A low-cost Firesweep collection based mostly on the 122-inch Dodge platform joined the line in an effort to increase DeSoto’s market territory. Much bolder, fully up-to-date new Exner styling and more-powerful engines stood to turn issues round for 1955. Firedome (the “d” not capitalized) now played “second banana” to a brand new uplevel Fireflite line. Indeed, for all this excitement, DeSoto was now threatened once more, solely this time by an upwardly cellular Dodge and a downward expansion of the Chrysler line. Carrying a brand new 341-cid, 320-horsepower Hemi, it was a part of that year’s expanded Highland Park efficiency squadron together with the Chrysler 300B, Plymouth Fury, and Dodge D-500. Also controlled by Highland Park’s pushbuttons, it was a terrific transmission that would manner outlive DeSoto. At $4369, the ’58 Adventurer ragtop was essentially the most-expensive DeSoto ever, although Chrysler’s convertible 300D cost nearly $1300 more. Riding a shortened 111-inch wheelbase, Adventurer I used to be an off-white, shut-coupled coupe sporting outside exhausts, wire wheels, and full instrumentation. A Seville hardtop coupe replaced the previous Firedome Special.

Following GM’s lead in ’55, DeSoto launched three 4-door hardtops for ’56: a Sportsman in every collection and a low-priced Firedome Seville. No surprise. The ’57s were not only all-new for the second time in three years, but superbly engineered and strikingly styled. Predictably, the ‘fifty eight DeSotos have been a lot like the ’57s save busier grilles and trim, and standard quad headlights. Other fashions carried a giant-bore 361 with 295 bhp in standard Firedome tune, 305 with twin 4-barrels in Fireflites (optional on Firedomes), 345 in high-compression Adventurer guise, and a smashing 355 for Adventurers with non-compulsory Bendix fuel injection. Painted deep pink and missing bumpers, it was very sleek however not quite as built-in as Adventurer I, and wasn’t critically thought of for production. Don’t race to that purple gentle and then peel out when it turns inexperienced — fast braking and accelerating wastes fuel. Some companies watch oil and fuel prices as an indicator of a very good economy, while different companies could determine whether to rent primarily based on their own efficiency as decided by shopper spending. Pouring diesel gasoline into an unleaded fuel tank can be a big inconvenience, however it would not destroy your car.

Manufacturers have lengthy put in tires that would improve gasoline effectivity rankings on new cars, however car homeowners on the lookout for those self same fuel-saving tires when it got here time to substitute the originals had been out of luck. Both shared a 126-inch wheelbase with that 12 months’s Chryslers, and carried a Hemi bored out to 291 cid. They packed 345 bhp from a modestly bored 345 Hemi. Engines and energy scores swelled, however the complex Hemi was ever expensive to build, so Chrysler began switching to cheaper wedgehead V-8s for ’58. Amongst them had been two new “Turboflash” DeSoto engines. The 2 upper sequence used the 341 V-8 from the ‘fifty six Adventurer with 270 and 295 horsepower, respectively. Some states hadn’t authorised “quadrilights” for ’57, so DeSoto entrance fenders were designed to simply accept one or two lamps every, the latter the place legislation permitted. Convertibles were out there in both ’55 DeSoto series however saw minuscule sales: just 625 Firedomes and 775 Fireflites. The FireDome powered a new like-named high-of-the-line 1952 series that duplicated Customized choices save the Suburban. For 1953, remaining Custom/DeLuxe models were mixed into a new Powermaster Six sequence that still lagged behind FireDome in sales, this time by a margin of 2-1. Both lines included Sportsman hardtops.

The plush Coronado sedan, a mid-1954 addition to the Firedome line, returned as a 1955 “spring special” Fireflite at $a hundred above the $2800 regular sedan. Firedome provided DeSoto’s only ’55 wagon, along with a detrimmed Particular hardtop priced some $a hundred and ten under its Sportsman counterpart. A midseason highlight was the limited-version Adventurer hardtop coupe, a supercar awash in gold-anodized aluminum trim. Adventurer II followed in ’55, a standard-chassis four-seat fastback formed extra by Ghia than Exner. Most were constructed by Ghia in Italy. Though it instantly garnered nearly 50,000 gross sales, DeSoto as a complete might do no better than 88,000 for the mannequin year. Because hybrids are so environment friendly to start with, they’re nonetheless a better inexperienced driving possibility — even when it’s cold out. Throughout the interval of sturdy economy, providers and different products are in great demand. Virgil Exner’s dramatic new styling made finned fantasies of all ’57 Chrysler merchandise. The growing influence of newly recruited styling chief Virgil Exner was evident in an update of DeSoto’s extra-massive ’52 look, with new one-piece windshields and more-liberal chrome accents.