New To Site, With New To Me Desoto.

[tharlanjr]

Hey, I was shown this forum by someone on another forum.

 

I am picking up a 1950 Desoto hopefully this coming weekend. 

 

I went to a customers house and he restores "Brass Era" cars, he inherited this from someone on his wifes side. It was running when the orig owner died, it sat for a couple years in a barn, then it got towed to another barn where its been sitting. 

 

Before showing/telling me about it I had mentioned that my wife and I plan to get a 50's car one day to restore together. Then he brought up his Desoto. He said that if I wanted it I could have it for $500.

 

So I plan to pick it up asap.

 

I know very little about these but its in pretty dang good shape.

 

Here are some pictures.

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2013 by tharlanjr

[Plymouthy Adams]

you gonna like Hernando...

Edited April 14, 2013 by Plymouthy Adams

[tharlanjr]

who?

 

I've been searching but are there any good manuals or guides for these cars with wiring diagrams. really any info I can get for the flat head 6 would be great. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

[Plymouthy Adams]

google hernando de soto

 

the man behind your hood ornament

Edited April 14, 2013 by Plymouthy Adams

[Alshere59]

Welcome to the site. If memory serves they run the long block version of our flathead 6. 236? Anyway those with better answers will fill the gaps in.

 

Al

[P15-D24]

Welcome to the site! Looks like a good candidate to start with. Gotta love those big front grills! 

[doctor dirt]

Nice "patina" spread evenly across the car!!!!   Theres help here, I just got here myself and got some needed info!! Patience, its sunday, they'll arrive soon in the meantime search out all the paper work you can get. Its out there! ...................good luck Doc.

[ptwothree]

Kinda reminds me of my p23 when I got it.   Make sure you check out the floors for rot.  Lots of good info on the mechanics of these cars is available here.  Welcome aboard !!   Have fun with it..........

[BobT-47P15]

Go to good ole Ebay.........put in 1950 DeSoto book.........and some will appear.  I saw a repair manual and a parts

manual...........you really should have both. 

 

The shop manual gives exploded views of many things so you can see how they went together.

The repair book has numerous directions on how to repair or troubleshoot things.

 You can usually find both original and reprint books.....either is OK.

 

 

 

[tharlanjr]

Someone correct be but do I have what is considered an S14?

 

I found a shop manual on ebay I might snag. Thanks for the info so far. Its very appreciated. I know very little about these and I am looking to change that.

[Plymouthy Adams]

If indeed a 1950 it will be a S14, based on the pictured trim line of the car I would say it is a Custom so the model in full is S14C

 

The vehicle will have a 125 1/2 inch wheelbase and a 236.6 CI engine with CR of 7.0 and HP of 112 @3600

 

the DeSoto could have been built in one of two places Detroit and Los Angeles If Detroit your first body number is 6233501 and LA is 60005001  the engine will have the prefix S14 with first engine number 1001  Your Desoto will share the wheelbase of the smaller Chrysler for that year.

 

You need the repair manual if nothing else to start off with.  I would recommend you get it, read over it, familiarize yourself with the basic deisgn and function of the basic components that make up the car long before attempting any said repairs on the vehicle.  This could actually save you form injury to yourself or damage to a part.  Welcome, have fun, good luck...

[tharlanjr]

If indeed a 1950 it will be a S14, based on the pictured trim line of the car I would say it is a Custom so the model in full is S14C

 

The vehicle will have a 125 1/2 inch wheelbase and a 236.6 CI engine with CR of 7.0 and HP of 112 @3600

 

the DeSoto could have been built in one of two places Detroit and Los Angeles If Detroit your first body number is 6233501 and LA is 60005001  the engine will have the prefix S14 with first engine number 1001  Your Desoto will share the wheelbase of the smaller Chrysler for that year.

 

You need the repair manual if nothing else to start off with.  I would recommend you get it, read over it, familiarize yourself with the basic deisgn and function of the basic components that make up the car long before attempting any said repairs on the vehicle.  This could actually save you form injury to yourself or damage to a part.  Welcome, have fun, good luck...

 

 

Thanks, thats great info. I will definitely be getting a manual. This site has been a great source of info so far. 

 

I know cars, I have worked on my Jeep many times, but this is a whole different beast. 

 

Thanks again.

[thrashingcows]

Welcome to the site.  And Congrats on a cool car!

 

Tons of info here in the archives...play around with the "search" function.  I can pretty much find a solution to most problems with a comprehensive search of the archives.

[54Illinois]

My advice is to be patient when shopping Ebay.  I find that a lot of material comes up for sale at extreme price differences.  Other than that, I would leave the car in the original patina, and get'er running.  I plan on leaving the 52 Dodge original.

 

[desoto1939]

If the Build Plate in on the engine cowel Then this will tell you the Model Number and also original Color code and Interior code.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[Chuck51631]

Welcome to the site! You will find alot of information on here both in the forum and maintaince sections.

Having the parts book and service manual for the car are a great help also.

As for ebay be careful. I have seen parts listed wrong. Cars prior to 1956 are all 6 volt positive ground (unless someone changed it to a 12 volt system).

I have seen people trying to sell 12 volt starters, generators, radio's voltage regulators stating they will fit a 55 Plymouth. 55 Plymouth had a 6 volt system.

Good places to buy parts from are: NAPA auto parts if you can find one that still uses a catalog. Our cars are too old to be listed in the computer and you don't pay for shipping. On line try Rock Auto, Andy Bernbaum. I have dealt with them in the past and never had a problem.

Good luck with your project, take your time and enjoy it. Thank You for keeping another MOPAR from the scrap yard and helping to keep automotive history alive!

[fourleaf]

Looks like a good car to restore. I am new also and i would suggest using these old timers that have been working on these cars since they came out for alot of good info. They can give you ansewers to alot of your build questions and where to get good parts. If you do buy the Desoto go to www.Andy Bernbaum and this site has new old stock parts that are getting hard to find for any of our cars. Good Luck

[tharlanjr]

Well, today I picked it up. Found out a bit more about the Desoto. The emblem on the hood is broken but as I was going through the car there was one in the glove box in great condition. 

 

I mentioned to the people I got it from I found a shop manual on ebay and a few minutes later he came back and handed me the original. 

 

It all got loaded fairly smoothly.

 

We didn't have enough time to mess with trying to start it yet.

 

There is still decent looking oil when I checked the dipstick, have any tips on what we should do before we try to crank it over?

[randroid]

Tharlanjr,

 

Welcome!

 

If that carb has been open then don't expect the dead mice in it to cycle through it very smoothly.  Count on rebuilding the carb but that's not difficult and you get to get your hands dirty.  I would also change the oil but I'm anal that way.

 

Good luck, although luck shouldn't be a factor.

 

-Randy

[Niel Hoback]

  At least change the oil before you try to start it. the dipstick won't tell you whats in the bottom of the pan. Then you will know for sure tat the oil is clean an not acidic.

[pflaming]

That dash is very interesting. Mopars usually had ''flashy" dashes. Is that one stock? I like it but very modern. That will be a neat ride. 

[BobT-47P15]

It IS  6 volt........POSITIVE ground.............

 

Sometimes owners installed the battery backwards, so check that.

 

You can find 6 Volts at tractor supply stores and/or a "battery warehouse" type store, if you have 

one close by.  Where do you reside?   I see Lakeside.......but don't know where that is.

 

 

Edit*****Looked at the pictures again, appears to be a California plate on the front.  I couldn't

tell what year it was from, but as you may know, the older Calif black/yellow plates are worth

a certain amount of money......so you might want to keep them around. 

Edited April 23, 2013 by BobT-47P15

[tharlanjr]

I'm east of San Diego. It has a battery in it, but its probably dead. I might try to throw a charge in it since it looks to be a newer battery. 

 

It definitely needs spark plug wires and some electrical wires are frayed. Of course Oreily' doesn't even have anything on record so I am back to square one. 

 

Is there any other more popular models that share parts? Any good sites for parts? Andy's seems pretty awesome.

 

 

This weekend, hopefully, I will remove the plugs, oil the cylinders and try to turn it by hand.

[TodFitch]

If you have cross references a lot of auto stores will have the parts. Just that your application is not in their computers. Were your car a Plymouth you could use my cross reference information. . . Started collecting it 40 years ago reason being that I'd prefer to get my parts at my "local better auto supply".