Is This Worth It?! - 1955 Desoto Firedome - Weekend Restoration
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- Опубліковано 14 гру 2020
- Just another overview of the old Desoto and its time to get started on the restoration!
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Very very nice mustang. Gramps has a damn mint ride
Car came with a 291, and a 2-speed Powerflite. Around 180 hp, the later ones were over 200.
Very much worth fixing please save it.
Hot Heads is a good source for info and parts on these gen 1 hemi's.
I didn't subscribe to see you sweep your shop and talk about what you want to do, I subscribed to see cars and trucks restored, so do the Desoto. This isn't an easy hobby but it's very rewarding.
Next video will be us tearing it down to start the resto
When I was a kid back in the 50s, I remember my uncle had a 55 Chrysler, that looked a lot like the Desoto. They're all Chrysler products. His was a hemi too. Go for it. Get the parts together, and put it together.
Of course its worth it!
BTW from the outside roof emblem yours is a spring Firedome Special, with 3 spd fairly quick.
The Mustang is a second gen Mustang 1967 to 1969. the body lines are just different enough
Good luck with the restoration, going to. E a long and difficult job
We are up for the challenge 💪
All Hemi, Fire Dome is 2barrel Carb. FireFlite is 4 barrel Carb with more luxury and performance upgrades etc Fire Dome was base model better than dodge models but lesser than the Chrysler this was the car you got on a budget but still styling with the rest
The Desoto shared body panels with the Chrysler. The only thing I am aware of that was interchangeable with the Dodge may be the windshield.
Id try to save it if it were mine...You dont see them often at all....
The 1955 Chrysler models have front fenders, doors and roof lines identical. The rear quarter panels are similar but hte Chrysler models had different tail-light arrangements. Trunk lids should be pretty much identical. The Firedome models came with 2bbl carburetors while the Fireflite models came with 4bbl carburetors. Both used the same 291cu. in. hemi engine.
All 1955 DeSotos only had the 291 V-8...the cheaper 1955 Dodges had the smaller 271. The Firedome is a trim level and it was the cheaper trim level compared to the DeSoto FireFlite which was the higher trim level. The 1955 DeSoto uses the same 126 inch wheelbase as the 1955 Chryslers and have similar bodies. This car has the optional color sweep treatment on the rear fenders (two tone paint and the chrome strip trailing downward) to make it look like the more expensive FireFlite.
Pound for pound, they were slow on take off, but they wound up like a eight day clock. I didn't like them as a kid cause they were all muffled down and no one ever did much with them. Fast forward thirty years and tastes change a lot! I kinda think they were the better looking cars of that era. I got to actually drive one about fifteen years ago that had been in a dry storage since "Call me a liar" I don't care, it was drove home, sat there for a couple years and then taken to a barn but it was a clean barn with pest control. It was parked there until it needed moved in nineteen seventy and they put a battery in it and it ran. It was shipped to eastern oregon and was in a garage that my uncle owned. He passed on like twenty years ago and I didn't think about it much.... till my cousin drove into my yard an said; remember this car???? I was floored to hear the history as he had followed it along and he loved the car so got uncle drunk and had him sign the title over to him... he said he never moved the car or anything but would offer to start it for "uncle" which was allowed so it went like that. I got my chance to drive it and it had been gone over with brakes, shocks and stuff till it was A-1 shape an he still has it.... I'm 73 n he is only 68 but sound as a hickory nut and doesn't smoke or other like me... I guess I will outlive him too/LOL. Its not for sale.
I had a 55 new yorker with a 331 and the panels are very similar
The Firedome was the lower model, 291 hemi, 185 hp (Fireflite was 200 hp), yours has 3 speed standard trans which used the 1953-54 steering wheel. no power steering or brakes, p/s was on back of generator, Pretty sure it originally had lower trim for color sweep, as single side trim cars were totally different. Absolutely NONE of '55-56 Dodge body or trim fits. The DeSoto shared front fenders, doors, trunk lids (55), roof, windows, and floor pans with '55 AND '56 Chrysler Windsor and New Yorker, and the Imperial, the hood will fit as well as rear fenders (55) (not Imperial, rear is longer)with some metal work, suspension will fit, is heavier for Imperial, as are the brakes. UNIQUE trim is side trim, grille, tail lights, front and rear emblems, all lettering, and hood ornament, wheel covers. Dual exhaust, 4 bbl and cam will bring hp to 200+ the side window being flat glass is easy to have made, dash chrome trim is same all '55-'56 DeSotos except shifter (55) and push buttons (56) interior materials are available from SMS in Oregon or interior and trunk kits from Gary Goers in Hemmings Motor News. Hope this helps.
Oh wow you seem to know a lot about these old things!
@@weekendrestoration1498 in my garage is the '56 shell pink and irredescent gray Fireflite my dad bought new, still original and near new. I had a restoration shop over 50 years and owned near all mopar models from 1955 through1977, heavy '55 through 65, know them well, any questions just write, its actually pretty rare to have no p/s, p/b and standard trans, with the Special they were priced just above the low price 3, so people could move up to DeSoto. It will take a lot, but they are very satisfying cars to have. My last '55 was a red/white nice original Firedome sedan, with no p/s, p/b, but did have PowerFlite trans, drove to shows all over the west. Word of warning, rear axles are weak, deep pot holes can break them, was fixed on '56 mopars and they interchange, I kept spare axle shafts for '55 in the trunk w/seals. (and axle puller).
Thank you so much for the great information! Glad to have you on board for this restoration.
check out vice grip garage he has a similar car. may have info you need
This car was on the road awhile. The inspection sticker is from Pennsylvania. If you look at 12:26 the inspection sticker in the windshield says 4/87 or April of 1987. By the way are you guys from Pennsylvania? I used to live in Western Pennsylvania.
Yes we are unfortunately
The word Hemi didn't come along until the second generation. Desoto called it the firedome. Each division of Chrysler that got this type of engine had a different name for it.
In 1955 the Firedome came with the 291 Chrysler Hemi. The Firedome was just a trim package, the FireFlite was the top of the line, The FireDome was the same car with a lesser trim package, In todays terms it's basically the difference of an GM RS to the Flite being an SS, Dodge SE to Flite being an RT, The Ford GT to the Flite being a Shelby. There were more than the base model but not the top level. I just bought a 55 Firedome and although the engine is running and the car drives It has none of the trim, which I will NEVER find so I'm just going to build a Restomod and make it a Daily Driver/Cruise-in car and donate the engine and transmission to a local car Mueseum. I don't normally go Full Richard Rawlings and scream "Just throw an LS in it" but in this case it just makes sense to. I'm not doing a 500 point restoration nor I'm building a 75k custom car. I'm building a low buck daily driver/ cruise-in car. Mines not near in that bad of condition, it's original a Desert Car, bought and drove in Southeastern California/Northwestern Arizona, Needles Ca/Bullhead City Az area. I am doing a frame off build though, I have too box in the inside of the frame and put a couple of more crossmembers in it to be able to handle the torque and horsepower the LS will to it.
If you wind up parting it out you can name your price on that grill, one of the most sought after in the business. Those taillight assemblies are also hard to find.
Mama had a matching DeSoto - she gave it to her brother and it ended up in a pig pasture in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Sad.
If you decide to part it out I could use a few parts.
desoto had the fire dome chysler had firepower dodge had red dome
I believe that Mustang is a '68.
Is she free!? How did you do it? Subscribed!
Can you get floors and trunk pans and body members ? That is a great parts car other wise.
how much for the pete, more specifically, the '54. _I need that lopey chug in my life_
nar she just needs some love a little bit of TLC goes a long way. gen 1 Hemi 291
I agree. Even a good cleaning will make a huge difference. Getting it clean, get it running and it then it's true potential will be revealed. Be great content as well.
For what it costs to restore that, you could buy a nice one and drive it. Part it out
That car has the 291 hemi for sure and you got the very rare manual transmission in it.....but the car is too poor to be saved i would say. try to save front and rear glass, those are rare...
DUH
Big mistake in tearing down to much at one time. Freeing up motor and mechanicals should have been done first.Now they have a torn apsrt car taking up shop space instead of a driveable car and repairing one section at a time.
Dodge is not your donor car, Chrysler Windsor would be closer.
Any thing can be saved. I think it's a parts car.
It would cost 30 or 40 grand to restore ...then you'll have a car worth 25 grand...might be a good parts car.
Contact me if you want to sell the engine out of the DeSoto
REGARDING RUST REPAIR, FITZEES FABRICATIONS ON THE INTERNET, HE MAKES HIS OWN PATCH PANELS WITH BASIC TOOLS, , HIS SHOWS ARE HOW TO DO IT, NOT SELLING ANYTHING