1956 DeSoto Adventurer Hardtop Coupe

The Desoto Golden Adventurer was marketed as a limited-production two-door hardtop available in one of six color schemes. It stickered for $3,680 and fewer than 1,000 examples were built.

The Adventurer was a corporate hot rod. It spoke loudly, boasting of its 320 horsepower, Hemi, dual carbureted V8 engine. The specially enlarged engine displaced 341.4 cubic inches and out horse-powered all of the similarly priced competition from American manufacturers. They were fast, topping out at 137 MPH at Daytona and 144 MPH at the Chrysler Chelsea Proving Grounds.

The current owner spotted this Adventurer in the backyard of its original owner in 2005 in Boise, Idaho. It was complete with all the specialty trim and performance pieces and had covered only 53,000 miles. The restoration was overseen by Dave McLaughlin of Dana Point, CA, with the assistance of John Edwards and Theo Sahli.

This DeSoto has eight-way power seats, power windows, air conditioning, a pushbutton Station Finder radio, and a twin adjustable radio antenna mounted on the rear fenders. It is also equipped with a Benrus eight-day self-winding Desotomatic clock mounted on the steering wheel, and the Highway HiFi 160-rpm record player under the dash. It has its original steel wheels with unique gold-plated wheel discs and bias-ply whitewall tires. It also has a set of Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels mounted with a set of modern radial tires.