National Desoto Club

My '49 has the rear of the hood which does not sit down nice. I am planning on using the kit that Desoto put out that adds some springs to pull down the rear of the hood. I have the service note from 04/15/1949 which has the drawings for the modifications to use the kit. I have a NOS kit.

The problem I also have is weak hood springs. The Master parts book does not show a spring part number. Apparently you were supposed to change the entire hinge.

I found one passenger side NOS hinge and it is sitting on my desk.

The conundrum is that the hinge sitting on my desk, with the factory parts tag on it with the part number does not look like the hinge in the car. It does look like the hinge in the service notice.

Since the car is positively known to have the factory hinges in it---a conundrum.

I spent last night looking over the internet. I found two, and possible three, different hinges on 1949 S-13 Desoto's.

I also found that some of the S-13's have a diagonal brace, which is shown in the master parts book but not on my car nor some of the other cars car. The hinge used for the ones with the brace is different.

Could I ask everyone who has a 1949 Desoto to post a photo of their hinge and also the car number? I want to see if it was a running change or a Detroit vs LA plant thing?

Very odd.

James.

No one out there with a '49 who can take a photo?

I can, James. I just need to take all the crap off the hood of my car first.

_________________
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)

Hi Tim,

Attached is a photo I took today of one of the hinges on the car. The other is the NOS one. You can see that the upper is different with the caged nuts for the brace on the NOS one and none on my car. Of course, my car does not have the brace, but it does have the square holes for the bolt which have never had anything in it.

The bottom part of the hinge on my car "drops down" where the NOS one goes straight across.

Very odd.

I did see that the one on the car had a manufacturing stamp of one company while the NOS one had one from another.

It would be great if a bunch of people chimed in with photos and serial numbers so we can see if it was a running change or if it was a Detroit versus LA thing.

Thanks, James

A couple of people, from over 25, who are in the club directory have responded to my direct email inquiry for photos of their hinges and the car numbers.

It seems from my very small dataset that the early cars have the hinge as depicted in the Master Parts Book and the Service Bulletin, while later cars have the hinge without the ability to use the brace.

I suspect that it may have been a vendor problem. The rear of the hood on mine moves a bit when down. I suspect that the lack of the braces may play a part.

Also, I can see no difference between the LA plant and Detroit. Although, I don't have enough data to be sure on that.

Hopefully, some more folks with a '49 will chime in.

Thanks, James.

Yesterday was Woodies on the Wharf in Santa Cruz, CA. I went with a friend who has a T&C.

While there I looked at a 1949 Desoto wagon, and couple of 1949/50 Chrysler T&C's, a couple of 1949 Plymouth's and a 1949 Dodge.

The 1949 Dodge had the same hinge as in the master parts book with the extra bolt boss's and the diagonal braces. The other cars did not.

All the other cars were higher serial numbers. Based on the feedback I have gotten form people and my own direct car observations, I think the issue is a supplier one.

Looks like cars made in the first couple of months of production for the more elaborate hinge's with the diagonal brace.

I suspect that for some reason the supplier, which is different for each type of hinge, craped out and MOPAR switched suppliers and the design.

They are clearly not interchangeable and have to be used as a set but each type seems to work.

Now, to find a matching set with the braces...

James.