Two U.S. automobile brands came to the end of the line in 1960-61. One was the Edsel, Ford’s biggest mistake that shut down early into its third year. The other was DeSoto which had been around since 1928, but the need for it was squeezed away by comparable Dodge and Chrysler products. Production of the DeSoto stopped on 11/30/60 after just 911 2-door hardtops had been produced for 1961. The seller’s car was built that day and comes across as a very decent survivor. Located in San Francisco, California, this finned Mopar is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $14,000. Thanks for the super cool tip, “Zappenduster”!
Just as Ford had assumed the car market could support four brands coming from them (Ford, Mercury, Edsel, and Lincoln), Chrysler’s strategy in the 1950s was much the same with five (Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler, and Imperial). That proved to not be the case, and the Edsel did a quick crash and burn. DeSoto’s demise was not so fast and didn’t become apparent until the economic recession of 1958 sent DeSoto sales south by 60% (much more than the rest of the corporation). The company started reducing the model lineup and even pulled out of Canada. But early into the 1961 model year, the curtain closed on DeSoto. Besides the paltry number of two-doors built, the four-doors only saw 2,123 copies.
The seller is parting with this DeSoto for the second time. After first buying it in 1996, he sold it in 2002 only to buy it back in 2020. We don’t know if this vehicle was the very last of its kind to be built, but the seller has documentation that identifies it as having been built on that last fateful day in 1960. It’s said to be a good-running automobile with the 361 cubic inch V8 and Chrysler’s pushbutton automatic transmission. Lots of power accessories were added while on the assembly line.
Newer work includes the brakes and radiator. The body and paint seem okay, and the interior is presentable, though the front seat bottom is torn. It’s spent most of its life in California having been sold originally in San Diego. No doubt the seller has a lot of memories he can share, and a story always makes a purchase more satisfying. Cash only, no trades on this DeSoto. How many of these winged wonders could still be left?
The anti “Forward-Look” naysayers will have a field day with this one. To put DeSoto in the same story as an Edsel, isn’t exactly fair. DeSoto was a long running make, and it’s demise can be attributed to the new Valiant, that was selling well. The tide was turning to compact cars, and the DeSoto was anything but. All this shows here, is a last gasp effort, and Groucho Marxs show that featured DeSotos, ended in 1960, so he never pitched the ’61. Okay, the front is a bit much, but I still think they were the most beautifully styled cars. “Tell them Groucho sent you”,,,
The best looking of all the DeSotos is the 1958 Adventurer convertible. Flashy but not gaudy, with perfect lines.
Terry actually any of the 58 DeSotos
The front end is remarkably like the 60 Lincoln, with the oval containing D E S O T O added. I loved it!
Close, but to me the epitome of DeSoto styling was the 1957 Adventurer Hardtop Coupe.
Surprising how similar the exterior of this DeSoto looks to the 2-door ’61 Chrysler Windsor.
They are basically the same. The company knew DeSoto’s time was up, so they raided the Chrysler parts bin.
Unfortunately they didn’t raid the Chrysler parts bin for the stainless trim – I fear the missing side moldings are made of ‘Unobtainum’
Love how the driver’s side dash mimics the rear end. Pwr windows and seats!
IMO the 61 DeSoto see through speedometer ( shared with 61 Dodge Phoenix (family owned one) ) was spectacular. At night you could see it illuminated from the front of the car. The rest of the dash was also an ADVENTURE in beauty.👌
If it was priced low enough, I would buy it and just drive it. Never mind restoring it you’d never get your money back. But it is one fine looking automobile. I think you can get a bicycle in that trunk and now I see where the new Chryslers got that styling trick of pressed in grooved deck lids and hoods.
The demise of DeSoto had more to do with the narrowing price differences between Dodge as they moved upmarket and Chrysler as they brought out lower priced models. DeSoto just got squeezed out. Add to that the ugly factor of these later forward look cars and DeSoto was doomed.
Sadly, the nicest-looking of the Edsels was the short-lived 1960 model year. Its rear was an obvious patchwork modification of that year’s Ford; but the nose was a thing of beauty. I wanted one, but they were gone before I could get one. DeSoto, on the other hand, bore it’s cross in all of the inspired ugliness of “the Forward Look”. In the specific case of DeSoto, 1961, in front, was its and most awkward and hideous year, sadly. The tail end was okay. And I can’t say much positive about the 1960-’61 Chrysler and Imperisl looks, either. When these gad-worthy cars came out, I frankly wondered how anyone would be seen “dead” in one or dare to park it in the driveway. That said, this DeSoto looks far better to my eyes in hindsight, 64 years after-the fact, than it did in 1961, and I feel a certain sadness as I look at it. DeSoto, like LaSalle, didn’t deserve to die. As for LOOKS, my favourite DeSoto is the 1941, which has all the 1941 Plymouth’s good looks, dressed in a clearly upscale version. But, in 1941, Plymouth and Desoto were sold at the same dealerships. So, if you had the money, and you liked the Plymouth, you could move up to DeSoto. 1941 Plymouths seemed to last in daily use until the 1980s — about the final pre-War car to disappear from the roads
Sadly, the nicest-looking of the Edsels was the short-lived 1960 model year. Its rear was an obvious patchwork modification of that year’s Ford; but the nose was a thing of beauty. I wanted one, but they were gone before I could get one. DeSoto, on the other hand, bore it’s cross in all of the inspired ugliness of “the Forward Look”. In the specific case of DeSoto, 1961, in front, was its most awkward and hideous year, sadly. The tail end was okay. And I can’t say much positive about the 1960-’61 Chrysler and Imperial looks, either. When these gag-worthy cars came out, I frankly wondered how anyone would be seen “dead” in one or dare to park it in the driveway. That said, this DeSoto looks far better to my eyes, in hindsight, 64 years after-the fact, than it did in 1961, and I feel a certain sadness as I look at it. DeSoto, like LaSalle, didn’t deserve to die. As for LOOKS, my favourite DeSoto is the 1941, which has all the 1941 Plymouth’s good looks, dressed in a clearly upscale version. But, in 1941, Plymouth and Desoto were sold at the same dealerships. So, if you had the money, and you liked the Plymouth, you could move up to DeSoto. 1941 Plymouths seemed to last in daily use until the 1980s — about the final pre-War car to disappear from the roads
Ever since I learned to drive on a 55 DeSoto Firedome, I’ve had a lover affair with DeSoto, with my favorite being the ill-fated 61. Parents passed on 59 ADVENTURER and the last 61 in our town, only to buy a Downsized 62 Plymouth Belvedere (one of the ugliest cars ever). Still hoping 🎵 Santa Baby🎶 will park one 🎵 under my 🎄 🎶 Meanwhile I have three 1-18 scale 61 Diecast DeSotos and a collage I created from advertising brochures framed and hanging on my walls. At least DeSoto went out with FINS soaring high as the Grand Finale of Exners fabulous finned fantasies for Chrysler. 🎵 It’s Delightful! 🎶It’s Delovely! 🎵It’s DESOTO! 🎶 While Groucho sent you to your DeSoto dealer, Rock Hudson filmed a commercial for 58 DeSoto (available on the net). As a teen, I boldly wrote a protest to DeSoto which got a response and 61 Brochure . I still have both.
I was only one (1) year-old when the last DeSoto rolled off of the assembly line, so I have almost no memory of them, but the story was repeated with the demise of Plymouth on 23 June, 2001, almost forty (40) years later! The causes were similar. With financial trouble brewing and consumers getting wise to the increasing similarity of different car models from the same manufacturer, the need for the brand disappeared, so it went away in an orgy of cost cutting, to save the company as a whole!
You can almost hear the designers in 1960 saying “What can we do to distinguish the DeSoto from the Chrysler?”
Actually, they would have asked that in late `56 or early `57 when these were penned and a final design chosen. Lead times back then were generally 3-4 years for most mfrs. While I myself like `61 Chrysler offerings, many don’t. The front end was a turn-off, and buyers knew it was just a glorified Chrysler. This would be an excellent car to own, having been built on the last day of production, it gives it notoriety. A friend in IL. restored one in copper with a black top and it came out beautiful! I would do the same for this one. That yellow color isn’t original, and the missing trim pieces are nearly extinct unless the seller has the missing pieces? One can only hope.
Were those seats redone in the past? Seem too mundane to be original.
Good Question! The cracked seat looks to be original, but if I recall, the 61 only offered a single interior (color keyed to exterior) in multiple colored cloth with vinyl accents.
I wonder if Mr. Cunningham ever got one before his Milwaukee dealer ran out?
To RICK W: Hello again! I agree with you on MOST things, as you know; however, Exner’s excessively finned designs at Chrysler would NOT be one of them, I’m afraid. In 1949, the first postwar Mopars, designed to easily accommodate a tall man with a tall hat, built by engineers for comfort and upright seating, still looked like smoother 1940s creations. Chrysler and Dodge for ’49 even evoked their 1941 tail-lamps! For 1950, they did a drastic face-lift on these new cars, and ended up with a look that was both stubby and dowdy. For 1951, Exner revised their fronts, with lovely results (except for Plymouth, which didn’t change all that much). But the back sides still looked rounded-off and “old”-styled. For 1953, he revised both the nose and the tail for Plymouth, producing a stylish car. He essentially left his 1951 front revisions of Dodge, DeSoto, and Chrysler much as they were, and heavily revised the tails, bringing those up-to-date. This great transformation on the 1949 body-shells was as resoundingly beautifying, as Packard’s 1955 face-lift of their 1951 body. The 1953 Chrysler was one of the prettiest cars of all time. Sadly, for ’54, they added chrome and more bulbous tail-lights, which these designs didn’t need, and uglified Chrysler’s front end. 1955 brought entirely different Mopars. That Plymouth simply looked weird to me. Chrysler and DeSoto were okay, I suppose. But the Mopar beauty for 1955 was the Dodge. For 1956, however, these designs began to sprout rather tacked-on ugly little fins — finned 1955s, essentially. Then everything went nuts for ’57! I still remember the “Suddenly, it’s 1960!” ad-campaign for the 1957 Plymouth, along with the “Swept-Wing” Dodge. “Futurific” styling, based on “rockets”, was all the rage — and I utterly HATED that trend!!! Exner was about the most excessive exponent of it. But the 1959 Cadillac and Chevrolet were pretty weird, also — the latter with its strange upside-down bumper-guards. Somehow, though, the 1957 Ford Fairlane 500, finned as it indeed was, appealed to me (though not their ungainly retractible hardtop!). They made Ford hideous, however, for ’58. 1959 Fords were lovely again. But, especially beginning in 1959, Chrysler makes were simply ugly-looking and caused me to miss even the ’57s. The 1960 and 1961 Chryslers looked as though they were ready to attack and eat you: what was Exner THINKING? The 1961 Dodge and Dodge Dart actually looked nice — but what the [blank] happened for 1962!?! I agree with you, RICK W, on the 1962 Plymouth — undersized and ugly! But the 1962 Imperial, a total revision from ’61, was beautiful (warning, I like divided grilles in this era, such as the 1960 Edsel). Did not care for the ’63 Imperial, but the 1964 was lovely. To be fair, in the later 1950s through early 1960s, the public, still reeling from the restrictions imposed by the Great Depression and World War II (and in a lesser way, the Korean War as well), demanded “THE LATEST!” in just about everything — and so, a vital part of selling goods was in their “space-age” or “tomorrow” styling, regardless of practicality or any useful purpose. And so each manufacturer tried to predict public taste and get out ahead of it. Happily, by the mid-1960s, that vulgar ideal of showing-up your neighbours was losing favour, and sanity returned. None-the-less, I still am sorry that we lost DeSoto, but I guess there just was no longer a place for it. I agree that the more fancy Dodge cars met the lowest priced Chryslers, and sort-of squeezed DeSoto out of its market position. Sad. But then again, I miss Hudson, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Packard, LaSalle, even Crosley and Henry J., most especially Mercury, and so many others, too. How about you?
My Dad was a Dodge guy and bought my Mom a 55 Dodge LaFemme. Try finding one of those today!
@Harrison
Hello my man!
Always good to see you on here and learn from your expertise and experience.
I know what you mean about the 40s Plymouths and Mopar products. My mother was driving a 1953 Mercury she bought from her brother. Beautiful car, mint green, whitewallsn full hubcap, automatic.
We came home from church one Sunday and it’s replacement was sitting in the driveway. A 1949 Plymouth! Burgundy. Dowdy. Plain. Tall. Ugly as sin! I hated that car especially after that pretty Mercury.
My father had a pension for buying old used cars for $25 and fixing them and selling them for $100 or more. (Were talking late 50s early 60s)
K.T. Keller was animate that car should be tall enough for a man to wear his hat in the car while driving, hence the ugliness and drowsiness of Chrysler products under his command.
Exner was the complete opposite. Flash and style and fins! Low, sleek and wide. I like Exner
Unfortunately for 1962, Chrysler heard a rumor the GM, especially Chevrolet was downsizing so to keep pace, Chrysler downsized their Pltmouths and Dodges to to ugliest cars on the planet at the time. Chevrolet wasn’t downsizing, but they did introduce the downsized, compact Chevy ll. That’s where Mopar f’d up.
This is a very nice car for the price and an obvious collectible for an affordable price, these were very good cars reliable sporty and fun to drive, finding certain parts could be a little tough