"Marquis DeSoto" wins NY Times' Collectible Car of the Year award
Click above for a gallery of the Marquis DeSoto
It is neither a Mercury Grand Marquis nor a DeSoto, but perhaps it could be considered a kind of royalty. Furniture maker Steve Heller wanted to build a car of his own design, and possessed of a love of Fifties car details, he swiped the things he liked and built what he calls the "Marquis de Soto." It can also be called the New York Times Collectible Car of the Year.
The Marquis is based on a 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis. The Marquis' wings have been poached from the rear of a 1957 DeSoto, along with 1959 Cadillac taillights, the front fenders and lights from a 1958 Lincoln, 1955 Cadillac bumpers, a 1965 Buick Skylark hood, chrome from a 1957 Buick, and a grille glommed built from two 1957 Corvette pieces.
Heller spent 20 years collecting all the parts – he makes furniture using vintage car doodads – and spent four months building the car in back of his furniture shop. We dig it... but we dig it even more when it was just wearing primer. It has The Riddler written all over it. For more on the Marquis DeSoto, you can watch a great Heller-narrated slideshow or check out the gallery of photos below. Hat tip to Avinash
Gallery: Marquis deSoto
[Source: New York Times]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Yikes 9:04AM (2/24/2009)
Why didn't he just restore the Desoto?
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James 10:59AM (2/24/2009)
Dittto. The "reversed-engineered" classic De Soto deserves the restorative attention...not the lame Marquis.
TwinTurbo3000GT 8:22PM (2/24/2009)
He could have at least used something with a more attractive roofline than a freaking 98 grand marquis. it looks like a turd stepped in a DeSoto
collegekid13 9:06AM (2/24/2009)
crush it please. my visons of the 50's are now ruined
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dukeisduke 9:07AM (2/24/2009)
The taillights are from the DeSoto, not bullets from the '59 Cadillac. This also brings to mind the perennial running joke in Car and Driver's new car issues about the DeSade edition of the Grand Marquis.
The trunk lid setup is a kluge, but it works.
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Alex 9:16AM (2/24/2009)
NYT smokes pot.
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mike 9:52AM (2/24/2009)
No, it's readers are. This was voted as the most collectible by them, not by the staff. So sad considering all the other amazing cars on the list this year - http://collectiblecars.nytimes.com/Contest/Vote.asp.
aj121489 10:53AM (2/24/2009)
Yea mike there are some cars there WAY more deserving of this than a rebodied Grand Marquis...
cdwrx 11:59AM (2/24/2009)
He collected significant parts off of seven different cars to make this so its clearly the most collectible.
John 12:16PM (2/24/2009)
The NYT is only useful on the bottom of a bird cage.
PumaGTO 12:51PM (2/24/2009)
I imagine the face of the other contender when they saw the winner: "WHAAAT?!?!"
elpepe 9:32AM (2/24/2009)
ooooooo yaaaaah... that is sooooo collectible.... right in the garbage dump; I've seen similar collections there.....
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Steve 9:34AM (2/24/2009)
That thing is hideous. 'Nuff said.
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Stumpy 9:34AM (2/24/2009)
It is WAY too early for April Fools jokes...
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Mobius_1 9:57AM (2/24/2009)
Maybe it's April on whichever planet they seem to live on? Obviously not Earth where there are more worthy contenders.
imoore 9:39AM (2/24/2009)
Someone had too much time on his hands.
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Stéphane Dumas 9:43AM (2/24/2009)
I hope to see one day, a Camry or Accord having the DeSoto tailfins ;-)
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Sofa King Fast! 9:46AM (2/24/2009)
What a piece of crap.
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drmoomoo 9:48AM (2/24/2009)
Shows how much the NYT knows about cars.
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Avinash machado 9:51AM (2/24/2009)
An example of automotive cross-breeding.
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