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They may have just been used cars back in 1962, but the lineup in front of Lancaster Lincoln Mercury has certainly aged well. Given the opportunity, the chances of us leaving Lancaster Lincoln Mercury without at least the red '58 Desoto and the '57 Plymouth wagon shown here would have been slim to none. More »
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The last tangible evidence of one of Detroit's iconic brands was rapidly disappearing last month as demolition contractors tore down the last of the DeSoto plant, 50 years after Chrysler Corporation discontinued the car line. More »
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One of the estimated 60,000 old American cars or "Yank Tanks" still on the road in Cuba, this 1955 Desoto appears to have weathered years of regular use fairly well. The trade embargo that limited new American cars being brought to Cuba makes it nearly impossible to get parts for old ones. Often soviet parts are fit to old American cars out of necessity. We wonder what strange combination of parts has kept this Desoto going for so many years. More »
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When it came time to introduce their redesigned for 1959 model, Desoto called upon movie star Rock Hudson to give a convincing "off screen" endorsement. Between the styling, swivel seats and "back lot" off road testing in this vintage commercial, we think the 1959 Desoto might have been okay selling itself. More »
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For the past few years, photographer Troy Paiva has shot the Pearsonville junkyard in the Mojave Desert at night, using long exposures, flashlights and colored spotlights to "reanimate" piles of old American iron. More »
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Our Mr. Smith has already explained the evil of plastic engine covers. As you can see, they’re an insult not only to the petrolhead and the common man but to the slightly uncommon woman as well. More »
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How long does an engine family need to survive in front-line use to become a legend? 42 years, like the Toyota R? 47, as with the small-block Chevy? Today's engine may have them both beat! More »
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After the '73 Challenger and '51 Dodge we saw this weekend, now seems like the right time to honor the Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth vehicles I've photographed down on the Alameda street. More »
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Minivans practically euthanize style as a matter of course, but it needn't be so. Check out this nine passenger 1947 DeSoto Custom Suburban, it's more stylish than a dozen modern Bentleys and cooler to boot. More »
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Our last Chrysler EOTD was built for aircraft use, so today we'll be honoring one of Chrysler's earthbound engine families: the big-block B series, which came in displacements of 350, 361, 383, and 400 cubes. More »
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When I was writing shop manuals for transit buses, the only fun illustrations I commissioned were nixed by my boss. That didn't happen with these Chrysler Master Technician pamphlets of the 1940s and 1950s! More »
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It turns out that many Jalopnik readers have been to Cuba, and now we're adding another set of Cuban car photos to the ones shot by AcaciaBogdan and Fantasygoat. More »
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We all miss the inimitable POLAЯ, but at least we've got some DOTSBE photos that he shot on the streets of his native Toronto before running off to become Maximum Warlord of the Trilateral Commission. First up is this remarkably unrusty '59 DeSoto; make the jump to see the entire gallery and read some classic POLAЯisms More »
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All the film geeks say that Sunset Boulevard is one of the best movies ever made, and they're right. You hear a lot of talk about Norma Desmond's Isotta-Fraschini, but what about the repo-ripe '46 Plymouth driven by Joe Gillis in the beginning of the film (not to mention the '48 DeSoto belonging to the repo men)? We can thank this YouTuber for providing us with this clip. More »
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Some grumbling about the non-wagon nature of yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll (which was won, unsurprisingly, by the '38 Traction-Avant) was heard around these parts, but I usually write PCH posts the night before... and the Maximum Wagon Day thing just sort of happened without warning. So, even though we've seen plenty of wagons here recently, we're having an all-out American Dream Station Wagon Edition PCH today... and we don't mean the kind of wagons with easy-to-find parts! More »
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Since I'm already scouring Craigslist every day for my next project (having come dangerously close to taking a shot at the 20R Austin-Healey) and running across all sorts of potential Choose Your Eternity project cars, we might as well keep the series going for another day (looks like the Biscayne hearse edged out the Rover 2000 yesterday). Today we have a couple of classics from now-defunct marques vying for your votes... More »
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Why is it that the '57 Chevy, rightly or not, is regarded as some sort of pinnacle for Detroit? Or, for that matter, 1957 in general? The Gray Lady took al crack at that question yesterday, and her article is packed full of interesting facts (e.g., 10% of 1957 Chevrolets built are still driving today). But '57 wasn't just about the Chevy; at the time, the not-much-changed-from-1956 car seemed a bit lackluster next to Ford's all-new lineup (featuring an optional supercharged 312 engine) or Chrysler's stunning horsepower ratings (an optimistically rated 375-horse Hemi). And, as we all know, the following year's crop out of Detroit just didn't look as good (though we dig crazy fins, of course). – Murilee Martin More »
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In 1956, you could hardly call yourself a proto-audiophile if you didn't own any of the fine Chrysler products that featured this sweet in-car phonograph. This 'Highway Hi Fi' system featured a turntable that would slide out from behind a drop-down door from underneath the dash to play 45-speed or 7-inch records in certain formats. As you might imagine, there was one little problem with the system: skipping. Also, an exclusive agreement with Columbia meant that you could only listen to artists signed to Columbia Records (talk about DRM issues). Alas, the good die young and the system was soon abandoned. Oh to live in those halcyon days of convertible Desotos with my choice of The Sparklers Quartet or the Lennon Sisters on my own personal phonograph...– Matt Hardigree More »
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The trend these days in the crate motor world is to punch famed big-block displacement numbers out of small block designs. Chrysler's the latest on board with their new 440 Super Commando and 392 Hemi crates. The 440 is based on the LA-series 340 Resto Block, but designed to work with later-style Magnum parts for EFI or carbureted applications. It's bored and stroked to make the magic 440 number, which is pretty impressive, considering Chevy only got 427 inches out of the Z06's LS7. More »
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