Remember the delightful DeSotos?

Owners George and Nancy Wuszke of Southwest Michigan own probably one of the finest and most beautiful DeSotos ever assembled.   Designed under the leadership of Chrysler VP of Design Virgil Exner, Sr, the 1957 DeSoto Adventurer was the ultimate DeSoto and highly collectible today.

In auto columns past, I have shared with readers my favorite models produced by GM's Chevrolet and Oldsmobile divisions, Ford Motor Company's Mercury and Ford Division and Chrysler Corporation's Plymouth.  I came across a stunning photo of a mid-fifties DeSoto the other day and it reminded me of how much I miss that great American automobile brand.  Methinks it is time to pick my favorite DeSotos and share my reasons for my picks with readers.

DeSoto was introduced as a new marque, along with Plymouth, by Walter P. Chrysler in 1928 just four years after he had founded Chrysler Corporation.  The Spanish explore Hernando de Soto was the inspiration for the new car's name.   The new DeSoto was created to provide competition in the mid-priced class.

In a spasm of corporate expansion that year, Walter P. also acquired the Dodge Brothers operation.  In one swell swoop, the still wet-behind-the-ears Chrysler Corporation had grown almost overnight from a one car operation (Chrysler), created from the ashes of the Maxwell Car Company, to a successful and bona fide multi-divisional competitor to the mighty General Motors.  It has been reported that if the Dodge brand had been purchased earlier in 1928, DeSoto would never have been introduced, as the two models filled nearly the same sales niche.

DeSoto's success was immediate.  It's first year sales totaled over 81,000 units and the new brand became the most successful new car ever introduced up to that time.  Following its initial success just before the Great Depression, DeSoto went on to become an important part of the Chrysler Corporation team, especially in the late 40s and the 50s when sales sometimes were equal to those of sibling Chrysler. 

I first took note of DeSotos when the all-new models were introduced in 1955 along with the other 'Million Dollar Look' Chrysler Corporation vehicles designed by Virgil Exner, Sr.  It was a beautiful automobile.  The advertising jingle created for DeSoto and heard on the popular Groucho Marx show "You Bet Your Life" really hit the spot.  The DeSotos of that era were delightful and they were delovely.

At the time, as a junior high kid, I had no idea that the popular and catchy DeSoto jingle of "It's Delightly, It's Delovely, It's DeSoto" was taken from a Cole Porter song written for the popular 1934 Broadway play "Anything Goes." (Note:  Ironically "Anything Goes" is back on Broadway in 2012)

The quickness of DeSoto's demise in the fall of 1960 after being a huge sales success in 1957 still astounds me.  Who would have guessed in 1955 - 1957 when Desoto sold very well in the mid-priced field that the brand would be gone in three short years?  Its demise can be attributed to a number of factors: the Eisenhower Recession in 1958, an overcrowded mid-priced field, highly publicized quality issues and car buyer's shift to economical and smaller vehicles at the end of the 1950s.

The all-new and highly successful 1957 finned DeSotos were rushed into production and had significant quality issues.  When the little changed 1958 models were introduced, a severe recession caused sales to plunge by more than half.  With times tough, car buyers started ignoring the large-sized DeSoto (and other mid-priced brands like Buick, Olds, Mercury as well) and started buying smaller and more economical imports and models from AMC and Studebaker.  It didn't help either that DeSoto and Chrysler models were nearly exactly the same car except for different bumpers, grilles and taillights. 

Following the poor sales performance in 1958 and 1959, DeSoto never recovered.  By the1960 model year only two series with limited number of models were offered.  The plug was pulled on the once robust brand on November 30,1960 after only 3,034 units were built of the 1961 model.

DeSoto is no more, but during the brand's hay day a number of memorable cars were built. The pre-war DeSotos that catch my eye at car shows are the controversial and poor selling but influential 1934 - 36 Airflow and the 1942 model that was fitted with powered pop-up headlights (advertised at "Air-Foil" lights "Out of Sight Except at Night"), a first for a North American mass-production vehicle.  The 1936 - 37 Cord 810/812's hidden lights preceded DeSoto's but were mechanical and operated by hand with a crank.

The DeSotos following WWII were conservatively styled until Exner's all-new1955 models appeared.  Then for the next few years, DeSotos were styling homeruns.  I'm especially keen on the 1955 hardtop cars with the three-toned paintjobs.  The all-new (again) 1957 DeSotos, with bodies featuring the best expression of Exner's finned look, are still considered design benchmarks.  There is not a contrary line on that breathtakingly beautiful automobile.

To address and hopefully correct the severe quality issues of the beautiful but poorly built 1957 - 59 cars, Chrysler Corporation in 1960 introduced all-new "Unibody" construction across the line (excepting Imperial).  DeSoto new body was great looking and was again shared with sibling Chrysler.  Unfortunately a combination of little styling differentiation between DeSoto and sibling Chrysler and persistent rumors in the press of its demise, the brand's sales fell again, to under 30,000. 

The suits at Chrysler did what had to be done.  Despite an improving economy and a noticeable sales up tick by buyers of middle priced, large cars, the writing was on the wall.  After 32 years, the once successful and popular DeSoto brand was discontinued.  Alas, after sales of over 2,056,000 vehicles during its lifetime, another great American marque had bitten the dust.