Big car fins..

big tee

Well-known Member
Some people say the 1958 Desoto had the biggest fins, but other people say the 1959 Cadillac did. I don't know but they had a 59 Cad. at the sale 2 days ago and it brought $21000 unrestored. Cheap??---Tee
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Sounds high, depending on what it needs for restoration. Suspension looks low, but many parts are reproduced for that too model. Ben
 
They say the unrestored cars are the craze now,Original is bringing good money now.If you restore something you usually never get your money out of it I have been told.
 
Friend of mine is restoring a 59 Plymouth Suburban wagon. Big fins and all. Gotta like the fins.
 
Amazing.

I well remember when you could hardly give one away.

A friend of mine once junked a 63 Cadillac and put the engine and transmission into a 57 Chevrolet Belaire convertible.

He also had a 57 Belair 2 door hardtop with a 62 2X4 409.

Dean
 
When we returned from a deployment to the middle east aboard an aircraft carrier in 1958, one of our pilots bought a new '58 Desoto. We kidded him about putting trim tabs in the fins.
 
What a boat! Grandpa had a 1960 Caddy. White in color. same as pic. The 60 had fins but not that high. No tail lights in fins. Speaking of boats, Grandpa was from Belgium and traveled back to the "old country" many times. He was somewhat of a bragger so when he had the 60 Caddy he took it over to Belgium to show off to the relatives how successful he was here in the states. Loaded it on the Queen Mary. I'm told he took his 54 Caddy over there too but don't know what ship that time.
 
Is that one of the cars that had air suspension and that when you shut it off the car lowered so to make it easier to exit and when it started it would raise back up?
 
the caddys had biggest wings , but ,57 and 58 desoto Was the MOST Beautifukl Car of All ,, dad had a 58 with a 392 hemi from a wrekt ambulance ,, pop claimed those wings helpt hold the road when you got up around 70-100 mph cruisin ,. he ought a know ,, he put 200,000 miles on our 57 desoto
 
(quoted from post at 20:53:31 06/28/17) Is that one of the cars that had air suspension and that when you shut it off the car lowered so to make it easier to exit and when it started it would raise back up?

The Eldorado’s had air suspension, the rest were all coil springs.
I have had this one over 50 years, restored it in the early 90s. It
Was a total labor of love plus $$$. I need to drive it more or sell it, The last of the big fins.
Comes a time in life when you have to thin the herd.
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he
 
The fin frenzy began in 1956, reached its ridiculous peak in 1959, pulled back a bit in 1960 and gradually disappeared. In my opinion the Chrysler family of cars had it all over the other competitors, as the "fin" was more an integral part of the cars' feature, rather than an ill-conceived effort to put something on the back of the car to make it look exotic. Chrysler succumbed to some extent to this creative effort, but for the most part retained their clean, sweeping lines that made their cars look sleek and fast. My personal favorite was the 1957 Chrysler 300 C, the 1958 300 D, and the 1959 300 E (all were nearly identical) convertible. I'd wager that not many on this forum have ever seen a 300 C, D or E as less than 2,000 were made in those years, and only about 400 convertibles in each year. It's fair to point out that I never owned one.
 
(quoted from post at 23:22:41 06/28/17) The fin frenzy began in 1956, reached its ridiculous peak in 1959, pulled back a bit in 1960 and gradually disappeared. In my opinion the Chrysler family of cars had it all over the other competitors, as the "fin" was more an integral part of the cars' feature, rather than an ill-conceived effort to put something on the back of the car to make it look exotic. Chrysler succumbed to some extent to this creative effort, but for the most part retained their clean, sweeping lines that made their cars look sleek and fast. My personal favorite was the 1957 Chrysler 300 C, the 1958 300 D, and the 1959 300 E (all were nearly identical) convertible. I'd wager that not many on this forum have ever seen a 300 C, D or E as less than 2,000 were made in those years, and only about 400 convertibles in each year. It's fair to point out that I never owned one.

Forget the year of the car, but used to work on a Chrysler 300 that had this carburetor setup on it

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Probably many of us old coots wished we still had a few of the cars we owned when we were younger. 55 Pontiac had fins as did the 56, I owned a 56 convertible and a 59 two door. Wished I still had the 59.

Bought a 57 Chevy convertible for $50.00 with a blown engine. Never did anything with it and ended up selling it for what I paid. Bought a 49 Caddy convertible for $25.00 and traded it for a transmission for my 56 Pontiac. 49 Caddy also had fins but they were pretty small. My first car was a 49 Ford I bought running for $35.00.

Different world back in the 60's, thanks for bringing back fond memories of days past.
 
Those fins could be dangerous. Uncle had a 59 Caddy. Cousin was playing ball tripped and hit the car. Still has the scar on his forehead.
 
If you Wikipedia Chrysler you will find that back in the days of the MOPAR hemi early childhood, the CEO or Mr. Chrysler wanted a 250k mile engine. Very impressive when I think about my GM V8s popping the nylon caps off the cam drive gear, causing the timing to slip and putting a valve through the top of a piston at 85K miles......supposed to be for noise reduction, the capping of the ALUMINUM gear at that.....yeah right.

My first vehicle was a 37 Ford flathead 60 hp V8 coupe. Second was a '37 Chebby 3 on the tree hot water 6 p/u that got 100 miles to a gallon.......of oil. Grin.

I had a 2009 hemi and it was all it was cracked up to be. Course my current 2011 Silverado 4.8, with a light load in the truck is nothing to sneeze at either. GM finally learned (from Chrysler) that an engine is an air pump and you need big holes if you want to move lots of air.
 
Not cheap but if its as rust free as it appears its probably about right in price. My old boss had a 1959 Series 62 convertible that he tried to get restored. His first attempt was with a local guy who did his best to destroy the car - tin riveted behind rust holes, inches and inches thick bondo everywhere, paint with runs basically looked like some drunk high school kids tried their hand it. He paid the guy $7000 for that mess. He asked me if I knew a guy and I took over the project. About $10,000 later he had a decent looking driver. To have really done the car right it probably would have taken a better shop and about $30,000.

Those cars handled horribly. The massive overhang on the back coupled with the "X" frame that gave the body no rigidity was a disaster of epic proportions. You could have all the gaps lined up around the doors and fenders and after a couple hundred miles of driving they would all change - the convertible was much worse than the coupe.
 
Price is what someone was willing to pay for it. As far as the fins go? That was the dawning of the jet and space era. Many people thought they looked ultra modern. Me? I think they were/are ridiculous. Each to their own.

Rick
 
I don't remember that they would automatically lower, not sure the suspension was even adjustable from the cabin, as are the low riders of today. The one in the picture is probably just tired and needs repair.
 
That would be a 413 wedge, somewhere around 1962.

Friend had 413 with the torque inducing fender well mounted AFBs in a 32 coupe.

Dean
 
My son has a Plymouth in his shop with that carb setup. He had that car totally taken apart a while ago. Belongs to a guy who bought it new. Hung it on the rotisserie, did some body work painted the body inside and out. He's in the process of reassemble now. It's beginning to look like a car again. Engine was taken by the owner to be rebuilt. Takes a while to put together what someone else took apart at a different location.
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Loved those 50's cars. Second car was a '58 Plymouth Belvedere 2-door hardtop, baby blue and white, 318 with a 4 barrel and torque flite tranny. Loved that car but had to have something newer so got a new '64 fury 2-door hardtop with the 361 and 3 speed, but always regretted not going the whole mile for a Sport Fury with the 383 and 4 speed.
 
i want it,!!!, dad bought mom a 57 Fireflite a lot like that except the white flare went down to give it a lift swept look , fiesta red and frost white,..it had ADVENTURER badges , 4 Door hardtop,. i used to wash that car and recall catching the cloth on all the chrome and worse the broken rust on the rocker panels , mom would always chek the taillite towers as to whether we did a good job washing the gravel dust off ,, they are beautiful !. Dad had the air of a king taking all of us to church in that car,, it had a thermometor type speedometor red liqiud tape sort of stuff .i will neverforget when pop and me broke the speedometor on that Desoto,. Dad asked me not to tell ,,.. and i kept that secret til the day of his funeral ,. LOL ,. we also had a black 60 Adventurer,it had nice wings too , and that radiant dash was the prettiest thing thiskid ever saw. Dad Bought it for Mom Because she was about to get speeding tikets she blamed the broken speedometor and got out of the tiket both times ,,. but Mom Prefered the Red one over the Black One Because it would get up and GO ,. and she claimed the black one used more gas , the reality was it had a 3 gallon less fuel tank ,,. LOl ,, i like to tell the story of my sister getting stopt with that red Desoto by a motorcycle cop that was sweet on her , he would stop her for speeding too , and tailite or turn signal ,, one nite in the winter he stopt dad at nite for a licsense plate lite ,, came up to the window shiviering and grinning ,.his face dropt when he saw it was dad instead of Ruthie,. dad toldHim This Cars got enuf liktes on it to worry about , And stop botherin His daughtewr ,she Is Engaged to get Married in May , and if he didnt Knock it Off He was gonna have a talk With the Sherrif he served with in WW 2 next...
 
yes ,the big convertible flexs ,,. sinece 1974 i own a triple black 69 Marquis convertible , i Learned QUIK ,, you DO NOT raise the back end with a bumper jack and with the top Down , the sides dimple in about a 1 in a perfect 1 ft circle rite above the wheelhouse , 1st time that happened i just about died of heart failure , always use a floor jack under rear seat and raise , the bumper just a bitto slip the tire out ,,.. Especially Now ,, .after vocational school butcherd the quarter panels ,,..(the rust was minimal , but the instructor wanted to teach how to replate / reskin with half quarters,,. trouble was the shhet metal guys missed their marx on their bends, and would not admit fault . and therefore refused to make it rite,, the rear bend crease was 2 inches lower at the bumper , i considered to send them back and fix what i had , in spite of the 25% restock charge . however ,the instructor insisted he could make it worse uahh .. WORK,., shux had it rite the 1st time , ,, the passenger side turned out best the driver side has 1 inch of bondo in places i could bet and now it is crakt ,, ,i am all for learning and teaching the kids and giving them experience and learning from my mistakes , but golly i took this one hard on the chin ,,. gotta hand it to the kids thou ,, they got the sides shimmierng perfect , although they buft the paint so much to get out orange peel the primer showed thru on the corners ,. the car hadto be repainted by another previous graduate of school , who now runs a successful body shop ,. Tom Just Shook his head in disbelief at the lacjk of supervision that apparantly was so lacking with my car by the teacher ,,.,. when that centari black paint waxed up smart , it is like a mirror ,. and there is not a spot that dont look true .. i just put that car back on the road legal ,,after a long ordeal with the brakes ,, it has all new parts front to back and in between lines andall , except for the divider valve ,m,. and i think i am having trouble with that componet ,the car has seen 350,000miles ,i put 300 thousanmdon myself ,since 74' it has been to the carolinas , florida ,virginia beach , new york , niagra falls 3 times,got a picture of it in front of the sacred Alamo in texas , kansas ,nebraska and the st louis arch .and opreyland half dozen times . and Graceland too ,. the 429 4V 825 Edlebrock runs VERY strong and so smooth , and that Marquis floats like a cloud,. i love driving it in thed early morning or late evening nites ,,, that triple black is a real heat collector ,my 1st wife and i kept a blanket on the seats in summer and that blanket was handy to have at the drivin and nite time country stops,..
 
yepthat looks to be a 62 plymoth/dopge,,... the 413 was in the chyrsler 300 my brothers girlfriend used to have fun with ,, til her daddy took the keys away ,.. LOL that car had bench buket seats front and back and a mini consoile and radiant blue green dash lites ,,. but no fins to help control the car in a strait line ,. BTW,. anyone got apix of the 69-70 superrbird , that got banned from chikenshyt NASCAR because it was TOO FLAMIN FAST !!andnothing could beat it,
 
damodam !!, luv those tailites double torpedo ,,. my uncle bill who served in the solomon isles , had a Imperial with the
gunsite on the back tail lites, that same car i think had the spare tire carrier on top of the trunk,, but that mite have been
his plymoth ,.. btw ,Uncle Billworked at the louisville plant for IHC ,,He cut All The Bull Gears for the H,M, 300,350 and 400
s that were built there..he was a good Union Steward that could see b/s a mile away for a bogus claim and at the same time
could not stand any injustice or un fairness and would fite for the man to the last nail .. a GREAT AmeriCan like My Dad and
many others, YOU guys Know...
 
A least a 69 Marquis has a ladder type frame under it running the perimeter of the floor pan. The GM "X" frame has a single frame running down the center of the car in the drive shaft hump. When they do comparisons to show how much safer a modern car is over one from the 50s they love using big GM cars with the x frame - they literally self destruct in a hard impact. A comparable sized Ford or Dodge is nowhere near as flimsy.
 
59 Cadillac has the biggest fins, and ive measured most which are in a private car collection i have access to 250 cars and to go bigger you need to start in on airplanes lol everybody wanted fins and tail lites that looked like jet exhaust , with the coming of the jet age back then , its just a good thing people in the 20's didnt want propellers on their cars or things would have really looked odd
 

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