1957 DeSoto museum car up for auction (18 photos)
In 1926, Walter Chrysler founded the DeSoto automobile brand. honor of one of the Spanish conquistadors. In the hierarchy of the concern, cars DeSoto occupied an intermediate niche between the prestigious Chrysler and folk Dodge. 
1957 DeSoto Firesweep Sportsman Coupe hardtop coupe is considered a characteristic representative of aerospace design, one of the whose founders were Chrysler's chief stylist Virgil Exner. The abundance of chrome decor, fancy lights, panoramic windows, keel-fins, two-tone painting of squat bodies for American cars of that time were the norm, and numerous DeSotos are no exception.
Like most other full-size models of the brand, the car is powered by a 345-horsepower 5.3-liter Hemi V8 with hemispherical combustion chamber and the supply of the fuel mixture from two 4-chamber carburetors. The engine was usually paired with an automatic push button gearbox. However, the first customer machine was clearly greedy, choosing mechanics and refusing along the way from such standard options like power steering, power brakes, and even stoves for a couple with a stereo radio.
Years later, the battered DeSoto was restored well-known specialist Bob Schmidt and since 2013 has been part of museum exposition. Factory color - a combination of dusty orange and black - harmonizes with the interior of vinyl with fabric inserts in the same flowers. Looks chic, but before the real Detroit luxury that era, of course, is very far away, because the Firesweep Sportsman line was considered almost budget.
It is difficult to call the current price of the car affordable - the estimated price lot by the organizers of the auction Broad Arrow's Monterey Jet Center is listed in within 75-100 thousand dollars. On the other hand, found in free selling a car of those years in such perfect condition is not so now Just. 
