1955 desoto fireflite convertable

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paintinfool3

paintinfool3

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fort wayne indiana
Well it is coming along slowly but her is a couple of pics of the frame and floor
 

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Working on the floor now, frame and engine are done... floor is a bear. no right sheet metal parts available for it but the acces panel and rear floorboards. Sad part was some goof put 1/2 inch foam under carpet and that did a pretty good number on inner floor .... underside looked pretty good when i got the undercoating off. i will have to replace alot of the floor to keep the integrity there and make alot of it from scratch
 
Like those valve covers! Frame sure looks solid. Was the floor sheet metal heavier gauge on those 50's cars?
 
The DeSotos of that era are my favourite cars. When it's finished, I 'm sure it will be magnificent. Good luck with it.
 
the floor was 18 guage with alot of braces ... the rockers are about a 1/16 inch thick .... dont know what guage that makes them. Everything is heavy compared to the corvettes i usually work on lol
 

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Very cool project. I have a soft spot for these cars, since I had a 56 4dr with the hemi when I was about 14. I tore that beautiful engine down (purred like a kitten before that) and left it for dead. I don't think my dad has ever quite forgiven me.

Keep us up to date.
 
paintinfool3 said:
Working on the floor now, frame and engine are done... floor is a bear. no right sheet metal parts available for it but the acces panel and rear floorboards. Sad part was some goof put 1/2 inch foam under carpet and that did a pretty good number on inner floor .... underside looked pretty good when i got the undercoating off. i will have to replace alot of the floor to keep the integrity there and make alot of it from scratch
Click to expand...

Ouch!..... What color have you decided to go with? Nice to see a different project ,once in a while.
 
The corvette is a 59 that he had just got back from the mechanic shop after a year and was test driving it and some 18 year old girl that was texting blew a stop sign and hit him in the front end ......30000 dollar worth of damage.... he is 80 years old and he was pissed but she had good insurance .... they worked with me throughout the job and paid everything to bring it back .....the Desoto is going back red and white with a red, white and black interior and a white top ... trying to make it stock as possible .... got one side of the floor welded up both inner rockers were rotted out and I had to make a good part of the stuff to weld in ... 300 welds and 40 hours later one side is done pics soon
 
this is what the fireflite looked like when it came in ,..... looked pretty solid until I dug into it lol
 

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it is finally getting closer to finished

underside after1.jpg


underside done2.jpg
 
Absolutely beautiful car, I luv it.
You've surely got to have a fortune in paint and chrome to get her looking so fine.
I have a project 56 and can appriciate what it takes to restore a DeSoto.
Congrats on your efforts and hard work. Very stunning reward you have there.

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Well I am not spending the fortune and most of the chrome and stainless was there and in pretty good shape. I am restoring the car for a guy in florida and yes it has cost a lot of time and effort to get it this far probably 2000 hours invested I myself like the 56 grille and rear better like you have
 
Pretty Cool!!!
I just looked at a couple similar cars about a month ago.
They were nearly rusted to the ground.
One was a two door vert and the other a 4 door.
Both had hemis.
 
I had a 55 Desoto 4Dr with the 291, 4BBL, dual points with the two speed auto in the dash with the duck bill shift lever handle.... Neat old car.
 
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