Introduction, glass rubber seals and running boards

[fede]

Hello! I'm new here, so first I will introduce mysleft.  I am Federico Barbieri, from Uruguay, and the car is a 1946 DeSoto 4 door.  It's been on the family for about 60 years, but it was stored for 10+, and then became a slow, kind of start stop project.  These days it has again got speed and almost all the powertrain is sorted, the brakes are new (discs in the front!), but all the body and interior is yet to be done.  The idea is to use it as is as much as possible, and then start doing all the needed bodywork, and lastly the interior.  Originality is not a must (as proof, the front discs), but usability is.

 

Here in Uruguay there are no places to buy parts for the car, specially body, so here comes the question.  Can you recommend some places to buy parts?  Currently, the most needed would be (I believe in this order):

• Exterior mirrors (it only has the left one, I don't know if it is original... it doesn't look like it is.  I also don't know if it had a right side mirror at any point, but in todays traffic it is needed),
• The rubber seals for the windows and windscreen (not sure if I am using the correct words, I mean all the rubber that goes between the glass and the body... some of the glass has seen better days), what goes between the rear edge of the hood and the top of the firewall, and the seal of the bootlid,
• Running boards

I've checked ebay for mirrors, but got nothing quite like the one it already has.  Is there some mopar specific shop that I should ckeck?  The possibility to buy over the internet is a must, but delivery can be sorted.

 

Attached is a current photo of the car!

 

 

Thanks!

[48ply1stcar]

Welcome, check to links in the Resources section. 

 

Now if I could afford the trip I'd go to Cuba and check for parts.  Take your time and you'll find parts and all the advise and knowledge from the people here.

[DonaldSmith]

You may have an export DeSoto that is based on a Plymouth body.  The 1946 through early 1949 DeSotos had the front fenders flaired into the doors.  The Plymouths did not.  So, body and chassis parts may be in common with Plymouths.

 

If the car came from Canada, it would have the 25-inch engine block, instead of the 23-inch block that USA-made Plymouths had.  

[fede]

Thanks for the welcome and the answers!, I will check the resources section.

 

About the car, it is indeed an export DeSoto, just like a P15 Plymouth apart from the badges and the front grille for all I know.  Don't know about the block... is 25 or 23 inches the length? seems short... I will go an measure it

[Ulu]

I'll bet export model DeSoto badges and trim are as rare as rattlesnake toes.

 

It'd be real easy to trim it out as a Plymouth of course.

 

But all the export DeSoto badges & lights etc are special. They don't fit any of the regular DeSotos.

 

Then again, you might get lucky. People get old and die and their old parts are forgotten, then rediscovered decades later.

 

Also there might have been excess export Desoto trim ordered but never used when the export orders dried up. It could be sitting on a shelf somewhere, in the leftovers from a bygone auction.

 

Keep the faith and keep looking.

[fede]

Actually, we got all the trim.  We took everything out some years ago, as the car was going to a body shop.  After we got it back, the project got stalled and now it's coming back.  But every part of the car is in the garage somewhere.  I think the only thing missing is one hubcap.

 

But you're right, luckily it's all there because it would be hard to find!

Edited August 25, 2015 by fede

[deathbound]

Here are a couple links that may be helpful:

http://www.desoto.org/

http://www.oldride.com/clubs/346868644.html

[fede]

Thanks! I'll check them