All-new styling for 1939 planted DeSoto directly in the mainstream of American car design.
By 1939, the Airflow disaster was for DeSoto a few years in the rear-view mirror, fortunately. While the Airflow could rightly be called an engineering triumph, buyers thoroughly rejected the unusual styling. When volume tumbled to fewer than 14,000 cars in 1934, the division was nearly run out of business. An Airstream model with conventional styling in 1935 started to turn things around, and in 1937 the Airflow was gone from the lineup. With new exterior styling for 1939, DeSoto was now firmly back in the mainstream of Motor City car design.
The new body shell, shared with Dodge and Chrysler, was smart but not trend-setting. The headlamps were moved down into the fenders, a broad three-element grille now took up much of the front end, and on the sedan models, the luggage compartment was integrated into the body, eliminating the trunk bump. DeSoto called the theme “Hollywood style,” a tie-in to its 1937-39 marketing campaign that featured prominent entertainment personalities. As a result, most every DeSoto factory PR photo from ’39 features a Hollywood celebrity, and you may spot a few of them here.
The chassis was Chrysler standard practice with a double-drop ladder frame that boasted a beefy X-member for greater torsional rigidity. Independent suspension with coil springs and short/long wishbones carried the front, with leaf springs at the rear. For ’39, the shift lever for the manual three-speed transmission was moved from the floor to the steering column, a development DeSoto called “Handy-Shift.” The familiar 228.1 CID L-head six was rated at 93 hp in standard tune, while an optional high-compression (7.0:1) cylinder head offered a sensational 100 hp.
There were a few twists in DeSoto’s ’39 product line. First, there was no convertible (a story we’ve covered here) but there was a gorgeous limited-edition Hayes coupe (see it here). Body styles included the usual Coupe and Touring Sedans in two-door and four-door form, but through the ’30s and ’40s, DeSoto also offered a long-wheelbase 7-passenger sedan with jump seats (above). Among other things, this allowed the division to successfully compete in the taxicab market. In the ’39 version, the wheelbase was stretched from the standard 119 inches to 136 inches, and records indicate that 544 were produced.
With pricing in the $900-$1,200 bracket, in ’39 DeSoto competed head-on with the Chrysler Royal, Buick Special, Hudson Eight, and so on. While sales improved considerably from 38,000 in 1938 to 54,000 in 1939, it’s difficult to say how much the new exterior design had to do with it, as the entire Motor City had been hammered in ’38 by a recession. DeSoto styling would take a far more daring turn in 1942 with the introduction of hidden headlamps.
>> DeSoto styling would take a far more daring turn in 1942 with the introduction of hidden headlamps.
I’m wondering if anyone knows the story behind those. As we know, WWII shortened the 1942 production year and the hidden lights had disappeared when manufacturing resumed. I don’t know when they made their reappearance in the US but I’m thinking it was twenty years until the 1963 Riviera. Why the long gap? Were there problems in 1942? The DeSoto probably used vacuum control, and that was still sketchy in the Sixties.
Admittedly this is entirely opinion, but it most likely came down to two factors:
1. Cost – This is the first, last, and always reason for anything Detroit did/does. In the ’42 models Chrysler stylists had a chance to play off the prior Thunderbolt dream car and figured out how to do it cheaply enough, thus giving DeSoto a stylistic advantage in a very crowded field. Unfortunately, this little Japanese matter killed the market. Come fall of 1945 and the same product planners realized that anything would sell as fast as they could crank ’em out, there was no need to spend the extra couple of bucks per unit. Just slap the headlights somewhere and get ’em to market.
2. GM didn’t see a need for them until they brought out the ’63 Corvette. After which, everybody was playing catch-up for a couple of decades. Thank Bill Mitchell for that one. Harley Earl would have hardly bothered (despite the Y-Job) because hidden headlights simplified design meaning less chrome. Which Earl felt was only for bottom of the line cheap cars that the average American buyer should be embarrassed to be seen in.
The 1942 DeSoto headlamp system was mechanical and extremely simple and robust: a lever, a bell crank, and rods. The headlamps did not move. The doors were simply covers. Here’s a closer look. https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-car-from-tomorrow-the-1942-desoto/ I have to assume they were eliminated in 1946 to reduce cost and assembly time. It wasn’t going to cost DeSoto any sales. People were buying every car Detroit could make.
Thanks! The post-war sales boom explains a lot. It makes sense that they would save some money on extravagances when people would buy anything available.
The 20 year disappearance still seems curious, especially when the DeSoto had such a simple solution to headlight covers. Harley Earl should have appreciated the opportunity to cover the front of the car with huge chrome grillework and it seems like the kind of fancy hardware that Cadillac would have eaten up. Kaiser seems like a brand that would have adopted them in order to stand out from the crowd.
I spy Spencer Tracy and that sure looks like Bing Crosby sitting on the fence.
I think the guy standing outside the yellow DeSoto was in “Mars Attacks!”. He has the forehead for it.
Could be from “This Island Earth”.
1939, first year for Chrysler’s column shift & “Superfinish”
Hollywood Style: one magazine ad claimed glamorous movie star “Ginger Rogers drives Hollywood’s smartest car – DeSoto!”
“I like action, I get it in my DeSoto” the beautiful Miss Rogers confessed (hubba hubba!)…
If you don’t have it already, I recommend Carl Breer’s book, The Birth of the Chrysler Corporation and its Engineering Legacy, published by SAE. As you might expect, he totally geeks out on Chrysler’s technical developments: hydraulic brakes, Floating Power, Amplex Oilite bearings, and of course the Airflow. I know you would enjoy it.
I wonder, was this when Chrysler began having trouble distinguishing DeSoto from Dodge and Chrysler? At least the Airflow was distinctive.
Keep in mind that DeSoto was sort of the “Red Headed Stepchild” of the Chrysler line all its life. Shortly after turning Maxwell into Chrysler, Walter Chrysler was negotiating to buy Dodge from the financiers that owned it at the time to give him a mid range brand. As a hedge, just in case the sale fell through, he also created DeSoto. Of course, just after DeSoto is released the Dodge sale finalized, so now he’s got two cars where he only planned on/wanted one. He prices DeSoto above Plymouth, and below Dodge. Then a few years later swaps Dodge and DeSoto. Then, years later the company starts squeezing DeSoto with cheaper Chrysler models. It always was the weakest brand in the Chrysler lineup (ok, maybe stronger than Imperial).
Great summary.
My Grandad bought a 48 DeSoto 4dr in 50 giving my mom his 41 Chrysler Windsor as her 36 dodge bought new was getting old. All of them were trouble free and tough. Yellow cab wrote an article for cars and parts mag in 80’s saying they ran their long wheelbase 40’s DeSoto taxis 600,000 miles on engine and a million and half on bodies.