I guess everyone switched over to wartime workhorses,


I knew about Plymouth trucks of this era,
This is the first Desoto I have heard of,
Built right hand for the export market-just like the Oldsmobile versions of my GMC


1942 DeSoto Truck1940WWII1941Military1946Diamond1947Pickup41Dodge42Fargo46T47

Learn something new every day. I had no idea that there had ever been a Desoto Truck. Thanks for posting.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Fargo was a company acquired by Chrysler in the 1920's. In the US, it became Dodge truck. But in Canada, the Fargo line produced rebadged Dodges into the 1970s. A lot of Chrysler nameplates were sort of tossed into a bag and pulled out randomly to badge Chrysler produced outside the US. So it's not altogether surprising to find a Fargo De Soto. Nor is it a surprise to find partial wood framing in any vehicle of that era.

I was in Saudi Arabia during the early 80's and there were no Dodges, only Fargos. Chebbies were all over and there were no Fords.

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Jim

its just a rebadged Plymouth, with the steering swapped over to the right.


my gm 36-8 little cabs have the dash stamping done so those could easily have the gauges and glove box flipped,,, but that cab was not the usual "export" cab from those years.

When I was working in Turkey in the mid 80's, all I saw were Fargo trucks...

I bet you saw the home made 57 chevies over there too , that's where gm sold the tooling to.

I was once helping a guy tow a 1940 Dodge truck back to the D/FW area. When we stopped for gas in Olney someone ran up and then looked quite disappointed.

They though we had a Plymouth truck like they once owned. In fact they thought it might have been the one they owned.

The guy finally got it running. Very slow, very low geared. But I guess that's what was selling when the roads were mostly dirt. At least they were mostly dirt in west Texas.

This would have been around 1972.

That flathead was used from the early thirties all the way into the mid 70's in military apps

The continental flathead was used in Clark forklifts through the 80s

Up until 1955 Chrysler used the older flathead in general domestic production. Then in 1955 they improved it. I was a much worse engine for cold starting in the winter when they did. Starting in about 1950 they also introduced a line of v8s.

The flathead engine was continued in production until the 196I slant six engine was introduced. Perhaps it was introduced in 1960. I do remember the 1959s still had the flatheads .That slant six was considered a good engine. It was very well liked in general.

I suspect the original flathead six remained in production since the late 1930s with little change over the ensuing life time. Other than the counterproductive change in 1955.

The Chrysler flatheads found duty in a lot of situations other than domestic vehicles as well. Perhaps the most common was them being used as inboard engines in power boats for years. The flatheads also had the reputation of having square crankshafts.