The Desoto, Forward thinking but not fast enough.
Looking over the hood of a vintage Buick… Loving that hood ornament! They don’t make them like that any more. The car in the background is a 1952 Desoto.
Great visor and grill. My Dad had a 1952 Plymouth. Not a luxury car like this Desoto, but they were similar in body style and the seats, well, they were like couches!
The DeSoto has an interesting history and it reverberates much of the scenarios we see now with brands that couldn’t or didn’t posture and change fast enough in “recession” times… The DeSoto was a Chrysler brand. Chrysler had too many “mid market models” like Dodge, Plymouth, and Chrysler. The DeSoto was forward looking and in 1956 it was the pace car for the Indianapolis 500.
Yet due to corporate policies and politics, Chrysler’s brand management in the 1950’s put all of it’s mid level brands in competition with each other. The DeSoto brand lasted to 1961. Not unlike what we’ve seen over the past couple of years in the car industry. I’m thinking we witnessed a rerun. History does repeat itself.
July 16, 2011 at the Lakeshore Retirement Home on Rainier Ave S at the north end of Renton Field.
10 months ago