Replace 48 Desoto garbage cowl mounted mirror with 46-8 Plymouth cowl trim?

[Art Bailey]

Hey All,

 

The cowl mounted, high quality pot metal mirrors on my '48 DeSoto are pretty much dog meat, and need to go. I've seen pics of 46-8 Desotos with that space filled in with stainless trim. The 48 Plymouth body looks pretty darn close, and I'm wondering if the '48 stainless cowl trim would fit right in there with no sweat? Ebay ad for reference: 

tinyurl.com/6hpszuyw

 

Thanks,

Art

Edited July 29, 2021 by ratbailey

[Doug&Deb]

Dodge DeSoto and Chrysler used the same body shell. Plymouth is smaller. I’m guessing the trim is also smaller. I’d get dimensions from the seller before you buy.

[Dodgeb4ya]

New reproduction swan neck mirrors for 1946-48 Chrysler /DeSoto can be had for about $1700.00 last I heard.

Cowl mirror mount mirror delete  stainless all have different shapes to match door belt moldings. 

Any 1946-48 Dodge, DeSoto or Chrysler stainless will be the correct length.

Won't quite match the door belt molding.

You also need the correct retainer clip assembly.

Or glue them on with a giant tube of shoe goo!?

[James_Douglas]

I know someone who took the swan mirrors that were shot and cut off the mirrors and ground the base to a shape close to the stainless and then had them chromed and bolted them on.

 

Also, you can wait and look on ebay and they stainless parts and clips come up from time to time.

 

James

[Art Bailey]

56 minutes ago, Dodgeb4ya said:

 

Or glue them on with a giant tube of shoe goo!?

Ha...someone in the deep, dark past did exactly that with one of my "Custom" scripts!

 

As far as the trim matching, I was thinking of getting some Desoto door belt molding, and hacking and shaping to fit, but I know I won't be able to make it look as good as the Plymouth delete trim I posted from Ebay. James Douglas' idea is good, too, probably the easiest for me to execute---we'll see.

Edited July 29, 2021 by ratbailey

[Dan Hiebert]

The trim for each Chrysler product model had/has a different cross section design.  So, the piece from another MoPar model may fit, (but note Doug&Deb's post), but it still won't match very well.  The average Joe & Jane probably wouldn't notice, but folks familiar with these cars will.