For Sale: 1957 DeSoto Firesweep in St. Louis, Missouri

DeSoto was an American car manufacturer and a division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1928 to 1961. Sharing parts and platforms with Plymouth and Dodge over the years, they began as a more entry level option to mid-luxury scale of cars to compete with Pontiac, Studebaker, Oldsmobile, and Hudson. With World War II ending, production began refocusing more once again on civilian automobiles. The DeSoto had great success with its new Virgil Exner "Forward Look" designs that incorporated massive fins and triple taillights on their new sleek and modern body work.

The Firesweep model was introduced in 1957 during DeSoto's short lived glory years that would end in 1959, as the company itself would close its doors only 2 years later. Based largely on the Dodge Coronet, with its iconic heavily chromed headlight housings, the Firesweep would keep its famous DeSoto tailfins and front clip and be featured in multiple body styles. The first year of the Firesweep production would be its best with great sales figures that showed its affordability, luxury appearance, and strong performance were indeed in a wonderful balance of each other.

We are proud to offer this immaculately restored 1957 DeSoto Firesweep Sportsman finished in an eye-catching exterior combination of Dusty Orange and Black, with a Black vinyl and Orange cloth accented bench seat interior. Power is brought to the rear wheels by installation of a 345ci Hemi V8 engine with dual quad carburetion that produces a stout 345 horsepower mated to a 3-speed column-shifted manual transmission making for a truly rare and celebrated hemi engine and 3-pedal manual transmission combination. This hemi engine was an available option for the DeSoto Adventurer model Firesweep and was upfitted to this Firesweep in period correct fashion during the restoration. Other features include Torsion-Aire front suspension, chrome body molding, Kelsey-Hayes chrome wire spoke wheels with BF Goodrich Silvertown wide whitewall tires measuring 8.50-14, 4-wheel drum brakes, radio and heater deletion, interior courtesy lights, and a spare tire in trunk. It makes for an aggressive, no-nonsense muscle car ready to sneak up on someone with some straight-line stoplight action, then slip into the night with those gorgeous, luxury looks!

This prized DeSoto has been treated to a full body-off, nut-and-bolt rotisserie restoration by its previous owner Bob Schmidt who was a post-war Chrysler restoration specialist. No inch was left untouched as the exterior paint, under hood presentation, and undercarriage remain in amazing condition ready to show off at any car show or specialty Mopar event. Upon its arrival at our museum, we have continued to care for this Firesweep to make sure it drives as nice as it looks. This included flushing the gas tank up to the carburetors with fresh fuel, changing the engine & transmission fluids, along with an overall tune up. With approximately 30 miles driven since the restoration was finished, this Desoto remains a showstopper in presentation. It has been showcased since 2013 at the esteemed Gateway Automobile Museum Collection alongside 50+ hand-selected vehicles under owner John Hendricks guidance. It is available for the first time once again, ready for someone to celebrate the hard work that has gone into this stunning classic. Thank you for your interest in this rare 1957 icon of American automobile history and please contact us with any questions or to schedule a visit to our showroom!