such a hybrid like Diplomats were. |
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Expert
Posts: 2308
Location: The Bat Cave, Fairborn, OH | there's a rare '57 Diplomat Convertible in Finland what was originally oddly equipped..: slant-six, stick-shift, manual steering, power windows, power seat.. That's got to be a mistake. I never heard of any DeSoto model equipped from the factory with a slant six. The Chrysler Corporation didn't even put them in domestic production until 1960. That's got to be a doner engine from a later model MoPar car if it really does have a Slant Six as motive power. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 693
Location: Kangasala, Finland | FinFan,
It was Diplomat Deluxe - basicly aPlymouth Savoy.
The Diplomat model lines were as follow:
DeSoto Diplomat = Plymouth Plaza
DeSoto Diplomat Deluxe = Plymouth Savoy
DeSoto Diplomat Custom = Plymouth Belvedere
There was no Fury conversion until 1959 and that was based on Sports Fury. It was called DeSoto Diplomat Adventurer.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 693
Location: Kangasala, Finland | 58 DESOTOS RULE,
As the Diplomats are basicly Plymouths, the slant-sixes were available. Saying that, 1957-58 Belvedere covertibles were all supposed to be V8's.
But I have hear that same story about that Finnish Diplomat covert, it was a slant-six, manual-shift AND power windows and seat... funny thing.
Shame that it is locked up in a private collection and nobody gets to see it.
There is a '58 Diplomat convert (even rarer than '57) at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/trombinoscar2/chrysler/ds5801.html if you want to take a peek...
Edited by FinFury57 2005-02-01 2:09 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 558
Location: Grenoble - France | Hello,
I have collected some info about the 57/58 DeSoto in export in the past few years.
1957: Exported DeSoto according to the Export catalog : http://www.ifrance.com/mardon/fr/DeSoto/1957-export.htm
1958: Exported DeSoto according to the Export catalog : http://www.ifrance.com/mardon/fr/DeSoto/1958-export.htm
I wouldn't say that the kph speedo of the Diplomat is rare. Indeed, here in Europe or in South America, you find easily a Diplomat, with kph speedo. What is very rare is the standard US DeSoto models with the 220 kph or 320 kph speedo (first on FireXXXX and second on Adventurer). A don't forget : even an Imperial had a "better" speedo than a 300C : 260 vs 240 kph.
And finally, here you'll find the French Forward Look DeSotos (most are original exports of the fifties) : http://www.ifrance.com/mardon/fr/DeSoto/Recensement.htm
Sorry, everything is in French ...
Frédéric |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 8948
Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | The slant six started life as a 170 cubic inch replacement for the old flathead Mopar six in 1960.
[T]he 170 and the 225 were both released simultaneously in late 1959 for the new 1960 cars.
New overhead valves, rocker shaft setup, solid lifters, individual porting for each cylinder, gently curving exhaust and intake manifolds, and a somewhat strange 30 degree slope to the passenger side. Everyone who looked at the engine said that it looked like it was slanted to the side. It was a name that stuck the slant six.
Chrysler Engineering came up with the term in early 1958 during preliminary design of the Slant-6.
The 170 cubic inch version had a bore of 3.40 inches and a stroke of 3.125 inches. The rod length was 5.7 inches. The main reason that the engine was tilted to the side, was to allow the water pump to be positioned to the side of the engine. This made the overall length shorter. You can run outside and look at yours to confirm this after reading [this]. another bit of trivia, the first production car to receive the slant six was the Valiant prototype.
The first production cars to receive the Slant-6 were the 1960 Valiant, the 1960 Plymouth, and the 1960 Dodge Dart series. Again, this was all simultaneous. Also note that the '60 (and '61) Dart was not the compact, but was an "intermediate" car.
This was not a Plymouth Valiant. The original Valiant was proposed as a separate car line. The prototype Valiant also received the first alternator in the entire auto industry.
"Prototype" means it's not a production car. The 1960 Valiant was not a prototype. It was a Valiant ("by Chrysler"), and not a Plymouth Valiant, but it was not a prototype. In addition, it wasn't the first alternator in the entire auto industry. It was the first use of the alternator as standard equipment in a regular-production automobile. Alternators had been used for several years prior in heavy-duty (police, emergency, etc.) vehicles as an option. |
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Location: Bjorneborg, Finland | 58 DESOTOS RULE - 2005-02-01 2:16 AM
That's got to be a mistake. I never heard of any DeSoto model equipped from the factory with a slant six. The Chrysler Corporation didn't even put them in domestic production until 1960. That's got to be a doner engine from a later model MoPar car if it really does have a Slant Six as motive power.
Sorry, I choosed my words carelessly, because I didn't call it as a "six" only. That '57 DeSoto Diplomat Convertible was originally equipped with PowerFlow 6, 230 cid 6-cyl. engine. I can count on it from reliable source. Most specs indicates, that Diplomat Custom Conv. was only available with 301 HyFire V-8, so that case makes things even more bizarre. |
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Expert
Posts: 1819
Location: Vancouver, BC | The DeSoto Dipomat was built in Detroit and Windsor, although Windsor producton generally was restricted to certain sedan, hardtop and wagon models. While the Detroit Diplomat models used American Plymouth engines, the Canadian-built models used Canadian Plymouth engines. Thus an American-built 1957 Diplomat would come with either a 230-cid flathead six or a poly 301 V8, the Canadian 1957 Diplomat had a choice of 251-cid flathead six or poly 303 V8.
The 1960-61 DeSoto Diplomat models were based on the Dodge Dart and used some unique late-1950's DeSoto-like side trim. And the 1960-61 Diplomat was available with the slant six engine.
The last Amerian-market DeSoto with a six was not the 1954 Powermaster, by the way. Although not well known, DeSoto offered a line of Firesweep taxis in 1957-58 that used the 230-cid flathead six. 1957 production came to 139 units, all 4-door sedans
Chrysler offered a Leece-Neville alternator as an option before 1960. It had a separate regulator to convert AC power to DC. The big thing about Chrysler's alternator in 1960 was that it used built-in electronic rectifiers to convert the power to DC. It was standard on American-built Valiants in 1960 and optional on other American Mopar cars. In 1961 it became standard equipment across the board in the U.S. In Canada the alternator was optional on all Canadian-built Chryco cars through 1962 and becamse standard equipment for 1963. I say "Canadian-built" as the U.S.-built convertibles of 1961-62, for example, were imported with alternators. Chrysler Canada did not change equipment offerings on the models it imported. Although the imported 1954-59 Dodge Mayfair convertible did have "Mayfair" nameplates instead of "Kingsway Custom".
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 988
Location: Kansas City, Kansas | I wonder what has become of this Diplomat? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 693
Location: Kangasala, Finland | It was sold, and then some time later it was for sale again. I have not heard if the seller found a buyer for it...
The seller mailed me these pictures at the time (8-16-2007).
Edited by FinFury57 2008-12-23 3:23 AM
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desoto.JPG (220KB - 616 downloads)
desoto 1.JPG (217KB - 387 downloads)
desoto 2.JPG (218KB - 768 downloads)
desoton kone.JPG (211KB - 377 downloads)
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Expert
Posts: 1357
Location: Iowa USA | The 58 Diplomat Convertible that is here in Iowa was originally sold in Hawaii (export market till 59)
It was made in Detroit and has the V-8 and the speedo is MPH
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58dip1.jpg (23KB - 442 downloads)
58dip2.jpg (23KB - 340 downloads)
58dip4.jpg (26KB - 309 downloads)
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New User
Posts: 2
| FinFury57 - 2008-12-23 3:16 AM
It was sold, and then some time later it was for sale again. I have not heard if the seller found a buyer for it...
The seller mailed me these pictures at the time (8-16-2007).
Old topic, but I know that guy, who send those pics. If I´m right, this time I hope not, that car goes for parts...
Have some pics from few other -57´s, but later...
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New User
Posts: 2
| spinout - 2005-01-31 1:04 PM
Btw, there's a rare '57 Diplomat Convertible in Finland what was originally oddly equipped..: slant-six, stick-shift, manual steering, power windows, power seat..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJqNIf6BCr8 old music video, with -57 and -60 convertibles built by Esa Salo in late 70´s and early 80´s. Those cars are still alive in the same condition....
Edited by dart -66 2012-11-29 3:39 PM
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1957 DeSoto Diplomat
