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1936 De Soto Airstream Custom Taxicab James F. Waters, Inc. [S-1] 
Class: Cars, Sedan — Model origin: 
![1936 De Soto Airstream Custom Taxicab James F. Waters, Inc. [S-1]](i318156.jpg)
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Comments about this vehicle| Author | Message |
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◊ 2010-07-15 08:14 |
My book says that the 1936 Desoto Airstream came in two versions - Deluxe (small l for Chrysler products vs capital L for GM!) and Custom. Both are model S-1. The Deluxe has a one piece windshield and the custom has a two-piece windshield. Google it and you will see some of both. To add to confusion seven-passenger long-wheelbase taxis use Custom bodies but with single piece Deluxe windshields and sliding sunroofs. This car is an Airstream Deluxe and the other looks to have the two-piece windshield so is a Custom. -- Last edit: 2010-07-15 08:20:21 |
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◊ 2010-07-15 10:33 |
In the original sales material I´ve seen so far there´s no trace of De Luxe, it was the basic Airstream Six and the Airstream Custom Six in different bodytypes. This one here is a Taxicab, those sold as De Soto Custom Taxicab, without Airstream in the name. Not to be confused with the 7-passenger Airstream Custom that came with the split windshield, built in trunk (like all regular Airstream sedans) and more luxorious interior. The taxis were slantbacks often with external sparewheel, had sliding roof, flat windshield and were purposebuilt for heavy duty. The taxis were designed and put to final assembly by James F. Waters a large Plymouth-De Soto dealer, in cooperation with Chrysler Corp. They were initially made to meet New York City requirements that cars had to be purpose built and allow 5-passengers in a separate compartment from the driver. It was a successful break in for De Soto on the taxi market and the cars became popular at several taxifleets. http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/mopar/36soto/3.html About spelling, before somewhere about 1950 it´s rare to find De Luxe without space or transformed to another word, deluxe. That goes for all makes that use De Luxe. But occasionally in some printings you can find one version on the cover and another in running text. They tend to reduce the space when using handwriting style in printings and when making emblems in script to put on the cars since it´s easier to make them that way. And then fashion changes and they use capital letters, and the space is visible again. Some samples from different Chrysler corp brouchures: Chrysler 35: http://www.mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B34099.jpg Chrysler 36: http://www.mclellansautomotive.com/photos/B34832-2.jpg Plymouth 37: http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/plymouth/37plymouth/bilder/22.jpg Plymouth 39: http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/mopar/39ply/bilder/19.jpg -- Last edit: 2010-07-15 11:33:39 |
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◊ 2010-07-15 11:32 |
I haven't seen any of the brochures you mention but it is worth remembering that advertising people live in a different world from the rest of us and often what they write has little connection with reality. They were good at making cars appear longer and lower than they really were. I would tend to go with what is written in parts books and factory literature if I was to see it - in the meantime I have to make do with the Standard Catalog of American cars and a variety of marque histories which all vary in their interpretation - like the use, or not, of a dash between the letter and number of the various Chrysler products (SP23 or SP-23??). I wasn't around in 1950 to see how Deluxe was spelt. By the way, is there any way of telling whether the car in this picture is a regular length DeSoto converted for taxi use or a special heavy duty long wheelbase taxi model? -- Last edit: 2010-07-15 11:34:05 |
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◊ 2010-07-15 11:56 |
The regular 7-passenger came only in the Airstream Custom series so they have the split windshield, you can also (barely) see the "rails" on the roof for the sliding roof. I wasn´t around at that time either, but there are several sites containing scanned original material. Here´s two good ones: http://www.lov2xlr8.no/ http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php |
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