Introduced in 1957, the low-priced Firesweep line gave Chrysler’s DeSoto division a much-needed boost in sales volume, but at a cost to the rest of the company. Mecum Auctions photo.
Despite some good years here and there, Chrysler’s DeSoto division often struggled to find a footing in the post-World War II car market, with annual sales bumping along at around the 100,000-per-year mark. (For scale, this volume was typically a fraction of Plymouth’s, and less than half that of Dodge.) In an effort to expand the brand’s meager annual numbers, for 1957 Chrysler rolled out a new, low-priced DeSoto line, the Firesweep.
1959 DeSoto Firesweep Shopper Station Wagon
Unlike the existing Firedome, Fireflite, and Adventurer models, all constructed on the senior Chrysler platform, the Firesweep was based on the smaller, cheaper Dodge line, with a Dodge 325 CID V8 under the hood. And in fact, Firesweep production was housed not at the DeSoto plant on Wyoming Avenue on Detroit’s West Side but at Dodge Main a few miles away in Hamtramck. The exterior sheet metal was Dodge-based as well, but with DeSoto tail fins, trim, and badging to provide the appropriate product identity. Features and interior appointments were befitting a DeSoto, and the Virgil Exner Forward Look styling was a visual knockout. The price was very attractive, too: hundreds of dollars less than the previous DeSoto price leader, the Firedome.
We can see where this is going. DeSoto volume for 1957 took a healthy jump to more than 117,000 cars, with the Firesweep accounting for more than a third of the volume at 41,000 units. But as the Chrysler corporate product planners took a closer look at the numbers, the truth was all too evident. The Firesweep was simply cannibalizing an equal number of Dodge division sales, while also diluting sales of the bigger, more profitable senior DeSoto models. With the Firesweep, Chrysler wasn’t building sales so much as merely moving them around, and at considerable cost.
Underlying this exercise in furniture moving was an unfortunate fact: Chrysler Corporation had too many car divisions, too many brands. After three seasons, the Firesweep line was discontinued in 1959. The 1960 DeSoto lineup was cut to only two models, Fireflite and Adventurer, and for model year 1961 there was just one, simply badged DeSoto. (See our 1961 DeSoto feature here.) On November 30, 1960, the DeSoto division was killed once and for all.
The 1st car I remember as a kid, was the old man’s ’59 DeSoto. I remember it barely fit in our garage, and riding on the package tray below the backlight was a regular thing. ( my old man would hit the brakes, and we’d go flying, horrors today, but we thought it fun) The speedometer was the ribbon type and changed colors, 0-30, green, 30-50, yellow, and over 50, red and a dashboard I’ll never forget. Seemed so futuristic. He hated Chrysler products, and the next car was a ’63 Olds, and he never had a Chrysler again. He probably was embarrassed to drive a discontinued car.
I have trouble understanding why manufacturers don’t know how to position their line, I suspect that the problem is dealers.
DeSoto wasn’t the economy line, so obviously there are fewer with the dosh to buy one compared to Plymouth. And though better appointed, Chrysler carries more prestige as the top line car. So you just make Dodges better equipped Plymouths and DeSoto lesser equipped Chryslers.
But clearly the DeSoto dealers weren’t satisfied with the amount of traffic they were getting and wanted some of Dodge’s sales.
It looks like (including Imperial) there were four wheelbases in 1957 118″,122″,126″, 129″.
Plymouth, Dodge and Imperial each have an exclusive size, with DeSoto split between Dodge & Chrysler. DeSoto clearly is unnecessary overhead. Just make a low-content Chrysler and save the administrative costs of a separate division. On the other hand, I think Imperial always should have been separate and had it’s own platform.
It gets worse with GM. Way too much platform sharing there. Three divisions is right, but I would have chosen Olds instead of Buick. Badge the Oldsmobiles as Buicks in China if you must. And either move all the trucks to GMC or all to Chevy. Dealers again.
Very sad to see once proud brands diappear, we have lost virtually all ours in the UK. VW has the best record on offering a widely differteniated spread of brands, built in different countries , but sharing a lot of parts underneath. They have established Audi as a top selling prestige brand, and Skoda as a high value line, although they are getting more expensive – £35k for a Superb wagon. GM lost it’s way in the 80s, their cars were too similar, and not well made either. Had they got their act together maybe the Koreans wouldn’t have got such a footh
old, it was already too late to stop the Japanese