'53 Desoto -my first custom build

[hillbilly4008]

Well, i sold off my truck. Its somewhere near Cunningham Tennesee now. I had to do it, I wasnt driving it as much as it deserved. It was not "toddler friendly", noise, wind, fumes and all. Ya know.

So i picked up this lil' beauty. Well, not little, actually quite large. Big back seat, with plenty of room for the little diaper dragger.

The day i picked it up i borrowed a friends rollback and maxed out the hydraulic on it. This car had the front drums stuck, and the winch had a hard time skidding it up on the deck. Also, once loaded the truck squatted a bit. I bet this car weighs around 2ton.

It was last registered in 1976. I got it back to the shop, did a tune-up, changed the oil, rebuilt the carb and she fired right up. 251 flathead six, and its STAYING IN THE CAR. My neighbor owns an engine shop, he said he will shave the head for $50. Cant go wrong there. Other plans are splitting the stock manifold and run dual pipes with Smithy mufflers, and find a dual carb intake for it. Maybe a cam farther down the line.

I plan on lowering the car heavily in the rear. WWWs. Installing '56 Packard Clipper tail lights. Installing five '56 buick portholes per fender. Suiciding the rear doors. Hinging the tail lamp and hiding the fuel filler. Possibly graft on '53 Chevy headlamps. The final paint scheme will be a Royal Blue laquer(hand rubbed) with a white pearl lid.

This is going to be a driving work in progress.

 

[hillbilly4008]

Here is a photoshop someone on the HAMB did for me

 

[CR55]

Here is a photoshop someone on the HAMB did for me

I'm liking it![cl...keep the pics coming!..CR

 

[Mr.Gussett]

Oh yea!!!

YEP! What CR55 said!!
Sounds like a plan!

 

[ratdog]

That will be a cool car. Only wondering if the suicide back doors would work with the window frame sticking out farther then the door edge at the back.I would think it will bind there.

 

[hillbilly4008]

The doors will have to swing away from the C-pillar. Making the hinge is going to take some planning, and alot of trial and error.

 

[kdubya]

Awsome. Dare to be different. All the stainless trim on that thing will just pop against a blue background. Fun for the whole family.

 

[CORPO]

good looking car, looks to be fairly solid.. interesting where it rotted on the rear quarter...

I saw the truck on ebay.. didnt catch how much it went for.. hope you got a good amount for it

Ill be watching this build.. a custom is on the list of builds i want to do

 

[hillbilly4008]

Well, i have my gas tank issues squared away. I priced a replacement tank....WOW. Definatly was not gonna cough up the coin for that! So i made one. I dubbed it the "tail dragger tank", the base is 3/16". This should handle any thing thown between it and the road. Fuel sending unit came from Classic Instrament, these were real great people to deal with. They actually had knowledge of their products, unlike many other places i called. Now i can use this new fuel cell and sending unit with my factory gauge. Im so happy about that!

More pics for y'all.

 

[42chevy]

Very nice start, pretty different looking car. In a good way.

 

[LarryH]

Here is a photoshop someone on the HAMB did for me

That's bitchin'.

 

[moparcowboy]

Sweet car I learned to drive in a 53 DeSoto and a 52 Dodge PU

 

[hillbilly4008]

good looking car, looks to be fairly solid.. interesting where it rotted on the rear quarter...

I know right, believe it or not that lower rear quarter is bolted in place. So there is a lip just below that rot line, great place for road salt to collect. Its OK though, just some sheet metal to deal with. No biggy

 

[hillbilly4008]

I just got off the phone with a guy who lives 5 minutes away from me. He said he has atleast 2 pair of '56 Packard Clipper taillights!

ON MONDAY THEY WILL BE MINE!!! HAHAHA!!!

 

[hillbilly4008]

Wow, its been almost a year and a half since I posted in this thread. Time flys when your having fun I guess, or atleast thats what they tell me.

I'm at the paint stage now, or almost to that point. Since my last post I got the head shaved, split the stock manifold, ran 2" duals with Porter steel packs straight out the back. Grafted on '56 Olds headlights, 4 '56 Buick portholes per fender, '56 Packard tail lights. I put 2.5" lowering blocks in a few days ago, now my pipes don't clear the axle and my driveshaft is bottomed out, so we got some work to do there.

My interior is all at the upholsterer's, thats gonna be bitchin'. I won't say what were doing, that will spoil the suprise.

I've got loads more pictures to post, i just don't have them on this computer.

See ya[ddd

 

[John T. Hodgen]

The tailights are Cool. It's coming along Great! Did the rear doors get done, I think that will be a real pain to do but that's just my thinking. I think what you have done works, can't wait to see the interior and the blue paint is one of my favs. Later--John T.[P

 

[maverickmk]

That looks awesome. Thanks for the update, I look forward to more pictures.

 

[Sam_Fear]

Good choice on the headlight chrome.

 

[hillbilly4008]

thanks Sam. Those aren't just the bezels, I actually grafted fender sections in from a '56 Olds, and continued the peak down the top of the fender. Man, I really wish I had the pics on this comp...

John, I've decided to leave the rear door alone. Your right, WAY more work than I want to tackle right now. I just wanna get this thing back onthe road. I put over 2000miles on it last summer, I hope to double that this year.

I've decided to shave all the door handles because I was quoted $95 per handle to re-chrome. To rich for my blood.

 

[BigIrish]

Wow - I love it.

You might check into getting your door handles powder-coated chrome. Alot cheaper. Looks pretty close to chrome, fine for a driver.

Eastwood has some examples on thier website of what it looks like.