In 1955, designer Virgil Exner’s Forward Look styling swept across the entire Chrysler Corporation lineup, including the mid-priced DeSoto division. The rather conservative styling that had defined post-war Mopars to that point was replaced with something longer, lower, wider, and bolder. Finally, these cars had looks to match their modern Hemi V-8 power.

This DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman two-door hardtop is from that pivotal first year of the Forward Look era. As DeSoto’s higher-trim offering, the Fireflite came standard with more chrome, striking decorative side color panels—standard on the convertibles and hardtops—and a 291-cubic-inch FireDome Hemi V-8 that produced a very respectable 200 horsepower thanks to a four-barrel Carter carburetor. An optional PowerFlite automatic transmission, found on the car offered here, featured a dashboard-mounted “Flight Control” gear selector lever.

Offered from the Vehicle Vault Collection, this Fireflite is finished in the classic, period-correct colors of Black with an Emberglow roof and side-sweep panel. Its interior, trimmed in two-tone black and white, is understood to be largely original and features an in-dash radio and a centrally mounted clock in its own distinctive pod. The car rides on whitewall tires and features large DeSoto wheel covers at each corner.

By the end of the Forward Look era, Exner’s designs had evolved in an almost theatrical direction, with towering tailfins and wildly canted headlamps. This 1955 DeSoto Fireflite, with its always desirable Sportsman two-door hardtop body style, shows where it all began. An ideal example of the sleek, futuristic, and balanced lines that so captivated the public upon its debut, it remains an icon of Jet Age design that still turns heads today.