1957 DeSoto Fire Dome

HEMI Sedan

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

Gasoline

Thanks for coming to check out my auction. I have a solid feedback rating, and you can bid with confidence on my items. Read on... This is a NO RESERVE auction! You are looking at a 1957 DeSoto Firedome with the healthy 270 horsepower 341 cubic inch Hemi V8 & push-button Torque-Flight automatic transmission. The car runs and drives fabulously, and has a sweet-sounding, low, mellow rumble that only a hemi can produce! Upon inspecting the undercarriage, I noticed that it even has the original O.E.M. "Mopar SONO 4-X" resonator style mufflers (see photo). It's got true factory dual exhaust running all the way back (which is brand new from the mufflers on). The car also has new brakes, and they stop it beautifully with no pull, or anything fishy whatsoever. There's a new fuel-pump, and the carburetor has just been rebuilt. The tires are nearly new, and many front-end suspension components such as bushings & joints appear to've been replaced recently. The engine could use a pair of new valve cover gaskets, as it leaks some oil down onto the exhaust manifolds, and you can smell it sometimes when you shut the car off. The body has had one re-paint the original colors (Sahara Tan, and Fiesta Red) about 12 years ago. It still looks fantastic for the most part, but is starting to show a little age (some scratches here and there, wash-swirls, etc). It certainly looks nice enough to enter into most any classic car show just the way it sits, though. It gets constant compliments, and is a LOT more unique than the common ones you see at practically every show. 1957 was one of the best years for Mopar as far as manufacturing some fabulous looking cars! They performed just as good as they looked, too (see the five attached YouTube video clips of some actual Mopar commercials from 1957)! I'll let those salesmen do the talking, (in case you're not convinced by my eBay description)... ha, ha! They are great fun to watch! They did comparative testing with some downright abusive scenarios (at times the cars had all 4 wheels in the air on rough test tracks)... see the last one... it's the best of them all! The Chryslers and DeSotos clearly handled far better than the other cars in the test runs (Olds, Buick, Cadillac, etc). The frame and underbody are very solid on this car as far as any rust goes, and have been undercoated/painted black at the time the car was restored. The trunk pan, and floor pans are super solid as well. There was a little rust around the headlights (where most all the cars of this era developed some, due to lack of any inner-fenderwells), and you can just start to see the old body filler exhibiting tiny cracks there, but it's not bad at all. I went over the entire car with a weak refridgerator manget, and found that there's also little body-filler down low by the rear wheelwells, but nothing serious, and it isn't cracking other than in one little spot (shown closer-up in one photo) on the lip of the passenger-side rear wheelwell opening. All of the glass is good with no milking, chips or cracking. The windows roll up and down perfectly fine. The interior is all original, and shows very little wear (even on the driver's side of the front seat!). The seat cushions and dash-pad foam have collapsed a bit over the last half-century, so they're a little flat (you can see the wrinkles in the dash-pad in the photos). The carpet is still nice, as are the doorpanels (save for a couple ripples down low). The original AM Tube Radio still plays well, and all the gauges work, except for the odometer which stuck at 57,999 miles. The speedometer is bouncy (which could be remedied with a couple drops of oil up at the speedo-head, or on the cable itself)... this may get the odometer working again, as well? All the lights work, but the turn signal switch mechanism is missing (they're available on eBay... see item# 370356744449 ). Other than this, the car is 100% original & complete. Inside the trunk... the original mat is in amazing condition (has DeSoto stamped into it from the factory). The trunk cardboard is still intact and in nice shape as well, and there's a very nice spare tire in there. There is a funnel an an extra quart of transmission fluid in the trunk, as the tranny leaks a little bit at the rear seal (not a major job to fix from what I've heard). Don't let this scare you off though, because it operates nice & firmly (with no slippage, or mushy shifts whatsoever). This isn't a perfect car, but mechanically; it runs, drives, handles and brakes excellently (I'd say you could drive it anywhere on the Continent at a moment's notice). Fly out and drive her home if you like! I've listed everything I can possibly think of about the car, but if you have any further questions at all, or would like to arrange an inspection/test drive: please feel free to call my partner & mechanic, Jason (who is a body-man & mechanic) 641-512-5229. He can get you any answer you need to know about the car. Thanks for looking! If you have unreliable internet service, or aren't sure you'll be around at the end of auction, please be sure to get your bid in with adequate time before the auction is over! Use a bid-snipe service if you have to, but don't miss out on the opportunity to own this beautiful, rare, 53 year old DeSoto if you'd like to own it. ...and now for the fine print. By bidding on this item, you acknowledge that the vehicle is being sold AS IS with no warranty. I require a $500.00 security deposit via PayPal or money order sent to myself: Ron Wunderlich, 15791 Nettle Ave., Mason City, IA 50401 within 5 days of auction’s end, and the remaining balance of the vehicle is to be paid for in full within 10 days. If coming to pick it up in person, then I ask that you bring cash for the remainder of payment, otherwise if having the vehicle shipped, a cashier’s check is acceptable. If you can’t get the vehicle picked up right away, storage for a reasonable amount of time may be an option, but please ask before you bid, and remember that the vehicle must be paid for in full within 10 days of auction’s end whether it has been picked up yet or not. If you intend to have this vehicle shipped with a car carrier, the auto transporters I have contact info for are as follows: Atlas Auto Transport (888)285-2706, and D.A.S. (Dependable Auto Shippers) with a shipping dock out of Altoona, Iowa (about 2&½ hours from us here in Mason City) 800 826-1083. If you have any trouble viewing the slideshow at the top of this page, please be sure to click on the thumbnail below to check out the web-album with all 50 super-sized photos of this car! 1957 DeSotoOn Apr-27-10 at 22:04:31 PDT, seller added the following information: P.S., now that the vehicle is bid on, I can't change the description, but I thought I should mention the chrome. The stainless trim is all pretty nice all around the car, but there are a couple bent spots on the front bumper, and some pitting on the potmetal rear taillight chrome surrounds. I did notice that there is a perfect New Old Stock unit on eBay currently (item# 400081036624 ). I shouild also mention that the car's tires are true wide whitewalls from Coker, and cost about $1,000.00 for the set. They're nearly new.