A Boulevard Cruiser with the Heart of a Race Car - The DeSoto Fireflite

[@melvinburwell8202]

Finally a Desoto. Those fins. Very very rare. Love these cars. The colors. Elegant vehicles. I always thought they were better looking than the Chryslers. Most people won't know this car. Beautiful. Lucky guys.👍🥰🤑🤑❤❤😎

[@conraddubose7518]

Anyone else think a side view of the car somewhere in the video would be a worthwhile addition?

[@bobroberts2371]

Yep, was hoping for a walk around. I have a 56 Plymouth Belvedere that Mom special ordered in this Desoto Pink ( the Plymouth pink was more of a rose color )

[@danam0228]

They gave a side view of the Fossil Vega 😂

[@johndavey72]

Lovely ! Old cars talk to you and let you know what you can and cannot do . I never drove a car flat out until it let me know what l could and could not do which took about a fortnight (road driving ) . The penalty for not paying attention was instant ! Can you imagine how much this DeSoto would cost to make today ! The interior alone is palatial and that very high performance V8 .....gorgeous ! Add the powerflite gearbox and you'd think you were Leslie Nielsen in "Forbidden Planet " Thankyou both .

[@reelreeler8778]

Chrysler corporation had absolutely gorgeous dashboards in the mid 50's, as displayed in this DeSoto

[@TheDejael]

It has a sporty, Corvette styled dash.

[@vspenceful]

they are a good team. they are both witty and knowledgeable

[@curbozerboomer1773]

But very "dimwitty" for not wearing seat belts!

[@eddiegardner8232]

"Go to your DeSoto-Plymouth dealer and tell them Graucho sent you".

[@ramblingsadrift6477]

You can betcha life.....on that

[@solomonlynn7456]

Thanx for that comment! I'm only 50 years young but I remember the Marx Brothers from reruns on broadcast TV. My favorite Graucho line was "I once shot an elephant in my pajamas... How he got into my pajamas I'll never know..." Followed by the classic cigar tap...

[@rickmarin1265]

My wife and I go to RI alot to see the displays , we are 65 , she has a show room 13 Camaro ss/rs with 525 at the real wheels ( manual ) and 108 k on it ... Ton of fun .. I have the old stuff lol .70 hemi superbird ( manual ) with 16 K on it ,70 390 amx , 390 Mark donahue javilin ... the old cars are a blast to take out for the day and have fun ( little scary at times ) ( can not imagine EVER going 200 MPH in a superbird lol , but the Camaro whole different machine .. I love the old stuff just to enjoy ... She would also but she 4foot 10 .. can't reach the pedal and her Left leg just hasn't got it lmao ...Love this show :) :): ):

[@RobertHowe-zv7gs]

A truly beautiful and comfortable automobile from that era !

[@donhathaway3234]

One of my pet peeves is people tailgating. As someone that learned to drive in a 1949 Ford F2 with a flathead, you learned pretty quick to NOT rely on brakes to stop you. You instinctively learned how to drive defensively. A habit I still carry some 55 years later. Todays cars are so advanced in operation that you no longer even give defensive driving a thought. Not so sure that is a good thing. Wonderful car by the way. My uncle was the service manager at a Dodge dealer back then and always had something exciting parked in his driveway.

[@aldenconsolver3428]

This video just gave me wall to wall smiles. Not only a beautiful car but two guys who totally enjoy it to. If I were a rich man I would give that museum a huge donation for letting me and the curator to go cruising on a good spring day. 😋🥰😻👍👍Such a great car and they are so openly enjoying it, first time I have ever put more than two emojis on a video. 🌟🌟👑👍👍

[@AudrainMuseumNetwork]

Thank you so much for your kind words and support! More videos to come!

[@lancerbiker5263]

Loved it. My Father had an early 60s Chrysler with push button trany. I thought it was so cool. So many good points made. The ABS point was excellent. Is why all car and motorcyclist should progress from basic vehicles.

[@FloridaClay]

Great car and great example.

[@djsonfire0001]

Love this car! that and the 300 of the same time era with simular styling. Thanks for sharing audrain!

[@AudrainMuseumNetwork]

Thanks for watching! Here's a video we made of our Chrylser 300G kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4naqox-jtydq8k

[@radioguy1620]

56 and 55 my favorite years for most every make of car. Exners radical 57's though amazing caused a general run to the over styled by all the big three. .

[@nastybastardatlive]

Before 1957 DeSoto models looked like a potato. No real style before 57.

[@andrewlorenzen1447]

Love Donald, Jay & Crew but this beauty deserves more pictures and less small talk .

[@andrewmarsh1835]

Dual quad hemi, Desoto Adventurer convertible

[@CommercialVehicle]

Nice DeSoto. The good ol' days.

[@styldsteel1]

Gee our old LaSalle ran Great.

[@joshdobson2737]

Would be neat to see this next to a Bentley, Jag or even Mercedes of the same spec and decade!?!

[@leddygee1896]

I noticed that Donald was not holding back on the backroads. yes, he was driving rather sprightly!! Great review of a great car...

[@robertwbingo]

There's a handling dynamic with rear-wheel-drive that makes for more confident handling. Excellent review. Thanks!

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Not really...different than FWD for sure...but less traction.

[@robertwbingo]

@@curbozerboomer1773 My FWD car loses traction when pulling out into traffic and turning at the same time. The weight distribution on RWD cars is better, too. My Charger has 51% of the weight in the front half, and 49% in the back half. It handles better.

[@jerrycallender9352]

Your comments at 15:40 on 'threshold braking' were right on. Listening to you I realized that is how I still brake when coming to a traffic light - brake-off-coast-brake-off-brake.

[@phillpearson7531]

I sat in my fathers lap and drove 1958 De Soto fireflies. I was 7 years old. It was white with blue trim, a memory that I will never forget.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Terrible lack of safety concerns!

[@asteverino8569]

Thanks Audrain and thanks to the younger man appreciating this car.

[@donparker1823]

great episode you guys. really enjoyed it. Having worked on those types of cars as a teen, I'm so incredibly grateful for how reliable modern cars are. But when I see these things I'm almost overcome with nostalgia and how good those years were.

[@alanrogers7090]

When I was a kid, one of my neighbors drove that same car, even the color was the same. It was the same year that my Dad bought a Pontiac Star Chief. It was White and Yellow. I guess the 1950's were a time of pastels?!? After that, we bought a 1961 Dodge Polara which also had a push-button transmission, like your DeSoto Fireflite.

[@styldsteel1]

Yet another marvelous elegant video Donald. Great interaction here too. I love that you guys pointed out the fact cars don't come in colors anymore. Cars today are so eternally boring. What happened to us?

[@ivaneberle3972]

Cars began to last more than 3 years before being scrapped or traded in for new, is what happened. 1950's Chryslers are uncommon because most of the era rusted out in short order. With single-stage paint of the day, those cars that started out red or coral or pink, all had faded to pink or were polished down to primer by the 60's. When you're keeping a car for 2 years, buy a red one. If you're aiming for 5, 6, 7 or 20 years before trade-in... Get just about any other hue

[@styldsteel1]

@@ivaneberle3972 interesting angle I hadn't considered. The Coral colors were imaginative, I fancy the candy apple colors and that would include the blue colors. As far as rust and body integrity? There wasn't any. I don't know for instance what rotted out faster. A Plymouth Volare, or a Datsun B210.

[@ivaneberle3972]

@@styldsteel1 As my neighborhood Repco Parts supplier for my Datsun 260Z said in the 80's, "It's the Germans who invented rust-- but the Japanese bought the rights to it!"

[@styldsteel1]

@@ivaneberle3972 lol! Love it

[@billyjo1148]

ben and donald banter good stuff

[@danielulz1640]

Fabulous car. All I would add is a white roof and Airtemp in the trunk.

[@tedium37]

Good looking old girl with good power and more interesting than a mid 50s Ford or Chevy.

[@jerrycallender9352]

The featured Fireflite was built early in the production year. Cars, Fireflite, New Yorker and Imperial, built in the latter half of the 1956 model year were equipped with Torqueflite.

[@juddwest8127]

Love pinkso mush!

[@discerningmind]

Donald, I have always found you to give a flawless video performance that is accurate and beautifully articulated. Perhaps you've spoiled me. While Ben is a smart and accomplished man, over time I've found that his youth shows through when he speaks vintage cars. I don't mean this disrespectfully, he has the fundamentals, but he doesn't seem to have made a certain connection of putting himself into the year 1956 when experiencing this car, and other vintage cars of a given year. I think more years at the Audrain will fill that in for him. If Ben chooses to do so, I'd like him to eventually achieve curatorship at the Audrain because we need good young people such as Ben in preparation for that and other positions to save and portray our automotive history, as you have. Moving on, I wanted to comment that, I'd love for the two of you to drive on these same roads at the same speeds, in my 1948 Chrysler Windsor. Unless either of you are familiar with that vintage of Chrysler, I think you would be pleased by how well its handling and road holding ability is, as well as the riding comfort in doing so. Though rack and pinion steering and tighter steering ratios do require less input, what I've found to be true over and again when comparing vintage cars to those more modern, has been that the most beneficial difference to be achieved, hasn't been made as much by generational engineering improvements but that of modern radial tires.

[@mebeasensei]

What about the beautiful seat belts? They are very discrete and they don't spoil the look and riding experience at all. Cudos for DeSoto!

[@hughmackellar7941]

Nice.

[@dancahill8555]

I was in 3rd grade. Who would have guessed Desoto would go under, or Packard or Studebaker, for that matter? Pole position!

[@maniyan_wanagi]

The Alternator noise in the audio is interesting.

[@joelpierce3940]

Nice car. I am wondering if your classic cars are ever equipped with seatbelts? My dad added them to all our old cars. He was an Aeronautical Engineer, and seatbelts were in all the USAF aircraft

[@nastybastardatlive]

Some of us choose to live dangerously. I owned a 1962 Lincoln that had the optional (at that time) seatbelts, and i removed them. The law must require seatbelts before i will tolerate them in my cars.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

The most lethal aspect of those beautiful cars, was the nasty fact that the steering columns would, in an accident, frequently impale the driver!

[@OsbornTramain]

To Me, the 1956 DeSoto and Chrysler both represents Chrysler products in a form that was Modern......this is the year that they became technically modern cars....you could drive one now every day and it would operate as a modern car....it wouldn't look modern, but from a system perspective, it's modern...push button transmission, v8 Power, all automatic. I might be biased, it's what I learnt how to drive on, my first car I ever owned, was a 1956 DeSoto......and purchasing it in 1973, wasn't something done lightly, it was sought after......I did my research and this was the car I wanted.

[@craigpennington1251]

Very cool car but that Pink paint must go.Absolutely!

[@jerrycallender9352]

Mama had a 1955 Coronado - kick a wheel going into passing gear at 50 mph

[@phillpearson7531]

Sorry about the misspelling of fireflite I’m getting old.

[@richardwallace133]

My best friend in 9th grade and I almost bought a car similar to that with a red ram hemi I always regret not following through with that deal

[@jerrycallender9352]

It's also refreshing seeing a man driving a car with his hands in the correct position, and not driving with a limp wrist draped over the top of the wheel.

[@daniellatimer1876]

The Monteverde was powered by a 375 horsepower 440 V8 from Chrysler.

[@michaeldonaher2851]

Chrysler made well built cars without sacrificing luxury. Loved this video Donald and getting to know Ben a little more.

[@paullazarro4295]

Yep.

[@davemeshamsr6000]

Pink car😮

[@luisamorim638]

Beautiful year for Chryslers with powerful V8 engines.

[@phillpearson7531]

Also , these car with the were so fast that Nascar banded them.

[@automatedelectronics6062]

It's too bad that Chrysler treated Desoto like the red-haired step-child, never promoting them like they did with their other brands. they gave them larger engines than Chrysler's other brands but smaller than the Chrysler brand. Most Desotos I've seen usually had the 2-speed Powerflite automatic, eventhough the 3-speed Torqueflite was around. With these older Mopars, you had to carry a brick with you, especially when you parked on a hill and you had an automatic transmission. I'd never seen a Mopar that had a properly adjusted parking brake or seen one that would hold on a hill. The '56 Desotos could have more HP than the '55 Chrysler 300. Oh, by the way, what is that whining noise?

[@davemeshamsr6000]

Seems like a rum runner car?

[@eduardorogeliorodriguez7012]

Este interior es un sillon de una casa

[@billmagorian490]

I actually like the 55 more. The lines were clean and the dorky fins that Chrysler went overboard in the 50's and for too long put on their 60's cars. At least in this car the fins are subtle. I think instead of the separate tail lights on the fins a single light would have been more attractive. A family in my 50's neighborhood bought a stripped down Desoto four door but it had a push button drive and that was way cool for a kid in the 50's. I especially like the beautiful interior door panels on this car. Other manufacturers put detailed and attractive door panels on their cars. This is absent in even very high priced cars today. In the video the power brakes and windows were covered. Did this car have power seats, heater, radio, clock? There was so much apologetic conversation about the cars handling and breaking that audio and video of the cars features was not adequately covered. It would have been a much better video if you would have pulled over and did a thorough go over of the car. Frankly only a small portion of your ride conversation did this. so much was missing.

[@nastybastardatlive]

The 55 looked like a frumpy potato compared to the models from 58 on.

[@wildcat64100]

What’s Ben’s last name and what is ABS?

[@AudrainMuseumNetwork]

ABS is our podcast! Hosted by some of the youngest members of Audrain - Antonio Melegari, Ben Chester, and Sean O’Donnell. Check it out here: Podcast: In The Drivers' Seat with ABS kzbin.info/aero/PLdNT8TMd3cccKMapaVUKhhgzCksM0nlPS And follow the ABS Instagram page: instagram.com/driversseatwithabs?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= for a behind-the-scenes look at all things Audrain! We’re going to LA next week to visit some big names in the auto industry, you don’t want to miss it!

[@13Photodog]

My father had a 55 Fireflite Coronado with an ARA aftermarket AC what a great car. 56 was the first year Desoto offered AC as a factory option

[@danielulz1640]

Airtemp Factory installed air conditioning was available on De Soto, Chrysler and Imperial beginning with the 1954 models.

[@davidharris7932]

@@danielulz1640 Actually, mid '53.

[@johnfrei9057]

No seatbelts? My boys are riding tough!

[@ramblingsadrift6477]

Side view...duhh...?

[@1957kwick]

Would’ve been nice if they showed the car and all its features rather than just driving around in it and gabbing

[@curbozerboomer1773]

What the heck...no seatbelts?..very bad example being set here.

[@JrGoonior]

What seatbelts? The car was built without them.

[@nastybastardatlive]

The next year's model was the real star. And "coupe" is pronounced "koop" in America, not "koo-pay". Your pretentiousness is not an attractive way to behave.

[@suomenpresidentti]

You will have that continental feeling with the gentlemans maneurism indeed. P. S. Greetings From Finland!