I think looks are subjective in this one... Desoto makes some great engineering points and the hemi was absolutely the better performer. Hmmm its possible youtube added NON skippable ads? I didn't add that.
The Olds was just about the SAME car in 55. The DeSoto's basic body came out in 53 and was a solid hit, but GM's brand new 54s made them look suddenly old fashioned. The DeSoto was the better car, but the Olds looked like the NEWER car, and was a great car in it's own right. Chrysler's sales were sharply down for 54, GM's were up, except at Chevrolet.
@@CJColvin Mercury was exactly that through 56, but for 57, they tried to move it up to be a Buick competitor, with the new Edsel being the Ford-built Pontiac. Didn't work out, as we all know.
@michaelbenardo5695 Right, Edsel would've been a really great Pontiac competitor during the Muscle car Era had Ford done a better job with the Edsel Brand in 1958.
That, and taking the Plymouth franchise away from Dodge dealers were huge mistakes. DeSoto already had the Adventurer, a high performance car in the vein of the Chrysler 300. Performance-modified HEMI, stiffer springs, etc.
I owned a 'used, '53 De Soto (second car), a style which I considered 'dated', from its inception, but the price was right! By 1954, I think all American car companies realized that the public wanted more modern styling & the 1954 Olds were an early attempt at that transition! By 1955, every American car company did it!
$119.00 to replace a windshield back then was an enormous sum of money. That's about $900.00 in today's money! In 1954, you could rent a house for $60.00/month.
I am not sure you can use sales numbers to compare features\performance\styling... Sales numbers are a large variety of factors. Marketing alone can affect those greatly, sales discounts, paid endorsements. Obviously, GM had a much larger market share. Thats like saying today the absolute best truck is the Ford F150 because it sells more?
@@autochronicles8667 Trying to appeal to the practical minded, but the practical minded bought Ford 6s, Chevys, and Plymouths, or worse yet, RAMBLERS! Not big fairly expensive cars with V8 engines.
Both pretty good cars in their day. DeSoto had its Hemi by 1954 which was certainly competitive with Old's engine I believe Olds offered a considerably better automatic transmission. (edit) the claims made about the automatic transmission are false "Super" was for less tendency to spin when starting in snow,also there was a range that locked out 4th gear for mountain descents so as to increase engine braking, Olds could normally be driven in all forward operation in the primary drive range (I think that one had "D1" and D2",the car could be driven all of the time in D1 while D2 restricted top speed somewhat but allowed more engine braking for going down a mountain (I think it was good for at least 65 mph tops) (the quadrant had some differences from year to year) some of the earlier ones had "Park" concealed as having to put it into "Reverse" before shutting down. "Lo" might have provided the same thing for the DeSoto Claim about Parking Brake Superiority is False! Olds had a transmission park lock while DeSoto did not. Olds also had a separate wheel parking brake system.
Yeah Chrysler really needed a parking sprag... surprised they ran with that idea as long as they did!!! SIMPLY add a sprag! But the idea of a secondary brake system was good and would come pretty quickly though. Good info.. The old didnt have a gate though on the shifter???
Certain years of the HydraMatic had a function where a pawl would lock the output shaft if the ignition were turned off while the car was in Reverse. I think it was 1952 when the HydraMatic began to be called "Dual Range" that was when they got two positions on the shift quadrant very close together on either side of the "D" ,I believe the second one restricted the transmission from going all the way to Fourth but it used the other 3 gears as appropriate. I think you could use "L" and the car would start in first and upshift to second but would stay in second for engine braking on,say,a steep low speed driveway or city street. The 1950 Pontiac had that but not the dual range or ability to move at fairly high speed in third gear holding back on a regular mountain highway. @@autochronicles8667
1960 Chrysler still lacked a parking lock in the automatic transmission but by that time the car had a high quality 3 speed automatic. Still had some kind of drum or band that tightened around the driveshaft to provide the parking brake feature. @@autochronicles8667
I love my 54 New Yorker, but Hydramatic was the better trans. Three ranges - Drive, Super, (Drive 2), and Lo, and 4 speeds. Plus a Park, even if it was concealed. Powerflite had only 2 ranges and 2 speeds, and no Park. ChryCo automatics didn't get Park at all until the 1960 Valiant, and not on Plymouths and most Dodges until 62, the rest not until 63!
@@davidpowell3347 You are correct. In mid 51, GM re-worked the Hydramatic so it would start out in 2nd in Drive. Pontiac called it Dual Range Hydra, the other divisions just hydramatic, like before. People didn't like it, but for 52 they came out with the Dual Range that everybody loved.
Some weaseling words about engine power. More power per cubic inch but why not say how many cubic inches? Also I think during most years Olds offered both "premium fuel recommended" and "regular fuel" engine options.
I believe the Olds was quicker to 20 mph. or so, at some point the higher rpm breathing of the Hemi would have taken hold,also the gearing of the two speed transmission was more appropriate for speeds in the range of 40 to 60,maybe even could storm all of the way to 70 before the upshift to direct (if the driver used the range selector "gearstick" to force the transmission not to upshift until high speed. Obviously taking a chance. Not sure if the Desoto "Firedome" had been increased in cubic inches in 1954,I think it was just under 300 cubic inch. I think Olds by that time had a 326 cubic inches so probably more torque. @@autochronicles8667
They should have stated the power rating. Not sure if there was something like the baby '54 Dodge hemi had where some of them had a taller intake manifold and a 4 barrel carburetor on top of it. Those (Dodge) still were slower off the line than they should have been but just kept accelerating and accelerating ,I believe at full throttle the upshift came at 60 mph and by that time it was ahead of most (not all) cars of its era that might compare to it. I think the top speeds of those cars was quite a bit over 100. Of course Chevrolet eclipsed it in just a couple more years with an engine that was cheaper with more displacement but by then I think Dodge had "D50" and/or "D500" with more cubic inches and higher compression. The two speed automatic in the car that my grandparents had began to slip in high gear at around 60,000 miles,it was disposed of. I don't know whether it was practical or possible to find someone to rebuild those things,I think similar transmissions (Powerglide) could be easily and fairly inexpensively refurbished but those usually wore out the low band and slipped in Low or First. @@autochronicles8667
The 57's were rushed when Ford/GM spies got ahold of Chrysler designs... Trust me they didn't "peek" over a fence... Ford has a massive spying operation going, GM did also, Chrysler didn't need them in 55-56 as they were about to lead for 3 years in design. I have a magazine article detailing Ford and their spies camping in trees at GM and Chrysler. I love how GM was like "oh we looked over the fence"... lol
On trying to look it up,Wikopedia says that '54 DeSoto hemi was 272 cubic inches. There would be much more to come,not sure but some of the DeSotos might have used Chrysler Hemis or big blocks during their swan song. I think many of the later '50s Chrysler products,especially the ones lacking B pillar had water leak and wind noise/drafty problems but those old fashioned "shoebox" and "bathtub" looking ones were nice and tight I think.
Wikopedia is wrong. The DeSoto was 276 cubes, but they should have enlarged it to 291 cubes that year instead of waiting until 55. The 56, though, had a 330 cubic inch, not the same as the Chrysler 331, 341 for 57. Had up to 295 horses, the Olds 371 just 277, unless you got dual quads.
Desoto did not use Chrysler Hemis but in 1957 they used the 325 Dodge poly in the low end Firesweep. Desoto had their own 341 and 346 hemis that year with up to 345 hp. From 1958 to 1961 Desoto no longer had it's own V8, they shared 350, 361 and 383 wedge engines with Plymouth and Dodge. Desoto did not use the 413 or the long stroke 383 Chrysler wedge motors.
De Soto here preaching "form follows function" as good design. The next year they hired wacky Virgil Exner as their VP of Design and the form follows function concept went out the window at Mopar for almost ten years.
Everyone I know HATED those knee crackers... And GM and Ford would eventually follow Chrysler.... It was kind of a gimmick to say "our windshield is bigger"... Not sure about a styling "sensation". :)
You have to wonder how the scriptwriters held it together writing this thing - at least with respect to styling. DeSoto was looking back toward 1950, Olds was moving toward the next phase in 55. The hemi wasn't any advantage either (170 hp vs. 185hp in the Super 88) because Chrysler didn't yet have a modern automatic - and this was the first year of Powerflite, prior to that they had Tip Toe Shift semi-automatic which was what people remembered when they thought 'DeSoto'. DeSotos were comfortable, and thru 54 maybe even better built, but they were perceived as the car of yesterday. They marketed the DeSoto to Howard Cunningham and the Olds to Ritchie. "You can sell an old man a young man's car, but you can't sell a young man and old man's car...."
Yeah but they make some good points... They were pushing the GM bread box designs.. And were making any points they could. Desoto would revamp in 55 also, but CMON vacuum wipers? :)
Those were great years for Oldsmobile, with rocket V8, hydramatic and that really handsome windshield and roofline, not so at all for ailing blaa DeSoto.
5:15… They should’ve compared the paint job on the 1952 De Soto and 1952 Oldsmobile with the SAME COLOR paint job before they judge whose two year old paint job holds up better.
The worst thing about the Desoto was the styling was squarely based on the 1940's three box styling of K.T. Keller. 1954 was the last year of his influence and in 1955 we started seeing the influence of Virgil Exner and his forward look. Chrysler was learning that styling and image sold a lot more cars then engineering did.
Competition introduces new body, Chrysler decides that's thoughtless and encourages buyer to choose a warmed-over older model (that will soon be outdated). Yeah, that's awesome! By '55, the new DeSoto arrived, and to be fair, it was suddenly way ahead of the GM offerings (despite some build quality across the Chrysler line that first year or so). But like I said, it also suddenly made the '54 DeSoto look old and stodgy.
In this video, the subject to power brakes is not mentioned for either DeSoto or Olds. I believe that Olds offered then as an option while DeSoto didn't for the 1954 model year.
they absolutely had power brakes--- double ACTION power brakes :) Desoto was a high end "rich" guy car remember. So it could be loaded... Desoto was almost right up there with Chrysler as a brand. And Chrysler was a "bankers" car...
If I'd had the money Id have chosen the 54Olds hands down. Still today in 2023, Its a toss up between it and the 56 Super 88. LOL Desoto was so popular it only lasted to model year 1961. Olds held on til 2004. (with more Olds STILL on the road than Desoto.) And people stillcursing GM for dropping Olds & Pontiac instead of Buick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (lol)
well Chrysler was certainly not in the financial shape and market share GM was. Third place is hard :) And I do like the Olds body better as its pretty much Tri-Five... But the Desoto makes some good points. And honestly GM probably held onto Oldsmobile too long, I guarantee they lost a lot of money holding onto that brand.
There is no comparison with the newly "squared off" '54 Olds, the DeS has a great grille but shouts old-fashioned stodgy Keller design. No '54 DeS can compete with a '54 Starfire. Underhood was pretty equivalent however... Hemi v. Rocket
Yeah, the "great consolidation"... hard to believe how many brands died.. there were hundreds that died. The new EV's are actually introducing new brands because of their simplicity. ICE engines take a tremendous amount of investment to develop.
Rebadging.... People know they are paying a lot more just for badges :) Would eventually get Olds, Pontiac, Mercury and Plymouth... Desoto was a completely separate division and the recession hit hard in 58... Desoto was an early goner.
1954 is the first year that I do not like GM new cars, besides the Chevys and Pontiacs whose body was some sort of revamping of the 1951-53 B body. I do not know, I feel like from 1954 until 1958 GM cars became more and more bloated instead of following up the "longer lower wider" theme that GM itself had initiated in the second half of the 1930s.
Sad that neither of these makes are still around..as someone who loves both DeSotos and Oldsmobiles, this is my take: 1954 DeSoto better styled than the Olds?..No way!..The '54 DeSoto is a decent looking car, but very outdated next to the Olds..in '55, it is a closer contest..in '56, much closer..a tie pretty much..maybe the nod to the DeSoto?..for '57, it's no contest, the Desoto by a good margin..'58, the Desoto by an even wider margin..'59, a very close contest, maybe a tie..for '60, the Oldsmobile...1961, the Olds by a wide margin..sad end for the DeSoto...
![[Dealer film] 1954 Desoto vs Oldsmobile! Desoto wins!? Colorized](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
