DeSoto’s Demise – 1952 through 1961

An Exciting Rise . . . and a Horrendous Crash.
What Happened?

DeSoto had a significant position in the Chrysler Corporation’s lineup prior to the Second World War, competing with high-end Pontiacs and the entire Oldsmobile line. In some ways, it forced Ford to Bring Out the Mercury in 1939 and put pressure on Hudson to move upscale during that period. It even stole sales from the Packard 120 line, and helped usher in the end of Graham Paige.

After the Second World War, and like most manufacturers, DeSoto pushed out mildly restyled but unchanged chassis and running gear cars. It held its position in the marketplace. But in 1949 everything changed with the release of the “Futuramic” Oldsmobile 88 and its 135 HP OHV V-8. Suddenly, Olds was an exciting, mid-price car that could show its heels to every other brand, even Cadillac, who also featured an exciting engine but weighed more.

Every manufacturer was blindsided, Ford, Packard, Hudson, Kaiser, Nash, and even Studebaker. As we all know the Olds/Caddy V-8s started what we call the “horsepower Wars”, where manufacturers were forced to release a high HP V-8 or die, and many did . . .

So where was Chrysler in all this? Chrysler was scooped, but they had been working on an OHV V-8 – what became known as the “Hemi”  – just like GM, but they responded reasonably quickly – releasing the engine in 1951. That was fast enough, given the times, to put the senior cars on a par with Cadillac.

It may not be known, but each brand in Chrysler was given permission to create their own V-8, and all chose a similar design to the Chrysler mill. (Plymouth was not allowed to have a n OHV engine, initially receiving the Dodge engine without Hemi Heads). But surprisingly, they were not merely scaled down versions of the 331 CID “double rocker” – they were subtly different. With only the water pump interchangeable.

Thus, DeSoto released their “Hemi” in 1952 (and Dodge in 1953) so as not to take the blush off the rose of the Chrysler mill. But while DeSoto now could go head to head with Olds in the power department, the Corporation’s styling was a throwback to 1941. It was a decently performing car that looked like it was still powered by a L-Head Six. The result was solid sales but not the 2 to 3-fold increases that Oldsmobile made.

Something was needed to bolster sales besides Hemi power – and in 1955 it arrived with terrific new styling. Sales jumped. Then, in 1956, another notch in the sales and performance gun was made with the DeSoto Adventurer – a junior brother to the Chrysler 300.

Things were looking up right through 1957 . . . but in 4 years DeSoto disappeared. What happened? Read on . . .