Desoto

[Phil Martin]

I think its a 39 only one I've seen

[greg g]

The shaped headlights were a one year only 39 thing on quite a lot of cars, but by 40 they were gone.

[Young Ed]

I used to see this one at a wednesday night cruise show that I went to. I haven't been in a few years so I haven't seen it lately.

[desoto1939]

The first one has been rodded.

The second one looks to be kept original. Notice the aux fron numper guards and the side chome goingout of the bumper guards. This is the correct style or being round and not like the 39 Dodge that had flat bars.

I also own a 39 Desoto 4 door sedan and live near Valley Forge PA.

Attached are two pictures on my 39 Desoto

Rich HArtung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[Roadkingcoupe]

The shaped headlights were a one year only 39 thing on quite a lot of cars, but by 40 they were gone.

1940 heralded the introduction of the round sealed beam headlight bulbs, bringing the shaped headlamps to a short and abrupt end.

1939 and prior cars were often retrofitted with sealed beam headlamps through after market kits that were available from the parts stores.

1939 was the last year that offered the bayonette style bulb that were held in place by an unusual spring loaded clip with three prongs that protruded through the "silvered" reflectors.

[desoto1939]

1940 heralded the introduction of the round sealed beam headlight bulbs, bringing the shaped headlamps to a short and abrupt end.

1939 and prior cars were often retrofitted with sealed beam headlamps through after market kits that were available from the parts stores.

1939 was the last year that offered the bayonette style bulb that were held in place by an unusual spring loaded clip with three prongs that protruded through the "silvered" reflectors.

Your are correct the 2331 bayonette buld were used from approx 36-39. The 2331 had the smaler candle light power the 2350 which were illegal had the higher high beam candle power. Chryler cars used the 2331 buld and the other makers used the 2330 buld. The difference is in how the filment moved to make the lights work.

In this i mean the the 2331 the high and low moved from right to left but the 2330 moved up and down.

The headlight socket with the three pins is the same for both the 3031 and the 3030. The differnece is the internal pigtail setup so that the buttons or contacts are either right/left offset for the 2331 or up/down offest for the 2330. I have discovered this after search for the 2331 sockets and then saw the difference. You can buy the pigtails at a local napa or at any good flea/swap meet.

Don Alxerod up in Mass has been able to get some of these headlight sockets remade. When i last saw him at Hershey they were not cheap but around 25-30 dollars for each socket.

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

Edited May 7, 2012 by desoto1939

[Frank Elder]

The first one has been rodded.

Rich HArtung

Desoto1939@aol.com

You think........?

[fstfish66]

your last name is hartung,,,,have you seen the recent show on cable chasing classic cars ??? there wa a hartung out side chicago that had 2 tons of cars and parts including 1900s motor cycles,,,,auctioned off,,,any realation ??? lol

[desoto1939]

i saw the same info but this gentleman was not related to me.

I give you another strange one.

My oldest daughter is attend kutztown University. When she was a freshman she was returned a test paper with the last name of Hartung but a differnet first name. Found out that there was another Hartung also in her same major, graphic design. To make it even more interesting this other person lived about 5 miles from where we currently live near Valley Forge PA. We never knew this other Hartung was inthe area becasue their phone number was never lsited.

For the past two year both my daughter and this other girl have been room mates at college. We did find out that we are not related to the other hartungs and we have met her parents.

Small world

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[mackster]

like that desoto but man, i would totally put bumpers on it!!!

[fstfish66]

i saw the same info but this gentleman was not related to me.

I give you another strange one.

My oldest daughter is attend kutztown University. When she was a freshman she was returned a test paper with the last name of Hartung but a differnet first name. Found out that there was another Hartung also in her same major, graphic design. To make it even more interesting this other person lived about 5 miles from where we currently live near Valley Forge PA. We never knew this other Hartung was inthe area becasue their phone number was never lsited.

For the past two year both my daughter and this other girl have been room mates at college. We did find out that we are not related to the other hartungs and we have met her parents.

Small world

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

yes small world

[Uncle-Pekka]

The first one has been rodded.

A typical example of blessings of amateur car designer.

There are three stupid (sadly also very common) "custom tricks" that I very much dislike on this poor DeSoto:

1) - divider bar of the two piece windshield removed

2) - modern side mirrors on a vintage design body

3) - tasteless bright paintwork

On this very case, in addition, the wheels do not fit the style at all, which fact decreases credits some more.

Finally: Compare to the stock version glorious chrome bumpers - wonder for what reason the bumpers were removed?

Do not tell me the re-chrome process would have cost too much. The owner has obviously spend big bucks on tasteless modifications and new paintwork.

In the end of the day, however, this is only my opinion and, besides, not my car...

[fstfish66]

the windshield mod ,removing the divider bar is called a

V-BUTT commonly done on street rods,,and some times when a useable divider bar cant be found,,,they are pot metal and can rot pretty bad,dependong what part of the world the car has lived in,,,