SMS TV Episode 3 - 1961 DeSoto: End of the Line 

better than the same year Plymouth Fury 3...imo

Yes, this indeed is the same car used in the movie Mississippi Burning. A body was tossed out of the car in the movie. My great grandfather bought this car new, and our family still owns it. Many thanks to Mike for bringing it back to life for us.

@@restaurantandbarequipmento3087 What a awesome story! Did this car come with factory AC? I think most of these rare gems did

So where did Plymouth fit in in this dilemma ?

@@bobbybishop368 below Dodge, as the corporate price leader. Competed with Chevy and Ford.

@@bobbybishop368 By '59 you could get a big block 361 v8 in the Plymouth, but the '61 Plymouth was an unusually styled car that wasn't popular and probably didn't hurt DeSoto sales much. The U.S.A. was in a recession from '57 to '62 and the automakers began to build economy cars like the Valiant in 1960. The '61 DeSoto looks good to me. The '61 Dodge Lancer based on the Valiant was supposed to be a DeSoto.

I have a 1:18 die-cast model of one of these. That's cool that your great-uncle is from Haverhill. Most of my dad's side of the family is from there, my dad was born there and grew up on 11th Ave.

You have a 4dr Desoto? 61? I'd love to see it.

Ditto.

After market A/C.

75k, maybe close to six figures

There is actually a DeSoto commercial with George Fenemen out here as well as Rock Hudson doing a 1959 DeSoto ad. 1961 was best year for styling to me. I learned to drive on a black 55 Firedome.

@@rick0e295 I watch Groucho almost every night in bed before sleep, never gets old. George was funny when him and Groucho got in a little arguments. Yes this is how I knew a 56 DeSoto came with optional front and rear AC, I'll bet that was a expensive option! Then seat belts (first in 56 in America, standard in 64, lap belts)

@@m42037 If you check out here, you'll find multiple commercials for DeSoto. One features George, another has Rock Hudson with 59 DeSoto. There are some others including, I think 🤔 the 🎵. The secret word is DeSoto commercials. 😎

My dad commissioned Mike to do this restoration, and he did a fantastic job. I grew up seeing this car sitting under my grandmother’s carport. Jed, I was actually born just “down the road” from you in Rochester while my dad was training at the Mayo Clinic. My parents were there for 10 years before returning to Mississippi. Maybe we can bring it up to a show in Minnesota!

Many of the cars produced in the 1960's were designed with 14 inch rims in order to get that low to the ground stance. The 1960's were the decade of lower cars and this was a big change from the post war and some 1950's models.

That's the stock height. Shocks are easy to find. The front torsion bar is adjustable and the rear leaf springs can be built to obtain any desired ride height. This one looks great.

itsmegp46: Well, part of the genius behind the DeSoto, is that it shared so much with the lesser price Chrysler’s... the Windsor, and didn’t need much tooling on its own. But towards the end, when it was inevitable that DeSotos were done, they made them almost exact copies except for the badging, to further the same design and lower production costs. Look at the ‘60 and ‘61 models. Same front ends, same body panels, dash, window and door hardware, same taillights, just little pieces of stainless trim slapped over one or the other of them to differentiate it slightly. Those cars were almost entirely interchangeable! And as I mentioned, the writing was already on the wall... why pay to make a completely different car from the big sister Chrysler?

@@Phonejag1 DeSoto just got squeezed out as Dodge cars got bigger and more upscale and Chrysler introduced the Newport which took too many sales away from them. There wasn't room at Chrysler for a fourth brand any more. Plymouth doesn't exist any more for similar reasons as they became badge engineered versions of Dodge.

@@1575murray - There were actually 5 divisions at Chrysler until the '61 model year. The hierarchy went, from low to high: Plymouth; Dodge; DeSoto; Chrysler; Imperial.

If the car has been driven regularly, serviced well and usual parts (hoses, brakes, etc) and waxed carefully it could still look new. I have the 1956 DeSoto Fireflite dad bought new in Oct 1955, this is 2018 and the car still looks near new and can be driven anywhere with original paint and interior i

Well, it sits inside my parent’s garage. It just barely fit! Every once in a while it sees the light of day for a local show or event.

Why wouldn't it? They don't salt the roads down there and I doupt he even drives it in the rain

Is he even still alive ?

Yes, this is the car from the movie! It had sat for decades in a parking lot. Somehow they got it running long enough to toss a body out of it in Mississippi Burning. It then sat for many more years under my grandmother’s carport, until my dad commissioned Mike to do this tremendous restoration.

Those cars were large and long but low to the ground.

DeSoto wasn't cartoonish like the Plymouths were at the time.

It's not an Adventurer, nor is it a Fireflite. There were no model names for the '61 DeSoto. They were simply 'DeSoto'.

That car is in the Mississippi delta so air conditioning is needed..not only that the unit appears as if it could be period correct.

Not exactly the delta, but yes we are definitely in Mississippi. And it’s very hot and humid here. The vintage AC makes this car much more enjoyable. Sorry that you don’t approve of its addition.

No it didn't. It didn't alter the original cosmetic beauty of the car in any way.