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 Red '58 Fireflite 2dr CoupeJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893      Location: So. Cal | I purchased this car from Gary Grossich to use the parts on my Turquoise car. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any of the front fender trim that I need, but all of the other trim will come in handy. I thought I would post pictures of it here to document some of the interior and other things on the car because it looks to be in all original condition. If I have enough time, can find all the needed sheetmetal, and am crazy enough, I may eventually fix the body & frame on this car to make it work again, but that is too distant to even think about at the moment. Still, I hate to see a '58 Fireflite coupe bite the dust completely so we'll see what happens. I think I have a lot of the needed sheet metal for the left rear side, but lifting the body to be able to weld it into its proper place is non-trivial because there is no solid point to lift from and no frame there to support it. (Red 58FF RF.jpg) (Red 58FF LR.jpg) (Red 58FF Dash.jpg) (Red 58FF Interior.jpg) Attachments ----------------  Red 58FF RF.jpg (234KB - 390 downloads) Red 58FF LR.jpg (217KB - 394 downloads) Red 58FF Dash.jpg (225KB - 391 downloads) Red 58FF Interior.jpg (246KB - 392 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | It looks like the motor caught fire at one point, looking at the condition of the plastic parts in the engine bay. The left rear frame and body are completely missing from sitting in a pond or lake on that corner. What's left of the rear half of the leaf spring is sitting on the rear seat. Edited by Powerflite 2019-12-30 11:43 AM (Red 58FF Engine.jpg) (Red 58FF Trunk.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Red 58FF Engine.jpg (239KB - 393 downloads) Red 58FF Trunk.jpg (228KB - 386 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | Notice that the horizontal pleats in the interior are created by heat seaming, and not by stitching as was common on the '57 Fireflites. (Red 58FF Door Panel.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Red 58FF Door Panel.jpg (234KB - 406 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | The VIN No. on it is LS3-**2073 and it does still have the body tag, but there isn't much on it. I can see a lone 2 placed in the options section. But it is hard to read. (Red 58FF Body Tag.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Red 58FF Body Tag.jpg (245KB - 401 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | The right side of the car is in much better shape than the left and is keeping the structure intact. The rear window looks much better now with all the lichen cleaned off of it.  (Red 58FF RR.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Red 58FF RR.jpg (214KB - 401 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | I picked up a really rusty pair of front bumper guards that I decided to put onto the car. They were rusted through in a dozen places and had many deep rust pits on the inside of them. So I welded them up from the inside and cleaned up the weld through on the outsides. Afterward I sprayed them with clear to make them look OK. The copper plating process should be able to fill in any of the small imperfections in them, but one of them has a very small dent that needs to be corrected before doing that. It took me most of a day to complete, but I am happy with them, and now they can be removed from my garage.  (Repaired 58 Bumper Guards.jpg) (Repaired 58 Bumper Guards Inside.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Repaired 58 Bumper Guards.jpg (174KB - 399 downloads) Repaired 58 Bumper Guards Inside.jpg (132KB - 406 downloads) | ||
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| Doctor DeSoto |
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Location: Parts Unknown | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10182 Location: Lower Mainland BC | Doctor DeSoto - 2019-12-30 9:56 AM The good news is, that trunk floor is much better than typical ! Yikes!! | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 10182 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . So Paint = XPX = pearl white roof, holly red lower , pearl white sweep. Trim = 646 Edited by 56D500boy 2019-12-30 2:04 PM | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | Doctor DeSoto - 2019-12-30 9:56 AM The good news is, that trunk floor is much better than typical ! Definitely saves work in removing the old one! | ||
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| 59 explorer |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 384 Location: Hershey PA | |||
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| mikes2nd |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 5054 | |||
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| jpmopar |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 467 Location: Southwest VA | You can't restore that car! It's red and white and everyone knows that there were no original red and white '57-'59 Mopars!  | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | Especially in '58! The car looks better with the guards on it. The lack of chrome fits well with the dirty bumper. Edited by Powerflite 2019-12-31 11:51 AM (Red 58FF Bumper Guards.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Red 58FF Bumper Guards.jpg (208KB - 403 downloads) | ||
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| di_ch_NY56 |
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Expert Posts: 1530  Location: ZH, Switzerland | |||
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| Doctor DeSoto |
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Location: Parts Unknown | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | The frame wasn't cut, it rusted away into dust, and took most of the rear part of the leaf spring with it. I fixed '58 DeSoto bumper guard #3 today. This one is to replace the EXTREMELY rusty bumper guard that came with my Spanish Gold Firedome coupe, shown on the left. I think fixing the original one is beyond my abilities. Anyone care to give it a go? This replacement #3 wasn't as bad as the first two that I fixed. It only had 4 rust out spots. But the sides were very thin with many deep pits so it needed to be reinforced. This creates some weld through along the sides that I now need to clean up. But it's pretty easy to do and the shape remains unaffected, which is the important part.(Gold 58Fdome Bumper Guard Fixed.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Gold 58Fdome Bumper Guard Fixed.jpg (190KB - 377 downloads) | ||
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| fc7_plumcrazy |
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Veteran Posts: 136 | |||
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| 58DeSoDodge59 |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1147 Location: Wild Wonderful | I think you are trying to corner the market on 58 DeSotos. But you do such good work, I'm okay with that. I wish you stamina and good luck on all of your projects. Happy 2020. | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | Thanks Carsten & Kurt! I'm hoping my stamina lasts me at least another 15 or 20 yrs. Maybe enough time to get some of these done. These cars are like toys because I have no plans to work on them yet, so I just play with them as a diversion when I feel like doing something different for a while. The new bumper guard looks a lot better on the gold Firedome than the horribly rusty one did, and the new re-drilled Chrysler hood & trunk lid are big improvements over the original ones. I've come to the conclusion that I won't attempt to fix this one until I have a solid donor 4dr body to repair it with. It's too much work to try to patch it everywhere. (Gold 58Fdome RF.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Gold 58Fdome RF.jpg (175KB - 405 downloads) | ||
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| ToMopar |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1177 Location: D-70199 Heslach | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | Thanks, Tom. You are welcome to drop by anytime. | ||
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| 57burb |
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Expert Posts: 3967 Location: DFW, TX | |||
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| The Adventurer |
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Elite Veteran,, James Passed away March 2021, He will be Missed Posts: 1028 Location: Melbourne, Australia | |||
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| The Adventurer |
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Elite Veteran,, James Passed away March 2021, He will be Missed Posts: 1028 Location: Melbourne, Australia | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | Thanks again James! My '58 DeSoto collection doubled in the last month. I hope I can get to them all before I die. But hopefully the turquoise one should be relatively quick. I don't think the engine fire is a big deal. Most of the stuff would end up being replaced anyway, and I'm sure I can salvage the motor once I tear it apart. No chance of getting it running without a tear-down though. I'm not really a fan of red cars, but if I do restore this car, I will keep it red & white as it came from the factory. I have come up with a plan to possibly fix the trunk of this car. I am thinking that I could weld a couple of cheap slotted "C" channel from the bottom of the right side trunk drop down to multiple flat extensions spot welded on the left side quarter panel. This would put the structure completely below the frame. If I did this in a couple places on the quarter, keeping the bars at the same height from the fins, it would give it enough strength to lift it; to get a new trunk floor, wheel lip, wheel well, and frame welded in place there. I have good wheel lips & wells from the 57 New Yorker I parted out so it would be nice to use them here. Cut the spot welds of the outer wheel wells and plug weld them in place on this car. I have the frame from that car too, but unfortunately, that's right where the '57 and '58 frames differ, so I can't use it here. I'll have to get another section or whole new frame from a '58 or '59. That's my plan for now, but I'm not sure when it will happen - probably long after I get the turquoise car on the road. Edited by Powerflite 2020-01-06 11:31 PM | ||
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| The Adventurer |
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Elite Veteran,, James Passed away March 2021, He will be Missed Posts: 1028 Location: Melbourne, Australia | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | For those interested, the trunk mat in this car appears to be black. I couldn't clean the topside to figure out if it was the same as the bottom or not, it just looked faded and brown. Edited by Powerflite 2020-01-07 6:17 PM (Red 58FF Trunk Mat.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Red 58FF Trunk Mat.jpg (150KB - 387 downloads) | ||
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| netparts |
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Veteran Posts: 146 Location: California | |||
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| Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Mile High City | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | |||
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| Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Mile High City | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | |||
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| ToMopar |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1177 Location: D-70199 Heslach | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | This car has the exhaust still routed through the bumper ports. You don't get to see original systems like this still in place very often so I took a couple of photos of it. The inside pipe in the ports is blocked off. I wonder if they did this to prevent exhaust flowing back into the trunk area, or if it was just a matter of difficulty in making a Y connection in the small space available. (58FF RH Exhaust Port.jpg) (58FF LH Exhaust Port.jpg) (58FF RH Exhaust Port Pipe.jpg) (58FF RR Exhaust Routing.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FF RH Exhaust Port.jpg (196KB - 381 downloads) 58FF LH Exhaust Port.jpg (179KB - 393 downloads) 58FF RH Exhaust Port Pipe.jpg (214KB - 380 downloads) 58FF RR Exhaust Routing.jpg (202KB - 392 downloads) | ||
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| 60 Imp |
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Location: North Australia | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | Yeah, that design is pretty unique. I am going to try and reproduce it on my turquoise Fireflite, but with larger diameter pipes and in stainless. I picked up the correct air cleaner for this car from Ebay. Now I can at least keep the critters from storing their winter's supply down the carb. (Red58FF Air Cleaner.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Red58FF Air Cleaner.jpg (224KB - 379 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | I bought a pair of taillight bezels for this car as I had stolen the ones that came with it to put on my turquoise Fireflite. I am still looking for a rear bumper for it. I decided that this car will eventually get restored, but that my turquoise one has higher priority. The only parts I will steal from this car from here out is the roof trim. So I would like to find replacements for that as well, eventually. It looks like one taillight was made for '57 and the other for '58. No big deal as I can make the '57 look like a '58 if I wish. Edited by Powerflite 2020-10-08 12:10 AM (58FFlite Red Tail Lights.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58FFlite Red Tail Lights.jpg (232KB - 300 downloads) | ||
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| frwl |
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Expert Posts: 2029 | . I think a lone 2 in the options section is a power brakes (PB2 on the lower picture). Your car also equipped with heater, but the AH5 column next to PB2 is empty. I guess the column AG on the left edge of the middle row should be AG1 (accessory group that included a heater). UC column above the right cowl tag screw hides the 1 that means an undercoating (1.jpg) (2.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 1.jpg (245KB - 296 downloads) 2.jpg (240KB - 298 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | I think you're right. I didn't notice the "1" above the right screw under the UC column, but the car does have undercoating applied so it makes sense that it should be there. I got tired of having the big gaping hole in the windshield of the gold Firedome. I remembered that I had saved the cracked windshield from the 300D that I parted out. It's badly cracked, but I figured it might be better than nothing if I ended up with a car that needed one. So I took the time to swap it into the gold Firedome. I ended up cracking it more trying to get it in, but I hope it taught me some good lessons on what not to do when it matters.  I cleaned and revitalized the rubber gasket with gojo before I put it back together and that made it a little sticky. I should have soaped it up before I attempted the install to make it slide in easier. I also picked up another set of DeSoto dog dish caps so that when ready, this car can wear them with pride. Edited by Powerflite 2021-02-25 5:33 PM (58Firedome Gold Cracked Winshield.jpg) (57-61 DeSoto Poverty Caps.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58Firedome Gold Cracked Winshield.jpg (214KB - 219 downloads) 57-61 DeSoto Poverty Caps.jpg (138KB - 216 downloads) | ||
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| mikes2nd |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 5054 | |||
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| Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Mile High City | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | Too late Mikes2nd! They are indeed rare, Lancer Mike, took me a long time to find these. I think you're right about them not being painted. It looks like these might be painted in this photo, but I think it's just a reflection from the wheels. But I think a little accenting like this can make it look good. Not sure if I like it better like this or not, but I've got plenty of time to figure it out! (Boynton Beach FLAs.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Boynton Beach FLAs.jpg (139KB - 211 downloads) | ||
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| NM Desoto |
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Veteran Posts: 145 | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | I stole the power steering pump out of my gold Firedome to replace the incorrect & mal-functioning pump in my Turquoise '58 Fireflite. Together, with the big block brackets, I believe this is a one-year only setup, though the pump itself was probably also used on the 325 Dodge motor. This week, I found someone parting out a '58 Fireflite and bought the pump from him. Unfortunately, the pulley on it was bent over badly. Looking at the car that it came from, it appears that it was in an accident with a lot of front end damage to the car. So this pump may have been functioning when it got bent; at least I can hope. I removed the pulley and spent a good 1.5 hrs straightening it. Getting a sturdy can to sit it on took up most of that time. Now it turns smoothly again.  (58DeS PSP 4Sale.jpg) (58Firedome PSP Pulley Fixed.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 58DeS PSP 4Sale.jpg (85KB - 107 downloads) 58Firedome PSP Pulley Fixed.jpg (87KB - 103 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | I bought a '57 DeSoto rear bumper from Dorsey many months ago. Frank happened to be traveling to California and delivered it for me to BigM, and I got it from him today. I had stolen the rear bumper from this car to put on my Turquoise Fireflite. Dorsey kept the '57 exhaust pods to sell to someone else, and I already had a backup set of '58 versions that I used on here. I found that there is one minor difference between the '57 and '58 main bumpers. Does anyone know what that is? Unfortunately, the bumper can only mount to the car on the passenger side as the driver side of the rear frame is non-existent at present. The only other thing that I have taken from this car now, are the Fireflite emblems on the rear quarter, and I believe I have already purchased replacements for it. I think the only hard part I still need for it is another round fender emblem. (Red 58FF Rear Bumper Replacement.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Red 58FF Rear Bumper Replacement.jpg (154KB - 66 downloads) | ||
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| ToMopar |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 1177 Location: D-70199 Heslach | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: So. Cal | |||
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