Also Controlled by Highland Park’s Pushbuttons
Officials also said commitments had been made for ’61, and that work was underway toward 1962-63. They also pointed out that Chrysler had regularly made a profit on DeSoto. Valiant sold very well and Plymouth did fairly well, but DeSoto fared badly. Sales in the first two months of 1960 were just 4746 — a mere 0.51 percent of the industry — down substantially from the 1959 period (6134 units and 0.72 percent). But then Chrysler combined DeSoto and Plymouth Divisions in 1960, with the new compact Valiant an ostensibly separate make.
Both rode the same orthodox chassis with standard 119-inch wheelbase. For 1940 came more-attractive Dietrich styling abetted by longer wheelbases of 122.5 inches standard, 139.5 extended. Though model-year output rose some 11,000 units, DeSoto again placed 13th. Like other Chrysler makes, it might have done better had the firm not suffered a crippling strike at the start of 1940 production. Chrysler’s Fluid Drive, which allowed the driver to start and stop without using the clutch, became available on DeSotos. Dumpy appearance would remain one of the make’s sales handicaps until well after World War II. The Custom convertible coupe was reinstated, but not the convertible sedan. A ’39 DeSoto looked like a Plymouth with goiter. Open styles were conspicuously absent for 1939, though a sliding sunroof was offered on selected closed models. Styling still left something to be desired.
The FireDome powered a new like-named top-of-the-line 1952 series that duplicated Custom offerings save the Suburban. For 1953, remaining Custom/DeLuxe models were combined into a new Powermaster Six series that still lagged behind FireDome in sales, this time by a margin of 2-1. Both lines included Sportsman hardtops. The growing influence of newly recruited styling chief Virgil Exner was evident in an update of DeSoto’s more-massive ’52 look, with new one-piece windshields and more-liberal chrome accents. Though it immediately garnered nearly 50,000 sales, DeSoto as a whole could do no better than 88,000 for the model year.
Last but not least, a soft-top Adventurer joined the hardtop coupe in a separate series above Fireflite. Also controlled by Highland Park’s pushbuttons, it was a great transmission that would way outlive DeSoto. Virgil Exner’s dramatic new styling made finned fantasies of all ’57 Chrysler products. They packed 345 bhp from a modestly bored 345 Hemi. DeSoto’s version of this second-generation Forward Look was quite handsome: dartlike profile, tri-tower taillamps attractively integrated into the soaring rear fenders, simple but pleasant side moldings, prominent bumper/grille, and acres more glass. Aiding performance was the arrival of quick, responsive three-speed TorqueFlite automatic as an optional alternative to PowerFlite. DeSoto also benefited from Chrysler’s corporatewide switch to torsion-bar front suspension, which made these heavyweights uncannily good handlers.
Prosperity seemed endless in 1928 when the fast-rising new Chrysler Corporation purchased Dodge and issued its first DeSoto and Plymouth. Early DeSotos, though, were pitched just above Plymouth in size, power, and price. DeSoto went on to build its most-exciting cars in the ’50s, only to die in late 1960 after a flash recession and sibling rivalry obliterated its narrow, well-defined price niche. In between, DeSoto did good and sometimes great business as the medium-price “bridge” between Dodge and Chrysler, with design and engineering that usually owed more to the latter than the former. Though good times soon turned to “hard times,” DeSoto would be one of the few pre-Depression “expansion” makes to survive them.
