Classic DeSoto Cars for Sale

21 listings

Buy & Sell DeSoto Classics. New listings added daily.

Fireflite (4) Firedome (3) Adventurer (2) Coronado (1) Deluxe (1) S18 (1)

DeSoto (1928–1961) was Chrysler's mid-range brand, producing stylish, well-engineered cars. Classic DeSotos feature dramatic 1950s styling with Chrysler's renowned HEMI power.

21 listings found

Sort

Dealer

Texas

1954 DeSoto Firedome

$19,745 $20,995 89,730 miles

Dealer

United States

1953 DeSoto S18

$13,995 111,111 miles

Dealer

United States

Frequently Asked Questions about Classic DeSoto

DeSoto was created by Walter P. Chrysler as a new brand of the Chrysler Corporation and was unveiled on August 4, 1928, as a 1929 model. It was a mid-priced six-cylinder car that arrived about a month after the lower-priced Plymouth. Chrysler's corporate history counts 81,065 DeSotos over the first 12 months of production, a first-year record for a new model that stood until the 1960 Ford Falcon.

DeSoto was named after Hernando de Soto, the 16th-century Spanish explorer. Chrysler's corporate history describes him as the Spaniard who conquered Florida, discovered the Mississippi River and served as Spain's governor of Cuba. The marque name appears in print both as DeSoto and as De Soto.

DeSoto was a Chrysler Corporation division for its entire life, from 1928 through the 1961 model year. Production was centered in the Detroit area. The division later had its own plant on Wyoming Avenue in Detroit, and the final cars came from Chrysler's Jefferson Avenue plant.

The DeSoto Airflow was a streamlined car sold for the 1934, 1935 and 1936 model years, with the engine moved forward and rear passengers seated within its 115.5-inch wheelbase. In 1934 it was the only DeSoto offered, and the marque's output fell to 13,940 cars. A conventionally styled Airstream joined the line for 1935, and the Airflow was dropped after 1936.

The 1942 DeSoto had hidden headlights, which the division called Airfoil lights. Sheet-metal covers concealed the lamps when they were not in use. The Cord 810 of 1936 had hidden headlamps earlier, but the DeSoto is credited as the first American mass-market car with the feature. It lasted one model year: the 1946 DeSoto was essentially the 1942 car with conventional exposed headlamps.

DeSoto got its first V8 for 1952 with the Firedome, a 276-cubic-inch engine with hemispherical combustion chambers rated at 160 horsepower. It followed the 331-cubic-inch FirePower V8 that Chrysler had introduced for the 1951 model year. DeSoto enlarged its Hemi in later years, and a 341-cubic-inch version powered the 1956 Adventurer.

The DeSoto Adventurer was a limited-production performance model introduced during the 1956 model year. It was a two-door hardtop based on the Fireflite, with a 341-cubic-inch Hemi V8 fed by two four-barrel carburetors and a gold, white and black color scheme. DeSoto built 996 of them for 1956. A convertible was added for 1957, and the Adventurer name continued through 1960.

Chrysler ended DeSoto in November 1960, soon after the 1961 models went on sale, and production at the Jefferson Avenue plant in Detroit stopped on November 30, 1960. Only 3,034 of the 1961 cars were built. Accounts of the marque's end point to the 1958 recession, which cut demand for mid-priced cars, and to overlap inside Chrysler, with Dodge moving upmarket and lower-priced Chrysler models competing directly with DeSoto.

The 21 DeSoto listings on Classic Cars Arena right now include 20 with an asking price of $1,000 or more. Those are priced from $2,000 to $65,000, with a median asking price of $16,745. These are the prices sellers are asking today, not sale prices, and the figures change as cars are listed and sold.

Car alert

Get an email when a DeSoto is listed

At most one email a day. Stop anytime with one click.

Have a DeSoto for Sale?

Reach thousands of serious classic car collectors across the US.

Sell It Here →

Selling a classic? Here's how: where to sell your classic car online

Are You a Classic Car Dealer?

List your full inventory and connect with targeted classic car buyers.

Join as a Dealer →

🔥

Best Deals

Cars with recent price cuts

Classic DeSoto Cars for Sale

1957 DeSoto Firedome

1953 DeSoto Adventurer

1956 DeSoto Fireflite

1960 DeSoto Fireflite

1955 DeSoto Fireflite

1949 DeSoto Custom

1953 DeSoto Firedome

1954 DeSoto Coronado

1950 DeSoto Custom

1936 DeSoto Deluxe

1951 DeSoto Custom

1932 DeSoto Street Rod

1950 DeSoto Custom

1961 DeSoto Adventurer

1950 DeSoto Custom

1954 DeSoto Firedome

1952 DeSoto Custom

1959 DeSoto Fireflite

1953 DeSoto S18

1949 DeSoto Custom

1948 DeSoto Custom

Frequently Asked Questions about Classic DeSoto

Classic DeSoto Cars: Chrysler's Stylish Mid-Range

Most Popular Classic DeSoto Models