It took awhile to find a new job. The loss of manufacturing companies, the elimination of middle management positions, flat out age discrimination, being too specialized and too many people looking for the same work were all in play. We talked long and hard about relocating yet again and decided against it. I took a major step down from middle level management positions as a Safety Manager/ Engineer/Supervisor. My bachelors in Secondary Education, Comprehensive Industrial Arts paid off, having the training and knowledge to operate machine shop type lathes, shapers, mills, using micrometers and other similar devices. With the kids growing in school and college and my wife having earlier returned to full time teaching, things were reasonably stable compared to a lot of other people.
The dream was returning again, and by agreement, I started searching the print media and the growing internet base. I looked at local and regional complete cars. They were just too big a hit financially to consider, or they were next to junk and overpriced. So I started to look at "project" cars. Nothing like the '36 Dodge were to be found. When they were available they were junk and the prices were high and rising due to guys like me trying to rekindle a dream. Remember, I said "I wanted something different"?
After months of searching regionally and locally I found a print ad in Muscle, Classic & Sports Car Trader in May of 2001. I called the seller and after talking, was interested enough to arrange to see the cars he had listed. I waited until the weekend, and with my son, drove 2 1/2 hours to Columbus, Ohio to look at two (2) 1956 DeSotos. DeSoto was part of the Chrysler Motors line-up from the 1930s to the early 1960s. The line up went Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial. The line up was from average transportation to luxury.
The cars were a two (2) door hardtop and a four door sedan. A hardtop, either 2 or 4 door, has no vertical post from the floor to roof at the back edge of the front door opening. Like a convertible, the hidden body column/ structure was reinforced to withstand the door opening and closing. It yields a more open airy, sporty look inside and out, but in every brand, hardtops were heavier, rattled and shook more. The 4 door sedan is just like today's 4 door cars, a post or column from floor to roof hidden by the closed doors..
Back in the 50s and 60s bigger was better. The DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial were constructed using a separate body with frame underpinnings. Today's cars use only a partial frame and one piece unibody. Each of the cars had different front and rear sheet metal and lights. The higher up, by model and brand, the better the fit, finish and trim materials. The DeSoto rides on a 126 inch wheel base; as measured from the center of the wheel to center of the wheel. The longer the wheel base the smoother the ride. By comparison, today's cars measure 106 to 112 inches. Anything over that is considered HUGE by today's standards..
The seller, a retiring body shop owner, stated he had both cars for 10-12 years. He said the 2 door had new metal rocker panels and quarters. He also said there a couple of small holes in the floor in the trunk and showed me. The 4 door car was the parts car. He showed me where he had taken a section of wheel well from the parts car and installed it on the 2 door car. He clearly said the majority of the body work was done only small areas needed light work! I crawled under and over the cars and used a magnet to check for body filler (Bondo). I did find body filler (Bondo) in and around the wheel well, but wrote that off as smoothing the repaired area. I did see a lot of "undercoating" along the underside and back side of rocker panels.
I got the fever and was hooked! Two (2) cars, parts, sheet metal work done, interiors intact but filthy, two (2) hemi engines!! (All middle 50's Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperials had the now legendary hemispherical head engines) My son and I came home and I did a sales job to get agreement to buy them. One of my "selling" points was our son, Keith, who could help and would learn tools, cars and "general life work skills" over and above his college prep oriented school work since he could not schedule any "shop" classes..
Arrangements were made to pick up the cars the following weekend. I called U-Haul for a suitable car trailer. The ones they had were too small and light for a '50s size car. U-Haul also said my truck was too light to tow the trailer. (I was already towing our 2 1/2 ton boat and trailer around.) The overall length of the DeSoto is roughly seventeen (17) feet and weighs roughly two and half (2 1/2) tons! It took a number of calls and several heavy duty construction equipment rental companies to find a trailer long enough and heavy duty enough to haul the cars. The trailer I got weighed roughly 1,200 to 1,500 lbs. We used my Dodge Dakota Club Cab w/Magnum V-8 and trailer tow package. At first I was cautious then ran with traffic about 70 mph with no problem. The only thing I noticed was the mileage dropped to about 11 mpg!
Off to Columbus we went in late June, 2 1/2 hours down, 4 hours to load the parts car! The parking brake on the drive shaft was frozen/locked so we had to crawl under the car and remove the drive shaft and parking brake assembly; 3 hours home. My son, Keith, had told the whole neighborhood about our "project." We were greeted by every neighborhood kid on our arrival! Our garage has a full single garage door in the rear wall. With plenty of help, the car was rolled through the door and into the back yard.
Pictures of the "good car", the 2 door hardtop and the "4 door parts car" are seen above.
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