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It was also quite a bit cheaper at $2191. As before, the Suburban shared the long chassis with an eight-passenger Custom sedan (but not the limo, which was dropped), and offered vast cargo space, roof-top luggage rack, plus rear jump seats giving true nine-passenger capacity. The Suburban itself returned at $3179, up over $500 from ’48 (postwar inflation was affecting car prices all over). The Carry-All handily sold 2690 copies for the model year, but the wagon did only 850, the Suburban a mere 129. The woody lasted only through 1950, the Suburban and Carry-All through ’52.
Identified outside only by small nameplates and inside by luxurious leather and Bedford cloth trim, it sold for about $75 more than the regular Town Sedan. DeSoto returned to civilian sales with an abbreviated 1946 line, though drivetrain and chassis combinations were the same as ’42. Production was low everywhere in Detroit for ’42, and DeSoto was no exception at less than 25,000 — fewer than 1000 of some individual models. Cancelation of the long-wheelbase DeLuxe sedan left only three extended-chassis models, all Customs: limousine, seven-seat sedan, and an intriguing newcomer called Suburban.
No wonder. The ’57s were not only all-new for the second time in three years, but superbly engineered and strikingly styled. A low-cost Firesweep series based on the 122-inch Dodge platform joined the line in an effort to extend DeSoto’s market territory. Firesweeps also included two-and four-door hardtops and six-seat Shopper and nine-passenger Explorer four-door wagons. The two upper series used the 341 V-8 from the ’56 Adventurer with 270 and 295 horsepower, respectively. If you are you looking for more on How to find a 2 month condo in bangkok? (click through the next document) take a look at our webpage. Firesweeps had the previous year’s 330 debored to 325 cid and tuned for 245 horsepower standard, 260 horsepower optional. Fireflite offered all these plus a convertible; Firedome was the same but had no wagons. The Firesweep sedan sold for only $2777, where the cheapest Firedome was $2958. All were big, heavy, powerful cars.
Rated horsepower was 109, down six from ’42, though this reflected a new rating method, not mechanical changes. Standard wheelbase was four inches longer at 125.5, but boxy, upright styling hid the fact. Besides “civilian” cars, DeSoto built 11,600 taxicabs in these years — its fifth best-selling model. A vertical-bar grille was retained, similar to the 1942-48 design, but the lady mascot was replaced by a bust of Hernando DeSoto. DeSoto was fully redesigned for ’49, as were other Chrysler makes that year. Suburban production was also quite satisfactory: 7500 for the period. This was typical of Chrysler’s new postwar look, which was very dull compared to Ford’s and GM’s.
DeSoto’s 1960 line reflected these developments: cut to just a sedan, hardtop sedan, and hardtop coupe in two series. The upper was called Adventurer, but sold for a few hundred dollars below ’59 Fireflites and was much-less-special than previous Adventurers. The year’s most-popular DeSoto was the Fireflite sedan, but even it failed to exceed 10,000 units. They also adopted the new “unibody” construction that arrived corporate-wide (except on Imperial). All 1960 DeSotos shared a 122-inch wheelbase with that year’s Chrysler Windsor and Dodge Matador/Polara. Fireflite was now in the $3000 area formerly occupied by Firesweep.
