Chrycoman

DeSoto Trucks were built by Chrysler at the Warren Truck plant for various export markets starting in 1939. They were basically Dodge Trucks with different nameplates. Model numbers were similar to Dodge but used the letter "S". The 1950 Dodge Truck ½-ton was model B-2-B, while the DeSoto ½-ton was model S-2-B. DeSoto trucks used Dodge Truck serial numbers so you cannot tell by the serial number which make it is. The Canadian plant started building DeSoto Trucks for export in 1948, again using Dodge Truck serial numbers, although Canadian Dodge Truck. In the 1970's Mopar trucks had a plate attached the the door latch pillar with the names of the trucks in production - Plymouth, Dodge, Fargo and DeSoto. When Chrysler sold off their various foreign companies in 1979-1981, the Turkish company was sold back to the group that started the firm including the right to use the DeSoto name in the Turkish market. So, if this truck is a 1950 DeSoto, it is actually a 1950 Dodge. Not sure of the source of the body as it probably was built by a local firm, But any mechanical parts should be the same as a Dodge. Just need to check the model number and convert it to Dodge by replacing the "S" with a "D". That will simplify searching for any parts.

Plymouth switched to Bendix brakes and the rear wheel emergency brake for 1962, as well as the park sprag in the Torqueflite automatic complete with lever beside the transmission buttons. Chrysler did not build 1963 Plymouths, or any 1963 cars, with transmission emergency brakes. The one you saw may have had the transmission e brake, but that does not mean it was built that way at the factory. After all, it is soon going to have a 1966 Dodge rear axle, which, as we know, was not a factory option in 1963.

1960 Valiant was the first Mopar car with the emergency brakes on the rear wheels. The 1962 B-body Plymouth and Dodge were next, followed by Chrysler, Dodge 880 and Imperial for 1963. Cars with transmission brakes used Lockheed brakes while cars with the emergency brake on the rear wheels used Bendix brakes.

"Production" Hollywoods came as Hollywood Custom (1941 - model 113) or Hollywood Custom Supercharger (1940-41 - model 109). The Hollywood Clipper was to have been a lower priced line in 1940 but never got past being an illustration in advertising material. The Hupp version came only as a Skylark Custom - model RQK and series R-015 for 1940 and R-115 for 1941. The Flagship, Mainliner, Cruiser, and Corsair were just like Graham's Clipper - never got past being an illustration in advertising material. Skylarks built in 1939 (R-915) were considered pre-production prototypes.

Fluid Drive was standard on the 1939 Chrysler C24 Custom Imperial and became optional on C23 Imperial at serial number 6,748,188, C23 New Yorker at 6,612,367 and C23 Saratoga at 6,673,247. The 1939 Chrysler models were introduced in the fall of 1938. In 1940 Fluid Drive was available on the eight cylinder Traveler, New Yorker, Saratoga and Crown Imperial models. Both 1939 and 1940 models were mated to a 3-speed manual transmission. The same arrangement was used on 1941 Dodge Luxuryliner, DeSoto and Chrysler models. For 1941 the semi-automatic transmission with Fluid Drive was listed as an option on DeSoto and Chrysler models. It was called Vacamatic on US-built Chryslers and Simplimatic on DeSotos and Canadian-built Chryslers. Allison transmission came up with a torque converter and transmission in the 1940's, used on Yellow Coach and then GMC Coach buses - "H" in the model number for "Hydraulic transmission". Allison also used the transmission in tanks. From that experience with torque converters Buick developed Dynaflow for 1948. I am afraid Chrysler's statement they "pioneered" the use of the fluid coupling in passenger cars is not quite true. They "pioneered" for American-built cars, perhaps, but the British Daimler firm introduced fluid coupling on their cars in 1931. Studebaker's Turbo-Drive and Lincoln-Mercury's Liquamatic were built by Borg-Warner. Both had a fluid coupling with a regular clutch (vacuum operated) and a three-speed transmission with overdrive. Grears were shifted by vacuum control. Studebaker actually eliminated the clutch pedal but the system was a little too complicated and things had to be just so or problems arose. Thus both manufacturers recalled the cars built with the units and replaced them with the normal three-speed manual. In the case of Studebaker, all but two had the Turbo-Drive replaced. One was known to exist fifteen years ago. By the way, Studebaker was the first manufacturer to use a wide brake pedal on its models with automatic transmissions. Most people believe Studebaker started that with their Automatic transmission in 1950, but the 1942 models with Turbo-Drive used a wide brake pedal. GM's Hydramatic and Chrysler's semi-automatic were the only cars built in North America that used a fluid coupling successfully. The two failures were Studebaker and Lincoln-Mercury. Packard and Hudson rigged up systems that you could shift gears without using the clutch by means of vacuum assistance. The clutch pedal was still there but the vacuum lines were a plumb's nightmare. Reo had a self-shifter, but it had a clutch and no fluid coupling. And the reason Chrysler did not use a vacuum clutch probably had to do with the set up already in place. You shifted gears within each range by lifting your foot off the accelerator and waiting for the clunk. Which is basically how a vacuum clutch works. Lift your foot up and the clutch disengages. Only difference is you need to reapply your foot to the accelerator to reengage the clutch. The war interrupted development of car engines, transmissions, etc., but after the war manufacturers spent their time developing new automatic transmissions and not semi-automatics or vacuum assisted clutches. Only Chrysler continued to work on a semi-automatic. And none worked on fluid couplings. The torque converter was the preferred choice. Chrysler did adopt a torque converter for 1951, the same time the last competitor (Ford) introduced an automatic transmission.

Would be nice to see photos of these sites if they are still around. The Graham Brothers Truck plant in Evansville is still standing at Stringtown Road and Maxwell. GBT used it from 1921 to the end of 1928, then Dodge Trucks to early 1932. Chrysler has acquired the plant when they purchased Dodge Brothers in 1928 and used it for Plymouth production for model years 1936 through 1959, as well as Dodge in 1937-1938. The administration building was tripled in size while Chrysler owned the plant. Most of the Plymouth body plant in Evansville still stands, at 900 East Columbia Street. That plant was built by Graham-Paige in 1928 and sold to Briggs Body in late 1936. Chrysler acquired the plant when they purchased Briggs Body in late 1953. One plant I am trying to get photos of is the Dodge Brothers / Graham Brothers plant on Dufferin Street in Toronto just south of DuPont Avenue. Tracking the building through the city directories, the plant seems to have survived to about 1972. It was used for car production from 1924 to early 1929 and truck production from 1924 through to 1931.

I have a Chrysler parts book printed in November, 1938, and there is no mention of Fluid Drive or different floor pans. That's not to say Chrysler did not build some special models in 1938 if only to test the Fluid Drive with normal drivers and in real life driving situations. Proving grounds and test tracks do not expose all the design / engineering flaws. But parking and stop light mishaps along with owners' lack of maintenance generally do. The big thing about Fluid Drive is that it is NOT a transmission. The pre-1953 parts books had Fluid Drive in the clutch section. Personally I view the Fluid Drive era as the beginning of a slide by Chrysler management sitting back and resting on their laurels. The British-built Daimler adopted a fluid coupling (fluid flywheel) in 1931 and coupled it to a pre-selector form of transmission. In the U.S., Chrysler introduced Fluid Drive for 1939 and two years later a semi-automatic transmission. But the semi-automatic arrived one year after GM's Hydramatic which used a fluid coupling and a self-shifting automatic transmission. The line up of post-war automatics included Buick with Dynaflow in 1948, Packard Ultramatic in mid-1949 (similar to Dynaflow but with a locking torque converter), Chevrolet with Powerglide (a smaller version of Dynaflow) for 1950, Studebaker in mid-1950 (3-speed automatic with locking torque converter) and Ford (Fordomatic) and Mercury (Mercomatic) with a three speed box for 1951. All the automatics introduced after the war used torque converters. Pontiac, Cadillac, Nash, Hudson, Kaiser, Frazer, and Lincoln all adopted Hydramatic. Ten years after the semi-automatic was introduced, every manufacturer but Chrysler offered an automatic. And only Packard was slower in introducing new post-war body designs, although Packard did a major restyle of the 1941 body for 1948. And Chrysler styling was always a year or two behind. Chrysler slid from #2 in 1936-42 to #3 by 1952 while Plymouth went from #3 before the war to #5 in 1954. For all the hype about Fluid Drive and the M-series transmissions, they were a dead end street and a sign of gathering storm clouds at Chrysler.

Yes, the St.Regis is a New Yorker model with a fancier interior to go along with the higher price. On the outside only the small "St.Regis" nameplate identified it as such while the Newport had "Newport". Mechanically the St.Regis was a New Yorker, through and through.

In 1954 Chrysler offered a 2-door club coupe, but replaced it with a lower-priced 2-door hardtop. The Windsor version was called the Nassau while the regular hardtop was the Newport. The 1955 New Yorker had the Newport as the lower priced model and the St.Regis as the higher. The same 2-dr hardtop models continued into 1956. The 4-door hardtop was introduced for 1956 in both Windsor and New Yorker but were sold as Newports. Special names were the rage back in the 1950's for almost anything on a car. Hardtops were Bel Air (Chevrolet), Catalina (Pontiac), Holiday (Oldsmobile), Riviera (Buick), de Ville (Cadillac), Hollywood (Hudson), Country Club (Nash), Eagle (Willys), Starliner (Studebaker), Belvedere (Plymouth), Diplomat / Lancer / Mayfair (Dodge), Sportsman (DeSoto), Newport (Chrysler), Southampton (Imperial), Virginian (Kaiser), Victoria (Ford). Most of the hardtop names would become series names.

441290 - If that number is stamped on the engine, that IS the engine number. The body number would be on the body. I believe Maxwell engine numbers and serial numbers were the same, not uncommon back in those days. 41070 is not a Plymouth head, but was used on model I (1927 Chrysler 50) and early model I* (1928 Chrysler 52)

41070 is the casting / part number for the cylinder head for used on Chrysler model I (1927 Chrysler 50) and model I* (1928 Chrysler 52) up to serial number HR-686-E. After that, I* used 73488. High compression head (red head) for the I and I* was 74665. The F (1926 Chrysler 58) used 37930 while the Q (1929 Plymouth, 1st series) used 42721. The Plymouth model U used cylinder head 301074 while the 30-U was 310271. The 30-U had a water pump while the I and I* used thermo-syphon cooling and no water pump.

41070 is the casting / part number for the cylinder head for used on Chrysler model I (1927 Chrysler 50) and model I* (1928 Chrysler 52) up to serial number HR-686-E.

For those unfamiliar to the FEDCO system - The "Y" stands for the number "5", the "H" for "3" and "W" for "0". The 4 cylinder model F-58 had serial numbers from WW-100-P (June 1925) to WY-560-W (December 1925). (001,001 to 055,600) Chrysler could not continue with the "WY" series on the F 58 as the G 70 had started at WY-580-P in July 1925. (055,801) So, Chrysler began the next serial number for the F 58 at YC-200-P (January 1926) and continued to YR-056-S (April, 1926). (522,001 to 540,566) The Chrysler H 60 then started production at serial number YR-500-P (April, 1926) and went through to SP-361-P (May, 1927). (545,001 to 613,611) The successor to the F 58 was the I 50 which went from FW-000-1 to FL-486-E. (F00,001 to F74,868) The letters that have numeric equivalents - W - 0 P - 1 C - 2 H - 3 R - 4 Y - 5 S - 6 L - 7 E - 8 D - 9 Other letters were used that had no numeric equivalent. The letters F and K were used on the models using those letters - the Chrysler F 50 and DeSoto K Six for example. Also, all Canadian-built cars using the FEDCO system had serial numbers starting with letter with no number equivalents - A, B, F, G, J, N, and O. In ths U.S. the letter Z was used. Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler cars used the FEDCO system along with the first Fargo Trucks (built July, 1928 to November 1930).

Actually, the CA and CB were not stop gap models, they were the Chrysler make's only 6 cylinder models in 1934, at least in the U.S. And they were introduced to the public at the same time as the Airflow. The Canadian Chrysler Airflow Six (CY) was a DeSoto Airflow with a Chrysler grille, bumpers, instrument panel and nameplates. The CY used the DeSoto SE six, though, while the CB was not available in Canada. I believe the CA/CB/SE engine was the first of the 25" block sixes and they had partial water jackets. 1935 was the first year for the full length water jackets on all six cylinder engines. Alhough DeSoto offered only the Airflow in 1934, obviously the powers that be at the Chrysler Sales Division had doubts about the sales success of the Airflow. Thus the 1934 CA and CB, followed by the Airstream models for 1935. As Rusty stated, the anti-Airflow propaganda is all myth. In reality, Chrysler knew the Airflow would be a tough sell and would attract a small group of buyers. If you compare the Airflow prices with the non-Airflow models (the 1935-36 Airstreams) you will see the Airflows were priced higher and offered more luxurious interiors. The higher prices helped covered the lower production runs. Contrary to another old chestnut, the Airflow did not almost bankrupt Chrysler. In fact, Chrysler Corporation made money every year from 1933 through to and including 1957. They may have most money on the Airflow, but sales of the other makes more than made up for it. Chrysler Corporation was run by some very smart, and foward looking, men at that time.

K - 1957 model year Chrysler Engineering used letters for the model year = A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, P, R, S, T, and V. The first series started with 1924-25 and continued through to 1941. Second round started with 1942, had combined model years 1946-48 and 1951-51, and ended in 1964. The third round started in 1965 and ran through to 1980. The letter Q was used once - 1960 Valiant. If it was rebuilt in Winnipeg it would have been done by Century Motors. K18589C means it was the 17,589th 1957 6 cylinder engine built at the Chrysler of Canada engine plant. The first engine was K1001C.

Never understood the complaint about Ford-bodied 1958-60 Edsels being built with Fords and for 1958 Mercury-bodied Edsels built in the same plant as Mercurys. Fords and Mercurys were built in the same plants prior to 1949 and Mercurys and Lincolns were built in the same plant in LA from 1949 to 1957. And starting in the 1960's Ford built Falcons and Comets in the same plants, Fairlanes and Meteors in the same plants, and Galaxies and Mercurys. Even unibody Lincolns and Thunderbirds were built in the same plant in Wixom. Both GM and Chrysler built different makes on the same assembly lines across the country. In Canada, only the 1958-59 Ford-bodied Edsels were built in Oakville, Ontario, and they shared the assembly line with Ford, Meteor, Mercury, and (for 1959) Monarch.

A one of none.

Britain was one country in the Commonwealth that did not give preferential treatment to all Commonwealth goods. Thus the Detroit sourced 1934 Chrysler (Plymouth). From about 1933 to the end of British car assembly in the fall of 1939, Chrysler GB sold all Plymouths and DeSotos as Chryslers in Britain and were basically CKD units imported from Detroit. Dodge was marketed as a separate make and offered both the US market Dodge and the smaller Plymouth-based export Dodge. No, the small Plymouth-based Dodge was not a Canada-only model. It was also built in Windsor and Detroit for export markets, sold after WW II as the Kingsway. Dodge UK also offered a Dodge Custom Eight, which was based on the 1938-1939 Chrysler Imperial Eight and used Dodge nameplates, emblems and hood ornament. Sold a couple dozen of them. After the FEDCO serial number system was dropped, all Canadian-built Chrysler Corp. cars used serial number starting with 9 through to and including 1957. However, not all serial numbers starting with 9 were built in Canada - export 1931-1933 Dodge models, Evansville-built 1937-1938 Dodges, pre-WW II LA-built Plymouths and Dodge Trucks come to mind. Bill Vancouver, BC

Serial number 7997080 is actually the 80th 1931 Finer 70 (V*-70) built, sometime in May, 1931. The first V*-70 built was number 7997001 and the last 7999973, for a total of 2,973 Finer 70 models built - 1,712 for 1931 and the remaining 1,261 for 1932.

There were two series 70 Chryslers in the 1929-1932 period. The first V-70, covered two model years - 1930 - P-001-WP to P-180-YE, with engine numbers V-1001 to V-27181, and in production from July, 1929 through to June, 1930. 1931 - P-180-YD to P-188-ED, engine numbers included in above, and in production from July, 1930, through to May, 1931. The second series 70, the Finer 70, model V*-70 - 1931 - 7,997,001 to 7,998,712, engine numbers V-27182 to V-29413, produced from May, 1931 through to July, 1931. 1932 - 7,998,713 to 7,999,973, engine numbers V-29414 to V-30378, started July, 1931. Remember, after the FEDCO numbers were dropped and through to the end of the 1957 model year, ALL Canadian-built Chryco cars and Fargo Trucks had serial numbers starting with "9". Canadian-built Dodge trucks were "89" until 1942 when they, too, started with "9". Prior to 1942 Dodge export model serial numbers in the early 1930's (DE, DI, and DM) started with "9" as did 1937 Evansville-built Dodge cars, and LA-built Dodge Trucks (1932-1945). Canadian-built V-70 models were NP-450-P to NP-542-P. Did not know what the first serial number was for the 1932 V-70, but apparently no V*-70 models were built in Canada. V-70 models used a 218.6-cid 7-main, flathead six (3.125" bore and 4.75" stroke) at the beginning switching to a 3.375" bore and 5.00" stroke, 268.4-cid engine (at serial number P-116-SE and engine number V-13858, November, 1929.). The 268.4-cid engine was actually the model W, series 77, engine. The 218.6-cid engine put out 75 bhp at 3200 rpm while the 268.4-cid was 93 bhp at 3200 rpm. Seven-main bearing sixes, with their top mounted distributors, in 1930 were old engineering, being descended from the first Chrysler Six, model B, of 1924-25. The model V, series 70, was the last of the seven-main sixes and its replacements, the CJ and CM, were four main bearing sizes with the distributor on the side.

That is an Australian-built 1956 Dodge Kingsway. The 1954 styling was used in 1954, 1955 and 1956, for Plymouth, Dodge Kingsway and DeSoto Diplomat models. The 1956 Australian Kingsway came in three levels - Custom - D49-2 - P26 engine (US) - 230.6-cid Crusader - D49-3 - KEW.2P engine (UK) - 250.6-cid Coronet - D49-4 - KEW.2PF engine (UK) - 250.6-cid The 1956 Australian Plymouth was similar, just a Plymouth nose instead of Dodge - Cranbrook - P25-2 / Savoy - P25-3 / Belvedere - P25-4 Replace the Plymouth grille with a DeSoto unit and you get the DeSoto Diplomat : Custom - SP25-2 / Regent - SP25-3 / Plaza - SP25-4 Engines on the Plymouth and Diplomat were the same as the Kingsway. The chassis on the Australian 1953-56 models was the same 114" frame used on North American 1953-54 Plymouths. And Chrysler Australia really got mileage out of that body by adapting the 1956 Plymouth front and rear ends on the 1953-56 body along with a larger rear wraparound rear window - the Chrysler Royal. The last Chrysler Royal was built in 1963 - ten years for the 1953 body.

The coloured varnishes used before the advent of lacquer were the old pre-synthetic varnishes. They usually applied three coats to get good coverage and colour while the luxury vehicles went four or more. Each coat took a week to dry so it was three weeks or longer to get a body from bare wood and steel to a point where the interior could be installed. No two hours and another coat back then. Which is also why body plants were so large back then. You needed to store the bodies somewhere for a week while they dried. And, that was also the main reason for Henry Ford's dictum, "Any colour you want, so long as it is black." Ford used Japan Black enamel which dried in about an hour under heat. And it had a nice gloss without any polishing. Henry did not start offering colours other than black until after lacquer was introduced. Dodge Brothers touring cars were also offered only in black enamel for the same reasons.

Attached is a list of 1950 DeSoto interior colours. No colour chips though, just the codes, colour name and where the colour was used. There is a Crystal Gray which is probably your colour.

A D15 is the Plymouth-based export model built in Canada and the U.S. It was also built in Canada for the Canadian market based on the Plymouth P9 and sold as the Kingsway. The D16 was also Plymouth-based, this time the P10, for the Canadian market and sold as the DeLuxe. The D14 is the U.S. Luxury Liner DeLuxe (sold in Canada as the Custom) while the D17 was the lower priced Luxury Liner Special. The Plymouth P9 probably would fit better as the instrument panel on the D15 is basically the P9 unit. The D16 used the D14 gauges. The taillaights on the D15 are Plymouth units as are the front parking lamps.

Cars were shipped to Britain in CKD kits from Detroit, not Windsor. The British Commonwealth nations had set up a series of preferential tariffs and all countries EXCEPT Britain agreed to it. Thus it was cheaper to import from Detroit than Windsor. If you check the serial numbers on the cars assembled at Kew none began with 9, the first digit on the Canadian seral numbers. The 1939 models were the last assembled in Britain. The declaration of war in September, 1939, against Germany brought an end to auto assembly in Britain. And all were built from CKD kits. Production was never large enough to make tooling for British made panels economically feasible so all body panels were shipped from Detroit. British suppliers were used for interior trim, eelctrical components, rubber hoses and tires, etc. Plymouths were sold as Chrysler Kew through the 1930's, with Chrysler Wimbledon added in 1934 and Chrysler Plymouth in 1937. In 1937, for example, Plymouth offered two series, P5 and P6. The P5 was sold as Chrysler Plymouth with the P6 sold as Chrysler Kew (no overdirve) and Chrysler Wimbledon (with overdrive). DeSotos were also sold as Chryslers in Britain starting with the DeSoto Airflow which was sold as the Chrysler Croydon Airflow. The post-Airflow DeSoto was sold as the Chrysler Richmond. This is actually not "badge-engineering", but just "re-badging". "Badge-engineering" is taking one car, making some cosmetic changes, and you have another make of car. Rootes did that, taking a Hillman Minx, tuning up the engine to give more power, desigining diffenent grilles, tailights, and interiors, and coming up with Singer and Sunbeam models. In this case, Chrysler UK took cars that were already in production and just gave them different names. No engineering or re-designing of any kind involved. Dodges were also put together at Kew starting in 1934. The models wiith the export small bore engines were sold as the Victory Six and regular engines were the Senior Six. In 1938 and 1939 Dodge built a handfull of Custom Eight models, which were Chrysler Imperial Eights with Dodge Custom nameplates and the Dodge hood ornament. After the war Chrysler imported cars from either Detroit or, when the Canadian dollar was cheap, Windsor. And the Dodge Kingsway and DeSoto Diplomat models were also imported from Detroit. Chrysler UK also gave some cars they assembled a unique British serial number. The 1934 model CU Chrysler Heston Airflow (aka Airflow Eight) had a serial number starting with CU. Leftover models sold in model year 1935 had serial number prefix CUL and for 1936, CUM. Starting serial number for 1936 was CUM-431. Which should give you a good idea what kind of "volume" Chrysler had in Britain - 430 model CU cars sold in two years. The "L" and "M" were the letters Chrysler Engineering assigned to the models years. The letter A was used for 1924-25, 1942, 1965 and 1982. Pressed Steel was formed in 1926 in a partnership between Budd, William Morris (Morris, MG, Wolseley) and an American-British banking firm. Budd had control but the firm had problems with British steel manufacturers not being able to supply sheet steel in large enough pieces and high prices. It was cheaper to import from the U.S. In 1930 William Morris withdrew from the firm and Pressed Steel could now go after other companies for business. Budd interests withdrew from the firm in 1935 and thirty years later Pressed Steel became part of British Motor. There were two other British body builders who built steel bodies - Briggs (taken over by Ford when Chrysler purchased the U.S. operation) and, beginning in 1937, Fisher-Ludlow. Fisher-Ludlow had absolutely no connection with Fisher Body in the U.S. and dated back to 1851 as manufacturers of various steel products. F-L was also taken over by BMC.