A Desoto you MUST take a look @ = RARE

[Chrycoman]

The 1939 Chrysler 4-door convertible that Chrysler of Canada supplied for the Royal tour of 1939 started out life as a 1939 Chrysler Royal 136" wheelbase LWB sedan.? ?Chrysler of Canada either had the roof cut off and the body modified by Chrysler of Canada workers or an outside firm - I suspect it was the latter.

A photo of it is on page 223 of "70 Years of Chrysler" by George H. Dammann.? ? You can tell the roof was cut off and the doors had the window surrounds cut off about two or three inches above the belt line.? The rear door was customized - made wider and with the hinges on the B pillar.? Large side glass windows were made for the doors as well as the rear quarter windows and the space between the front and rear doors.? The fold up top is very much in the German style with it sticking out beyond the rear of the body.? ?The windshield appears to be the production unit with the roof removed again about two inches or so above the top of the windshield.?

My statement that Chrysler of Canada built no convertibles from 1937 through 1962 holds as the King George VI car is a customized 4-door LWB sedan.? ?It is far from a production model.

Wonder if the car still exists.? The two custom-built McLaughlin-Buick 4-door convertibles thet GM supplied are still around - one is here in Vancouver, as is the 1951 Chrysler New Yorker convertible used for the 1951 Canadian tour by Prince Philip.?

By the way, as Ford of Canada had no large cars in production, the biggest being the Mercury, the car they supplied was the big Lincoln V12 built for the U.S. portion of the tour.

Bill
Vancouver, BC

[Wm Steed]

I would bet that Chrysler, Canada, in fact did not build the car for King George. Chrysler in all probability did not have a custom body division. They might have supplied a Chrysler Royal chassis to a custom body builder, or a custom body builder could have secured a Plymouth 4dr conv sdn body from Briggs. The Briggs 4 dr. conv body was actually a '37-38 Desoto body restyled to fit the '39 cowl.

Then again.... when talking about old cars, one should avoid using the terms, "always and never".....Bill

[elmo]

Bill fom Vancouver states that no convertibles of any kind were built by Chrysler of canada between 1937-1962 , there was a special  custom town convertible produced in 1939  using a 1939 chrysler royal , for King George's visit. okay it might have been a conversion ,but it was built by Chrysler of Canada.

[brucepine]

Go to www.heritageclassics.com.  You will easily see they do not have any "Bargain" prices.

[FourDoor]

I don't know about it being alright to be in this condition for that money. If I paid over $100 K for an antique/classic car ,I'd want to be able to ship it straight to Hershey and start getting it's trophies. Because of it's condition I suspect,in fact I know, it would not even get it's junior status. Not a good thing to say about such a beautiful vehicle. I suspect this car is a '20 footer' and would not appear as good in the flesh as it does on the net.? ?

[Cliff54]

WOW

[Jim Benjaminson]

Tuscher made several custom bodies using various Chrysler products.  I have photos of the one and only 1934 Plymouth with a similar body style and there is a 35 PJ that has recently been restored with I believe a body by the same company.  Most of them were "one of a kinds".  Perhaps the best known is Glaser, who did a lot of work on Ford and Chevie chassis.....

[Wm Steed]

Rather than picking on the few items on the car that are not quite up to concourse standards, one should view the car for what it is.... A superb example of a coach built vehicle, which just could be the only example of it's kind in the world.

Interestingly, the serial number of the vehicle is consistent with U.S. serial numbers? (5598301-5632912) for a '38 Desoto S5. I wonder?... if the engine a correct S5 1001/S5 39664? The U.S. serial number would in fact support the belief that the vehicle started out as a front clip/cowl/chassis, one of the 413 such units mentioned earlier by Chrycoman

I find it interesting that the U.S. supplied cowl assembly had a fixed windshield with cowl mounted windshield wipers. An additional feature was the front doors with three hinges? attached to the cowl. The Swiss body builder changed the windshield to a "roadster" swing out type with exposed overhead wipers??? I can understand the suicide front doors, this type of door has more class than a normal door arrangement.

Is the asking price beyond reason? Maybe, maybe not? If the car was a custom bodied Chrysler in lieu of a Desoto, the general feelings would most likely be that $108 k was a steel.

After all is said and done, the amazing part of the whole deal is that such a vehicle survived the ravages of WWII and the passage of 71 years. About the time some wag comes up with the theory that the thrill of old cars is gone because all the good "barn finds" are gone, cars like the Desoto surface....Bill

[FourDoor]

I guess it's inevitable someone's going to point out the errors on this beautiful car, so I might as well stick my foot in it.
It wouldn't have taken much more effort to install a correct firewall mounted ignition coil you'd think? And get rid of the ugly modern wiring as well.? Especially for the money they seemed to have thrown at this vehicle. Although the dash exibits a 'throttle' control knob, it is not hooked up at the carb end. The engine head is showing rust around the 1st and 2nd spark plug which we all know means the water return hose is leaking. The car seems to have it's original cloth covered wiring harness intact but they could have cleaned it up a bit especially around the generator. From what I can see the engine is also in bad need of a simple tune-up. Personally I wouldn't take this car ANYWHERE until the engine was gone through. Not a good thing to say on a vehicle someone is looking to get over $108,000 USD. All in all the engine compartment needs a lot of tlc,head paint,block paint,air cleaner paint and dent etc., and it deserves it considering the beautiful car it pushes around. (It's hard to tell from the photos, but I wonder what a toothbrush and some 'Silchrome' polish would do for the dash bright work?)
? ? ?

[Chrycoman]

This 1938 DeSoto was not modified, it has a custom-built body undoubtedly placed on one the 413 chassis/cowl units built for 1938.  Custom-built convertible bodies were not uncommon in Europe before the war, especially with Swiss or German bodies.   

Although Plymouth and DeSoto shared many chassis and body parts from 1929 through 1932, for 1933 DeSoto began sharing bodies with Chrysler. 

For 1937 the Plymouth came on a 112" wheelbase and the Dodge on a 115" wheelbase.  The extra 3" was all in the rear seat area with the axle moved back 3".   The DeSoto and Chrysler 6 were on a 116" wheelbase while the Chrysler 8 was 121", in both cases the extra length was in the front clip.  All four makes shared the same LWB body, using the front clip from the regular sedans.  Thus the Plymouth and Dodge LWB models were 132", DeSoto / Chrysler 6 135", and Chrysler 8 140".

The increases in wheelbase for DeSoto / Chrysler in 1938 and Plymouth / Dodge in 1939 were all in the front end.  The U.S. Murray-built Mopar 1937-39 4-door convertible was based on the longer Dodge-DeSoto-Chrysler body, and with the D-D-C trio gaining a restyled body for 1939 and not the Plymouth, the 4-door convertible was offered as a Plymouth for 1939.   Thus the regular Plymouth sedan wheelbase was 114" and the 4-door convertible 117".  Plymouth built 387 4-door convertibles for 1939 plus 13 for the export Dodge D12 - all built in the U.S. and none in Canada, by the way.   (No convertibles of any kind were built by Chrysler of Canada from 1937 through 1962.)

Bill
Vancouver, BC

[Wm Steed]

The Desoto shown in the pictures is one fine looking automobile. The vehicle has obviously undergone an extensive refurbishing in lieu of a restoration.

I wonder???? Why would someone want to do such an extensive modification to a Desoto 6? Part of the answer might be in that the '38 Desoto was a larger car than the '37. According to the "Standard Catalog of American Cars", in 1938 the wheel base was increased from 116 in. to 119 in., the chassis was made heavier and the engine HP was increased. It can also be noted in the SCAC that Chrysler offered a chassis/cowl version of the '38 Desoto to the custom body builders.

Research on the '39 Plym 4dr conv sdn's will reveal that the platform for that car was the '38 Desoto 4dr conv. sdn. Going back a few more years, to the early days of the Plym/Desoto lines will also reveal that the '31 Desoto SA Roadster and '31 Plym PA Roadster were very close to being the same vehicle....Bill

[Go Fleiter]

Plus, Boys, what You would get is a "modern" US car with a very oldstyle european way of coach building, look at the roof towering over the car. Thats?how Volkswagen did its convertibles. Well, that is suiss hand made precision too.
Beautyfully different car, anyhow! Greetings! Go

[elmo]

you can't get any rarer than one built ,it's not even mentioned in the Plymouth DeSoto book, a beautifull car , but i would have to think twice or more before i was willing to part with 108,000 , and i am a mopar fan from way back.

[mopardave]

Nice Lookin's car and I don't care how its badged!

[Roadkingcoupe]

Click on the link below to view pictures of a extremely rare 1938 DESOTO S-5 DROPHEAD LIMOUSINE by T?SCHER

Knowing full well that this is NOT aPlymouth I submit this to all the STOCK or die POC members. Please do NOT remind me that this vehicle does not have the PLYMOUTH name.I already know.

This is a car that would be of interest to most any POC member with a pulse.

http://www.heritageclassics.com/desoto/38limo/Page.html