Technical desoto help, which type is it?

I went to look at this desoto but the owner does not know the type and year, so i took some pictures with my phone and hope to find out more info abouth the car this way.
I'm still not sure if it will be a parts car ore a project car.
the problem: broken windshield, no front bumper and as you can see disassembled.
i think it is a 58 firesflite, but it would then have to be a 361 no?
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Looks like a 383 RB engine to me going by distributor location, valve covers?

 

it's a B, not RB? you can tell by how close the valley cover hold down bolts are to the end of the retainer plate.

ML-383 is the engine number for a 59 desoto

 

The car itself is a 1959 Desoto.
The body style is a two door Sportsman, which is Desoto-ese for "hardtop."
It has the tall back window, which indicates it is either a Fireflite, which used that glass as standard equipment; or it could be a Firedome, which could have that glass added optionally.

For '57 and '58, Fireflites were 4-barrel engines. Seeing that 2bbl intake makes me think this car is a Firedome. Look at the body tag. It will either be on the radiator core support near the passenger headlight, or it will be on the passenger side cowl. Take a picture or jot down the numbers and we can decipher the body code.

 

Unless it is really cheap I would walk away. Most of the hard to find parts are already gone.

 

I know where a 58 or 59 DeSoto with the oddball 350 B engine and a powerflite is. Couldnt talk the guy out of it when he was alive... I was gonna put a 413 with long tube crossram in it
Ever see the comic strip "Shoe" about a bird that works at a paper. He has a Desoto like this and it is the constant butt of jokes. It might be hard in Belgium to get a parts car, but how many will you see like it?

 

whewww....an ML383 code.....a rare RB block they made for a year or two....-most all have the 2 barrel intake - it's what I want to find make a stock stroke'r out of using the 440 guts......don't confuse these blocks with a stock 383 block....but....wait....the back window - does he have it ?

 

Never heard of the comic the shoe

 

what is the difference between a B and a RB?
and the ML code is it only rare or also special or maybe better?

I do not know if the rear window or most of the trim is with the car, also the lighs and rear chroom I have not seen, he say it was at a other location.

I was thinking to buy it for the engine (may come in handy sooner or later) and sell al the rest of the parts but there will not be much demand in europe for desoto parts i think. And finding the missing parts to restore it will be difficult.

 

Actually, all of the very best Desotos are in Europe. The Scandinavians just love them. The body looks rust free. If I were you, I would buy the car if it's a good price. I can put you in contact with a couple of people that will buy everything you're willing to sell.

 

All RBs had 3.75 stoke from 383-440

 

RB 383 has different stroke & bore than the B.

 

The engine shown is a 'B' engine as Squirrel already noted. The B engines have the ID pad as shown; the RB have the ID pad next to the dist and it is on a horizontal plane.
B engines: 350, 361, 383, 400
RB engines: 383, 413, 426W, 440

.

 

and shouldn't the Desoto blocks be MS1 or MS2....or 3 and 4 with MS1 being the only non RB block...these are 1959 codes....

 

They made 2 versions of the big block or B block V8. The B version in 350,361, and 383 sizes and the RB in 383 and 413 sizes.

The difference between B and RB was the raised block. The cylinder block was .727 inch taller. This allowed for a longer stroke in the RB version.

The B engine was originally meant to go in Plymouth and Dodge while DeSoto Chrysler and Imperial were to get the RB.

Notice that they made 2 different 383 cu in engines with different bore and stroke! This duplication only lasted about 2 years, then they standardized the B or low block 383.

So, your DeSoto has one of the raised block 383s. There was nothing wrong with these engines, it just means you have to be careful when ordering parts.

 

Absolutely a low deck 383. That ML code has me worried. I find that it is Marine Left rotation, if true it's an Ouchy!

 

look here...
http://www.desoto.org/home

 

The windshield can be had easily, all 57-59 Mopar convertible and hardtop have the same opening, although there's a couple of different windshields. The rear window is the one that will be a bitch to find. It might literally be easier to find a convertible donor and change it over than to find that glass. I found one some 10 years ago and a guy drove from Michigan to NY to get it for his Chrysler 300. His? Broke somehow while out for the car to be painted. Probably had a chip in it.

Of course, it could also be the excuse to chop it -

 

I just called the owner for more info! He has the back window but no exterior chroom at all! So it is a donor car i told him! He say he drove the car last year home when he bought it! I say with no bumpers and chroom and a broken front windshield? Yes he say!

I did not look at the tranny, what should be in the car original?

 

Transmission should be a cast iron Torqueflite, 3 speed automatic, controlled by push buttons on the instrument panel, to the left of the steering wheel.

 

Can you buy the car, or what is left of it, for scrap iron price?

If you really run a custom shop it might be possible to rebuild the car as a custom, buying a new windshield , dechroming the body and making new grille, bumpers etc.

Too bad, a neighbor scrapped a 59 DeSoto sedan a few years ago that had bumpers, tail lights, grille etc. I saved a few parts but all I have left is the steering wheel and headlight rings.

 

I also thought all RB engine had the flat pad beside the distributor.

 

Your engine number does not appear on this list of DeSoto serial numbers

http://www.duricy.com/~desoto/desoto_serial_numbers.shtml#1959

Closest is MS1-L which indicates a Firesweep model, made in Detroit or Los Angeles.

 

It's a B, not an RB. The pad with the numbers stamped in it is flush with the head surface, on an RB that surface is not machined and is below the head surface level because of the raised deck height.

 

One more time boys and girls...the OP has a B engine...
This is an RB:
The machined pad is horizontal and on the drivers side of the distributor.

 

I have a restoration/ body shop shop in belgium, a 1 man shop mostly non hamb cars. I should change my hamb name because I do not work on customcars. But I do not think thats possible without losing your history.

I have a 70 challenger with a 318 in that I can put the 383 in. ore my 66 coronet (also 318)
He is not exactly asking a scrap price but i see people asking 1000euro for a 383 over here. And the body is in a decent state, its just a mather of finding other desoto owners.

 

Simply open a new account with your preferred name and keep your old account too.
there's probably some way how you can link the two together.

 

If you could buy it reasonable it might be possible to make a car out of it but not to restore it to original. A lot of custom cars start out the same way. They need too much work and it is not practical to get the original parts.

Here is a similar car that got the full custom treatment. Note that almost all the chrome trim has been removed, and the grille replaced with one made of chrome tubes. See how nice it looks? You don't have to chop the top.

http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_...stom_cars/joe_wilhelm/clif_inman_57_chrysler/

 

I went to pick up the car this week.
he had the rest of the parts at a different place so I have to go back again for the rest of the parts.
rear window in good condition.