1956 DeSoto: Artistry In Motion.

When we were growing up in the mid 1960's, my parents struggled at times, especially my dad to make sure we had a roof over our heads, and a decent place to sleep. He felt like that he did not succeed, but in my eyes, my dad succeeded wonderfully. At the time, our family car was a 1950 Chrysler Windsor 4 door sedan, (restored example pic immediately above, cannot enlarge this image) a nondescript, slightly rundown outdated automobile, but it met our needs. He basically would spend Saturday mornings, when he was not working, doing his own repair work on the thing, to keep it safe for us, and also so it would pass the then two times a year Pennsylvania State inspection. It would drive dad nuts trying to get his car to pass, but he would always figure out a way to get it to pass every 6 months back then. My dad, and his brothers, (my uncles) would help each other out, sharing tires, if they drove similar makes to get their cars to pass inspection, as money was tight for everyone on my dad's side of the family.

I don't know how he managed to pull the next trick he did in the summer of 1965, when he showed us this beautiful 1956 DeSoto that was for sale at a Texaco gas station. He showed it to mom, and us kid, and as soon as we saw it, we fell in love with it, as to us, it was like stepping up to a Rolls Royce, from a model T. The old '50 Chrysler was not exactly like riding in the lap of luxury. More like a rolling shanty shack than a car. Imagine our delight, when my dad figured out one of his "creative financing" schemes, to bring the car home. The car was really luxurious. It had full power. Brakes, steering, electric windows, push- button drive, and a power seat. It also had a two speaker, (front and rear) AM radio. My mom liked the push button drive, and the top central mounted clock on the dashboard. We kids like playing with the electric windows. I think once we made my dad mad at us, as we ran his battery down, playing with the windows. Back in the 1950's when a car was equipped with electric windows, the curcuit that they were wired on was always "hot". You did not need to have the car running to work the windows. The logic behind this paid off several times when in the summer, when my dad was sleeping, after working 2nd shift at the RCA plant in Lancaster, he would get home in the car and leave the windows open in the thing, so it would not be so hot to get in, when he went back to work that afternoon. A couple of times, though,while he was sleeping, thunderstorms came up fast, and my mom, or one of us was able rush out, and shut the windows without needing to get the key and turn on the ignition to accessories setting to do so.

This car was such a step up for us. No matter how you looked at it, there were no bad angles in which to view it. Mom even tried to learn to get her driver's licence in that thing, it was that easy for her to drive. But things did not work out, and she did not try to get it after while for reasons I can't say here. It was like riding in the lap of luxury, when we rode in the thing. It was an aqua and white Fireflite "Sportsman" 4 door hardtop. That means when you put all 4 windows down, there was no center post between the front and rear doors, and the side of the window areas was wide open. quite beautiful to look at, and a cool drive on the hottest summer days, before automotive air conditioning became commonplace. It was available back then in this car, originally, but it did not have it as it was terribly expensive, and not very efficient. With the 4 windows all down, and the fresh air intake open on the cowl, in front of the windshield, while moving, the air came out at our feet, under the dash, inthe car, and this kept us plenty cool enough...as long as the car was moving at least at 20 MPH.

My dad, in general, frowned upon taking pictures of just things, when we were kids. But he was proud of this car, and we begged him,at least, me, anyway to take some pictures of it. And he obliged. But only if there were people in the pictures. That was his rule. So, on Easter Sunday of 1966, we took a series of pictures of us with the car. The image at the top of this post is of my dad in front of the car. The one other image of part of the car, by itself was an image of my sister standing in the street beside the car. I just blew up and cropped her out , as to show the side of the car somewhat more clearly. This is this image right below this text.

The image below, here, is us three kids that same day, in front of the car, after getting back from church. I'm the boy in the middle. I'm 8 years old, here.
My love affair for anything 1956 DeSoto has never faded. As time has gone by, it has gotten actually stronger. In 1976, Jo-Han models re-issued their original dealer plastic 1/25 scale promotional model of a 4 door sedan version of this car, and I was finally able to get a model of it, and do it up some what like my dad's car, but these do not have interiors with them. In my eyes, though, it was better than nothing.

In and around 2002, the Danbury Mint anounced that it was going to release a black and gold Adventurer hardtop in die cast 1/24 scale. Needless to say, I was thrilled that anyone would do such a high quality super detailed model of any 1956 DeSoto. So as soon as it bacame available, I bought it. It is a beautiful model, but what I really wanted was a Fireflite hardtop.
In around 2005, they released a limited edition Fireflite Sportsman 2 door hardtop in the plum and lavender color you see on this model in these images. It was limited to a 5000 model run, then it was discontinued. Money was a little tight for my wife and me at the time, and I missed it, because when I finally got the money together, Danbury had sold out of the thing.
Finally, this past December of 2011, I was able to snag one of these on the second market from an internet forum friend for the original 2005 issue price. This model really captures the true essence of the timeless beauty of this automobile. Danbury really did their homework on this model, as everything on this model is perfect as I remember it. Even though this model is of a 2 door coupe. My dad's car was a 4 door hardtop. Whether it is a 2 door hardtop, like this model, or a 4 door hardtop, like my dad's car was, both models were referred to as "Sportsman" models, as this was DeSoto's publicity term for the pillarless "hardtop" design. In my eyes, though, all 1956 DeSoto's were and are beautiful pieces of rolling art. And, yeah, it's got a Hemi!!
As I said, there are no bad viewing angles of this car!
And now, Danbury Mint, you can make me ecstatic. Please do this car in aqua and white as a tribute to my 77 year old dad.
Jim.