Funny thing you should mention that Buck (You all had to know there was a story about a DeSoto in my life.

Way back when I was young and still under my parents control - I know not what year it was, but I do know it was the last year they made DeSotos - we lived in a little town south of Grass Valley, CA. It was on the way to Camp Beale, which is now Beale AFB, called Rough And Ready. (Which also happens to be one of the few towns that seceded from the Union over loosing a Post Office and still have one even though the population is only 200 and that is counting everything that moves under its own power.)

My daddy, feeling his oats as it were, went to town, in this case Grass Valley and bought the last DeSoto in town, a bright blue four door model if I recall right, and brought it home and parked it under the tree where he had parked the old car so many times before.

That night came a storm in which the wind blew and the rain fell and the thunder thundered. About 3 in the morning there was a God-awful crash and we all jumped out of bed to see what was going on. It seems the tree that Dad had parked the car under had decided it was going to fall over, roots and all, thus bringing an end to the last Desoto sold in Grass Valley and Nevada County. It was 8 miles from town and the car had 8 miles on it when pop bought it so here was a brand new car with 16 miles on it with an at least 80 year old pine sitting in the middle of the roof sort of sinking into the car.

Guess you had to be there but I know it was a long rest of the night and an even longer the next day as pop made arrangements to get that DeSoto out from under the tree and to get a new car to replace it.

GB
TT