This has been in the back of my mind since the pics first broke. I suppose there's no direct inspiration.....

Bizarre then, bizarre now.

Edited November 29, 200618 yr by balthazar

Nerd says: "Take a ride in my DeSoto, baby."

Girl says: "No! No! I'll scream if you don't let go of me!"

I want to own a DeSoto just so I can tell people, "Its a DeSoto."

I & my equally sick friend used to really appreciate the last DeSoto. Plug was pulled on the division I believe 6 weeks into the '61 MY, and only 911 2-dr hardtops were built. One time (turned out- the only time to date) we stumbled upon one sitting in someone's side yard in Little Egg Harbor NJ, a tired black 2-dr hardtop with a red interior. God, the detailing was really intriquing: 6 subtle windsplits trailed down the decklid (inspiration for the Crossfire & Sebring's grooved hoods??), thin DESOTO letters spaced evenly between them. The tailfins are garishly huge, as they should be.

Factory pics make it look 'spindy' on those narrow bia plys, but hunkered down on fatter radials with tired springs and it looks pretty damned mean. If I had disposable cash, I'd build a lowered black hardtop with a CrossRam 413 underhood ('61s only got 2bbl 361s).

I know: more than anyone wanted to know.

Nerd: "I'd like to CrossRam your TorqueFlite."

Girl: "Flitesweep me, baby!"

Bizarre then, bizarre now.

*chuckles*

Everything old is new again....

But, yikes ... they do look strikingly similar, oddly enough.

Cort:33swm."Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip".pig valve.pacemaker

MC:family.IL.guide.future = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/

Models.HO = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/trainroom.html

"What happened next is hard to tell" ... Ray Stevens ... 'Mississippi Squirrel Revival'

Its interesting that the design layout is similar but they do not look the same by any means.

The grills and nose treatment on most all 50-early 60's car's is their down side to me. Never like them. The rest of the styling was so nice, I just dont look them in the face.

I know: more than anyone wanted to know.

221345[/snapback]

Not true... I love stories like that!!! with any luck (proibably a LOT of luck)

that car was restored and sits in a heated garage now... but more than

like;y it was hauled away by a scummy ramp truck to the local junkyard,

crushed, the metal was melted down refined and shipped to a Ford factory

where the molecules live on in 375 Ford Focus rear quarter panels.

And yes... this would be a suitable alternative to a 1964 Super 88.