Video: The Delightful, De-Lovely DeSoto For 1956

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For 1956, DeSoto was sporting taller tailfins, larger and more powerful hemi V8s, and a theme song borrowed from Cole Porter.

 

The musical theme for this 1955 DeSoto campaign, of course, is an adaption of the famous 1936 Cole Porter song “It’s De-Lovely,” originally sung by Ethel Merman and  Bob Hope on Broadway and since covered by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Lady Gaga. It’s such a catchy song and a natural fit for the brand, in fact, that we’re wondering why it took so long  for the DeSoto ad people to borrow it. “It’s delightful, it’s de-lovely, it’s DeSoto!”

Mopar performance fans will certainly find this de-lovely: The entire DeSoto product line for ’56 received larger and more muscular hemi V8s. There was a 330.4 CID, 230 hp V8 for the base Firedome, a four-barrel-carb version of the 330.4 V8 with 255 hp for the Fireflite, and a 341.4 CID V8 with 320 hp that was standard in the new Adventurer.

Styling changes for ’56 included a fine mesh insert to replace the traditional Destoto grille teeth and a new rear end with taller tailfins and a stack of three round tail lamps per fin. (“Super Power Safety Lights,” DeSoto called them.) It seems the director for this spot really liked the new fins and lamps. Video below.

 

2 thoughts on “Video: The Delightful, De-Lovely DeSoto For 1956”

  1. The 341.4 CID V8 with 320 hp that was standard in the new Adventurer was basically a smaller version of the Chrysler 300B, equipped with a 354 hemi and 2 four barrel carbs.

    As a collector of 1955 – 56 Imperials, I’ve had every body style including a C-70 Crown Imperial limousine, and I’ve always wondered why Chrysler never offered a ’55 or ’56 Imperial convertible, so I was prepared to accept a ’56 Adventurer convertible, but never found one I could justify buying, they were all either too expensive or too far gone to restore. I had a 1956 Imperial 2-door hardtop parts car and a 1956 Chrysler Windsor convertible, so I considered combining them to make a ’56 Imperial convertible, but the Windsor was far too rusty — no floors.

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