JP’s A to Z Challenge – F is for Firedome

What, you might ask, is a Firedome? No, it is not a car for hotheads. The real answer: it was what DeSoto called the model equipped with its V8 engine. Oh, what is a DeSoto? It was a brand of car built by the Chrysler Corporation between 1928 and 1961, when it was given the axe in some corporate belt-tightening of the kind Chrysler has needed to do every several years.

When I was a kid my grandma drove a DeSoto Firedome. She told me hers was a 1954, which confused me when I saw a picture of a 1954 model that looked just like this one. It turned out that hers was a 1955 model, which was quite a bit different. At age 7, I did not know enough to tell her that her car was a year newer than she thought it was. Hers was pink and white instead of this more conservative two-tone blue.

Another thing I did not know at age 7 was to ask grandma the question “That thing got a Hemi?” I am pretty sure grandma would have have asked “What on earth is a Hemi?” But that’s all right, because I know the answer now – hers absolutely did, and this one does too. The first Chrysler V8 engine came down the pike in 1951, and it was the original version of that company’s legendary Hemi design. The DeSoto got a smaller edition of the Hemi in 1952, so it was still a fairly new development when this car was made. Which is probably why the car is practically covered with big chrome-plated “V”s.

I always wondered why new world explorers from Spain were so popular for car names from before my time – General Motors introduced the LaSalle around the same time DeSotos came out. DeSoto, at one point, even offered a Coronado model. If you have a car named after two Spanish explorers, do you need GPS? Because it should be almost impossible to get lost.

And this is a Firedome with a Powerflite! Powerflite was Chrysler’s name for its first fully automatic transmission. Grandma’s DeSoto had that too.

I love the way they used to name things in the 1950’s. Chrysler must have liked those names (Firedome and Powerflite) too, because they combined them for the top model of the 1955 lineup – Fireflite! Which kicked the poor Firedome model down to entry-level status from the top-of-the-line perch this 1954 version enjoyed. I am sure someone else’s Grandma enjoyed this car a lot. And maybe even surprised a teenager or two at a stoplight.

Photos by the author, June 30, 2018 at Gateway Classic Cars in suburban Indianapolis, Indiana

36 thoughts on “JP’s A to Z Challenge – F is for Firedome”

  1. Okay, the game is on the rest of the way, J P. I’m trying to guess what car you’ll cover with each letter (and I’ll probably get them all wrong). I expected a Ford Fairlane today. But after reading about the Firedome and all of its details, I’d say you made the more interesting choice. Love all the logos, letters, and hood ornaments these cars were dressed with back in the day.

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    • Thanks, Dave. I was ready to go with a Ford Falcon before I remembered this one.

      I love, love, love the interesting and decorative details on these old ones. Newer cars can be interesting, but they are lacking in such eye candy.

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  4. I’ve always liked the toothy grille on the 1954 models. It looks good today, although it was considered stodgy and dated next to a contemporary Buick or Oldsmobile. I believe that 1954 was the last year that DeSoto offered a six-cylinder engine. After that, DeSoto only offered V-8s until the bitter end.

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    • I agree – I liked these a lot, though I have a curious fetish for the earlier Fluid Torque semi-auto transmission that would probably steer me into a 53.

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  8. “Yeah, it’s got a Hemi.” I always think of Sixties muscle cars when I hear the word Hemi. I love these older cars and the pictures of the details are cool. Thanks for doing this.

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  10. Well it looks like your grandma and Elvis had something in common as they both drove pink cars. It sounds like your grandma was pretty cool with a pink-and-white car with a Hemi engine. I always try to guess what car of the week will be featured with that letter and I figured a “Fury” or a “Fiat” or a “Fiero” – well I’ve never heard of a Firedome. It reminds me a little of last week’s Edsel with that subdued, shiny paint job and look at those whitewalls and the metal covers over the rear whitewalls. That’s a big car!

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      • Yes there are many options for this letter and how could I have forgotten to mention the Ford Fairlane? I write about Fair Lane Estate often enough. I thought of you today as I heard that Chrysler Corporation will turn 100 years old this Friday. In my early days at Y&R ad agency, Chrysler-Plymouth was our biggest client, until Lee Iacocca, in a rage one day fired all of his ad agencies (three of them) as he didn’t like any of their work.

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      • Yes it is! There was a special event today on Belle Isle in Detroit with a parade of very old Chrysler cars. They probably did it today as we’re having a lot of rain over the next two days.

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  11. Every time I see these on the street, anything from this era and earlier, I muse on the idea that these cars were always far easier to get into and out of than modern vehicles. I think one of the reasons people are driving around in some of those behemoth pick-up trucks (which aren’t every utile with those small beds) is the entrance and exit height of the cabin. Stand next to one of these DeSoto’s and you can see how a person was able to just “walk right in”. Not to mention that you could get your families entire trip luggage into the trunk, with a spare dead body as well. The last car I owned that had that ease was my first series Toyota 2005 Scion xB “box”, it was not only the last car I had like that, but the first! I also always muse that if the American car companies can make almost anything, and are making those behemoth pick-up trucks, why can’t they just remake these? Fiberglas bodies, new lighter weight engineering and materials, who knows?

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    • I agree. I have contended that the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regs that first hit 1979 models, and which have always been more lenient on trucks than cars, have essentially outlawed the large car.

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  13. A great choice for “F”. This Desoto has such a stately presence.

    My suspicion is “G” is for Grand Sierra. Or Gran Torino. Or Gran Fury. Or Grand Am. But not Granada.

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    • The Granada makes me laugh. I do not have a photo of one, but a really nice low mile 1976 sedan came up for sale in my area recently. I thought about it for about a nanosecond, but that big sluggish 250 six under the hood brought me back to my senses.

      And as for G, Bzzzzzzt! Sorry, please try again next time. 🙂

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  14. My favorite DeSotos are the 1957-58s. And DeSoto had three “Fire” names for their line of cars: Firesweep, Firedome, and Fireflite! Pure ’50s exuberance!

    BTW, I think the whole “Hemi” thing is overrated . . .

    Isn’t this a beautiful car?

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  16. I have not given this any thought prior, and have done no actual research, but here is my guess on the name thing. Cadillac was the explorer who founded what became Detroit, so there’s a certain logic in naming a car after a big piece of local history. Once Cadillac was a success, naming the companion LaSalle after another Great Lakes area explorer makes sense. Also, Buick’s companion was Marquette, another French explorer in the area. So, did someone decide that if French explorers were good enough for GM, then some Spaniards would work for Chrysler?

    Side note, the Pere Marquette Railway was named after a river, but that was named for the explorer/missionary along with a national forest & the city in northern Michigan.

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    • And Oldsmobile’s Viking was a kind of explorer too. I had not thought about those. It is interesting how faddish names are. Like the many early vehicles named after Greek or Roman Gods.

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