Lot 5129

Auburn Fall 2012

1959 DeSoto Adventurer

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$41,250 USD | Sold

United States | Auburn, Indiana

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Identification No.
M491100347

The 1956 DeSoto Adventurer took its name from two concept cars built by Ghia for DeSoto. The first Adventurer was designed by Virgil Exner in 1952 and powered by DeSoto's 276 cubic inch hemi-head V-8. After it completed its time on the show circuit Exner adopted it as his personal car for several years, even racing it on occasion. It was followed by a second Adventurer in 1954 designed by Luigi Segre and Giovanni Savonuzzi at Ghia, creating sufficient stir on show that DeSoto adopted its name for the high performance hardtop it brought to market in early 1956. It was offered only as a hardtop or convertible with dual four-barrel carburetor high performance engine.

This 1959 DeSoto Adventurer two-door hardtop is a good, largely original car that has had only one older repaint and is otherwise as delivered in the Adventurer's characteristic white exterior with gold anodized side trim and grille and matching gold vinyl and white cloth interior. A wonderful survivor, it has the standard dual-quad induction, TorqueFlite automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, period aftermarket air condition, swivel seats, "Mirror-Matic" rear view mirror, power windows, seat belts, rear seat speaker, wheel covers, wide whitewall bias ply tires, dual rear antennas and an automatic headlight dimmer. The dash top and package shelf coverings have wrinkled from exposure to the sun but otherwise the interior is very well preserved. The paint and chrome are sound and presentable and the engine compartment has been detailed to very good standards. Loaded with options, this is a pretty, highly-original car that will be admired as a particularly rare example of one of America's great limited production high performance cars, one of just 590 built in 1959 and probably the only one to survive in such wonderful original condition.