The Iola Old Car Show - F+W Media

Iola Theme 2011By Phil Hall“Delightful Dodges and De Sotos” take the spotlight at the39th annual Iola Old Car Show and Swap Meet. The two domesticbrands of motor vehicles with widely differing histories will makeup the feature tent and display to the south of the F+W Mediabuilding during the July 7-10 event in Iola, Wis.The “Delightful” tag is not the opinion of the show officials,but rather drawn from De Soto ads of the 1950s which proclaimed“It’s Delightful, It’s De Lovely, It’s De Soto” and could be heardweekly on the Groucho Marx “You Bet Your Life” television andradio shows. This year is the first time either Dodge or De Soto hasbeen a theme vehicle at Iola.The two brands existed as side-by-side teammates in theChrysler Corp. scheme of vehicles from late 1928 to late 1960, buttheir lineage contrasts sharply.Dodge, which first saw production in late 1914, continues today,but has had six different owners. De Soto started and finishedits run as a Chrysler Corp. product. Dodge has been involved incar and truck production, while domestic De Soto production hasonly been in the passenger car field.Delightful DodgesIn brief, Dodge cars came to market in late 1914 as 1915 models.They were the product of the Dodge Brothers (John and Horace), whowere engine and parts suppliers to the Ford Motor Co. A disagreementwith Henry Ford spurred them to go on their own and buildcars carrying the Dodge Brothers nameplate, which would continueto be used well into the 1930s. Early models had four-cylinderengines and proved popular with the car-buying public.Commercial car (truck) demand resulted in Dodge Brothersinitially offering a commercial chassis, but with prompting by theU.S. Army, Dodge finally began to manufacture trucks startingwith 1918 models.While their cars were in second place in sales, John and Horaceboth died unexpectedly in 1920. The family continued to own thebusiness, but it was sold to Dillon, Read & Co. in 1925. In the meantime,Dodge agreed to distribute Graham Brothers (Ray, Robertand Joseph) Trucks, which used its components.In 1925 and 1926, Dodge bought out the Graham Brothers. It followedthat all Dodge trucks would be branded Graham Brothers.Ownership changed again when Walter P. Chrysler’s ChryslerCorp. swallowed Dodge on July 31, 1928, making it Dodge Division.The Graham Brothers name was quickly axed and all truckswould be Dodges.With newly introduced Plymouth and slightly up-market DeSoto coming out in 1928, Dodge occupied the wrung above DeSoto and below Chrysler.An eight-cylinder Dodge came out in 1930, but did not last long.By 1933, Dodge and De Soto changed places in the Chrysler Corp.hierarchy. There would be much sharing of bodies and engines inthe corporation, but Dodge was not involved on the Chrysler/DeSoto Airflow mess, though an Airflow four-ton Dodge truck wassold from 1935-1940.The 1938s were the last Dodges to carry the Dodge Brothersname and logo. Dodges utilized the Dodge family coat of armsstarting with 1941 models.Dodge trucks were pioneers in some areas, such as four-wheeldrivevehicles for the military and in offering a diesel of its owndesign starting in 1939. Dodge was a major defense truck supplierduring World War II. An off-shoot was offering the Power Wagonpickup to civilians starting with the 1946 models. The Power Wagoncontinued nearly unchanged and was sold domestically into1968 and elsewhere beyond that.Dodge’s first new postwar design was for 1948 B-Series trucks,known as the “Pilot House” models. The first new postwar carswere the second-series 1949 models (extended 1948 models beingthe first series).Conservative styling marked Dodge cars from 1949 through1954, but the old flathead six was topped by the Red Ram V-8starting with the 1953 models. New styling and expansion of V-8engines boosted car sales for 1955. A performance D-500 optionwas added to the 1956 lineup.If Dodge cars didn’t attract attention before, the all new “SweptWing” 1957 models surely did, and sales proved it. However, laterstyling and quality problems would prove harmful.The 1957 Dodge trucks were revised 1954 models, but the midyearSweptside pickup lit ’em up. This answer to the ChevroletCameo Carrier used a pair of finned Dodge two-door wagon rearfenders attached to the bed. It continued into the 1959 model year.On the car side, Dodge diverted from its low medium-priced/full-sized car mantra when the 1960 Dart lineup signed on. Semiunitizedlike all Dodge cars that year, Dart competed with Plymouthand the like. For 1961, medium-priced cars were reduced tojust the Polara series. Styling with reverse fins answered questionsno one asked. Also, the new Valiant-based Lancer compact cameon board for 1961.For 1962, Dart and Polaras were downsized with even morecontroversial styling. Mid-year, the Custom 880 full-sized car wasintroduced in answer to dealer demand. For 1963, Dart replacedthe Lancer as the brand’s compact line.Moving up to model season 1965, new full-sized Dodges wereintroduced and the formerly full-sized Dodges were classed asCoronet intermediates.Intermediates were restyled for 1966 and mid-year the Chargersemi-fastback joined up. Dodges reflected market demands at thetime with R/T performance models. For 1968, new intermediatestyling begot a mid-year Dodge Coronet Super Bee. Dodge was intoracing at the time, and 1969 Charger mid-season additions includedthe 500 and later the winged Daytona.Never an early player in the pony car games, Dodge made upfor lost time with the 1970 Challenger. However, the market collapsedand the Challenger was gone during 1974, but was revivedfor the 2008 model year.Dodge reacted to market changes in the late 1970s and early 1980swith smaller models, such as the Aspen, Omni, Caravan minivan,Aries K, another Daytona and Shadow, among many renditions.Dodge trucks were allowed to get long in the tooth quite often,with all-new models coming out for 1961, 1972 and 1994.By the 1980s, all was not lost for performance, at least fromthe Dodge camp. In a bold move, Dodge brought out the V-10-powered, two-seat Viper sports car in prototype form in 1989 andas a production vehicle a couple of seasons later. A GTS coupefollowed. Viper production finally ended in 2010.Ownership of Chrysler and Dodge continued to change withMercedes-Benz taking over and forming DiamlerChrysler, onlyto punt to Cerberus, which was booted for management by thefederal government. After bankruptcy in 2008, Italy’s Fiat tookover and today, Dodge is part of Chrysler LLC. A recent changeconverted some of the Dodge trucks to the Ram name, whichdates back to the 1930s.After all of that, De Soto’s family tree is rather simple.69