The Sam and Max-DeSoto

[Agent Calavera]

Hello there, everybody!

I always wondered, what kind of DeSoto exacly Sam and Max own. Doing the research to answer that question, I got the Idea, that Sam and Max changed their Desoto (bought a new one or stuff) before Season one begins (or the designers didn't work carefully, which i don't assume)..

So, firstly there's another Logo on the Side of the car.. Before Season 1, there ALWAYS was a STAR (different stars sometimes, ok, but a star), like here (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c2/Sam_and_Max_cover.jpg/256px-Sam_and_Max_cover.jpg), on the cover of htr.. And well, looking at that cover, another thing appealed to me: In season one, they drive a cabriolet. Before, it's always a normal car.. It may look as if they'd drive a cabriot on the htr-cover, too, but that's the windows -> In the game, you can see the roof, like here -> http://home.arcor.de/agenti/HittheRoad.JPG

Well that about the different car in Season one.. but hey, perhaps they took a saw and sawed the roof off? (and oversprayed the star)?.. No, they didn't, because the season 1 desoto seems to be a completely different model.. watch that: http://www.the-nextlevel.com/reviews/pc/sam-max-culture-shock/sam-max-culture-shock-desoto.jpg and compare it to the htr-desotos above.. the rear is a LOT bigger than in htr.. Also, it looks completely different than the one from the DeSoto Firedome, which i first guessed to be the sam and max-desoto. Like this one: http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1950-1959/1959-Desoto-Firedome-2dr-ma-2.jpg But that can't be true at any point, cause the firedome always got 3 seperated lights on each side (as you can see on the picture).. The Sam and Max Desoto hasn't, which means, it must be after 1960-desoto, because every desoto in a long time before had those 3 lights... So it HAS to be a 1960-fireflite or an 1960-adventurer (The 1961-adventurer has different front lights).. In MY opinion, it HAS to be the fireflite, because the adventurer is much bigger than the sam and max-desoto.. But since season 1, the sam and max - desoto is also got much bigger, and it looks more like an adventurer, if you just look at those 2 opportunities, because in fact, i think the season 1-desoto doesn't look like an existing DeSoto at all! (because of it's giat rear)..

however, what do you think?

[Harald B]

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_%26_max) the one with a roof is a 1960 DeSoto Adventurer. Unclear about the Season 1 car though.

[Jake]

I think the Season One car is the same car theyve always had, but it underwent major reconstructive surgery. I think they've been driving a 1960 DeSoto Adventurer for ages, but they got it chopped and got a new paint job. At one point Steve said it's because in the ten years of use the roof rusted away and then something happened to finally break it off, so as a solution Sam & Max got it tricked out with a convertible roof and pinstriping.

I don't know if that's the 'official explanation' anymore, in the games, but the idea of it rusting away from unuse was some of the original inspiration.

[LuigiHann]

I just figured either:
1) Max ate the roof (I said I was sorry!)
or
2) They drove under a taller truck, which totally stripped the roof off.

[xChri5x]

WAAAAAY too much thought into this!

[CSummerK]

I was thinking about the origins of the car in the first place. You know how the Blue's Brothers won thiers at a police auction, wonder if Sam and Max did something similar...

[xChri5x]

Steve drew it on paper. That's how they got it

[TsekoSifona]

The car from Season 1 is not the same as from Hit The Road. When you click on the bent park meter in front of the book store, Sam says that Max did something to it, so he had to get a new one.

[LuigiHann]

Quick vaguely off-topic question.

Anybody have a top-down picture of the Sam & Max Desoto? Any version should be okay.

[Jake]

http://files.telltalegames.com/misc/desoto.jpg

[LuigiHann]

You, sir, are the man.

[yugge]

The car from Season 1 is not the same as from Hit The Road. When you click on the bent park meter in front of the book store, Sam says that Max did something to it, so he had to get a new one.

Correct, something along the lines of
Sam : "Do you remember what happend to our old car max?"
Max : "Quit nagging me about it already!"

[fhqwhgads]

Maybe the old car was Pre-HTR and comics.

[Zeek]

Max pushed it off a cliff with Sam in it. Someone posted the drawing of it.

Then again, if the ending credits for Episode 6 are any indication of Max's driving skill, maybe Sam made the same mistake he did in the introduction to Hit the Road and let Max behind the wheel again.

[Agent Calavera]

Wow, i see.. so they DID change their car. but the questin, which car they drive in season 1, remains!

[ReverendTed]

It could very easily be a 1960 DeSoto Fireflite (http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/visitor/visitor9.html). The Season 1 car would have to be a custom job, since that slanted tail-fin design debuted in 1960, a year when DeSoto discontinued production of convertibles.

[Zeek]

I wonder if Steve Purcell has a Sam & Max custom Desoto he shows off at Pixar's Motorama... maybe that could answer the question as to what year of the car the Freelance police drive.

[Hero1]

its a long wait to season 2 isn't it :p

[ReverendTed]

I wonder if Steve Purcell has a Sam & Max custom Desoto he shows off at Pixar's Motorama... maybe that could answer the question as to what year of the car the Freelance police drive.If it is indeed modeled after a single specific car, then it's definately a 1960 DeSoto something. The 1960s were the only year with that arrangement of headlights and tail fins.
I'd be hard-pressed decide between the Fireflite (http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/visitor/visitor9.html) and the Adventurer (http://home.no.net/ayla/Desoto/pages/1960%20DeSoto%20Adventurer.htm) (which, honestly, I can't really tell the difference between anyway), but it's been stated elsewhere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_%26_max) that it's an Adventurer, so I see no reason to argue.

The Season 1 car has a few modifications from any standard 1960 DeSoto Fireflite\Adventurer - it's a convertible (or at least it's been converted, considering we don't know for sure that the top actually does go back up), it's got the hood scoop and the side-pipes, there are covers on the rear wheel-wells, the side mirrors are missing, and the hood ornament and other bits of trim have been replaced with some fancy bits of pinstriping.

[Agent Calavera]

No Reason to argue? Of course I got a reason to argue! uhmm, let me think a while ^^

Whatever, it's clear now, that the old desoto was a 1960 adventurer.. But I don't think the Season1 Desoto is a normal desoto anyway.. I think it's some kind of a complete new invented car, that looks a bit like a desoto.. Actually, as we can see in the webcomic, Sam and Max are now in the 00's, not in the "whatever htr played in"'s.. So perhaps because they didn't find a cool desoto (the rust got them all) they went to a custom-plasticine-car-designer and told him to make a cool, new desoto-like thing.. Let's just call it the INFERNAL SUPER-DESOTO...

However..

[LuigiHann]

Nah, I think the new one is still a Desoto, just souped-up (as opposed to being made from scratch).

[Kitaroija]

It could very easily be a 1960 DeSoto Fireflite (http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/amcar/visitor/visitor9.html). The Season 1 car would have to be a custom job, since that slanted tail-fin design debuted in 1960, a year when DeSoto discontinued production of convertibles.

That is a very beautiful car. I always thought it was a DeSoto Adventurer they were driving, but now I'm pretty sure it's the Fireflite. Allthough the custom job has to be done from a tudor, unless you shorten the car. I think the original Sam & Max car (from the old days, before hitting the road) was pretty much like this one (http://www.chryslerclub.org/memberphotofiles/cooper.JPG) (despite the red paintjob)

Oh wait! Look at this: http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/des60cvr01.jpg
It's a '60 Adventurer, and it's pretty similar to the Season one car atleast. And I think the front end in this looks more like Sam & Max's got in their car, than the Fireflite does.

And when I'm old enough, I'm definately gonna have one of these!
...IF:

-Gasoline won't be so dastardly expensive! (1.4€ per liter nowadays in here. That's almost 2 bucks!!
(3.7854118 liters = 1 US gallon)(It's an astounding 7.31500547 USD per gallon for god sake!)) And yet, in some other countries the prices are even higher, about 10 USD per gallon!! Gawd.

-It's not destroying the world to drive an old polluting car like these after 10 years (and further) from now

Damn, 6 more years.. only 4 if I would live in the USA.

Sorry for the offtopic :) I just had to riot about fuel prices in Europe :D

[ReverendTed]

I always thought it was a DeSoto Adventurer they were driving, but now I'm pretty sure it's the Fireflite.I kind of alluded to it in my previous post (http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=34415&postcount=19), but as far as I can tell, the Adventurer and Fireflite were simply different trim levels of the exact same vehicle.
Either way (Adventurer or Fireflite) it'd have to be a custom job, as it combines elements that never existed together on a single production vehicle.

[Kitaroija]

I kind of alluded to it in my previous post (http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=34415&postcount=19), but as far as I can tell, the Adventurer and Fireflite were simply different trim levels of the exact same vehicle.
Either way (Adventurer or Fireflite) it'd have to be a custom job, as it combines elements that never existed together on a single production vehicle.

Yeah, and overall, It's a car that originally was in a comic, so it's not meant to be accurately any specific model, just a recognisable DeSoto. And fans are always trying to discover all accurate info of the cars, just like I tried to discover what car is most likely Homers or Marges car. The best result was just that Homer had some 70's coupe with cadillac rear but definately not Cadillac front. And Marge has most likely a 'fuselage' Plymouth Suburban from 1970-'74
www.fuselage.de for more info about 'fuselage' styled cars (they're long flat, fat luxury cars from the seventies, and they're manufactured by Mopar / invented atleast)

BTW I made the avatar of it yesterday.

[ReverendTed]

But whale you wait, why don't you go to my web site, www.gamesandspace.com It has links to web sites with great games on it! You should check it out, you've got nothing to lose.:-/

[AdamG]

Except your money, nyuk nyuk nyuk! :p

[YoshiAngemon]

Maybe Steve Purcell WOULD have a Custom DeSoto done up, and he'd show us the thing on the Final Week of the Summer of Sam & Max!

[Zeek]

Maybe Steve Purcell WOULD have a Custom DeSoto done up, and he'd show us the thing on the Final Week of the Summer of Sam & Max!

Or at Pixar's Motorama.

[Bruno83]

I just saw an interview with Steve Purcell in which he answers that question.
And because I remembered this thread, I thought I might let you know about it.
You can watch it here:

http://www.4players.de/4players.php/tvplayer/4PlayersTV/Alle/7684/11241/Sam_&_Max_Season_1/Steve_Purcell.html

[Silly Bob]

So the question is answered form the man himself, a tricked out customized 1960 Desoto, I'd say the design fits more with the Fireflite than the Adventurer, but it's a cartoon vehicle, so I'm not too worried about it.

[vectra]

After heaps of thinking about the issue, I believe that their car is definitely a DeSoto Adventurer. Why not check out these links.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/reviews/pc/sam-max-culture-shock/sam-max-culture-shock-desoto.jpg
http://www.lhmopars.com/Bellmore_Images/Dscn0004.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/desoto-cars-6.jpg
http://www.gameboomers.com/Pressreleases/Sam&Max/DesotoTop.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Desotobrochure60.jpg
http://www.motorbase.com/pictures/contributions/991202//std_1960_desoto_adventurer_2.jpg
http://www.chicagocarexchange.com/resize.asp?image=3145dint.JPG&size=800
http://www.chicagocarexchange.com/resize.asp?image=3145lf34.JPG&size=800

I know it's a hell of a lot of links, but just check them and see what you think.

[Ashton]

For me, though, one question remains unanswered...

When and why did they buy a new car? (from the obvious differences in the original S+M desoto and the TT one, AND from Sam's comment "Remember our old car max?")

I'd also ask how they paid for it, but consideirng the cash they have at their disposal for boscotech devices, clearly it wouldn't be a problem... lol

[jmm]

For me, though, one question remains unanswered...

When and why did they buy a new car? (from the obvious differences in the original S+M desoto and the TT one, AND from Sam's comment "Remember our old car max?")

I'd also ask how they paid for it, but consideirng the cash they have at their disposal for boscotech devices, clearly it wouldn't be a problem... lol

Remember the free time they had before Episode 101 + the way they get 10K in Episode 101.

Lets say 10 "users" per week (thats only 2 per day), 52 weeks per year, lets say 10 years... 10*10,000*52*10 = $52,000,000

[Ashton]

lol, I'd thought about that. (too bad you couldn't get away with that int he real world... there are so many times I'd love to live in S+M's NY...)

oh and it's a page and many weeks late, but I'd like to say thanks to Jake for that top-down rendering of the Desoto, Somone here out to gather up the verious angles and make a visual of it from all angles...

[xChri5x]

I think their car is different because Steve decided to change it.

[Jake]

Also I don't think its a new car. I might be wrong but I don't think that when Sam says "I miss our old car" he was talking about an actual different car as much as the car as it was for twenty years. Steve claimed early in Season One that the DeSoto was now a convertible because after a decade of being neglected, the roof rotted away and Sam & Max made due with what was left. That might not be the official 'canon' explanation, and more of just a musing, but it was good enough for me. But yeah, I think its mostly what xChris5x said.

[sam&maxfreelancepolice]

Also I don't think its a new car. I might be wrong but I don't think that when Sam says "I miss our old car" he was talking about an actual different car as much as the car as it was for twenty years. Steve claimed early in Season One that the DeSoto was now a convertible because after a decade of being neglected, the roof rotted away and Sam & Max made due with what was left. That might not be the official 'canon' explanation, and more of just a musing, but it was good enough for me. But yeah, I think its mostly what xChris5x said.

HaHa,Thats funny and makes sense considering that the 57-61 Chryslers were infamously rust prone.
Even in california it was hard for me to find one without rust!

[sam&maxfreelancepolice]

Hello there, everybody!

I always wondered, what kind of DeSoto exacly Sam and Max own. Doing the research to answer that question, I got the Idea, that Sam and Max changed their Desoto (bought a new one or stuff) before Season one begins (or the designers didn't work carefully, which i don't assume)..

So, firstly there's another Logo on the Side of the car.. Before Season 1, there ALWAYS was a STAR (different stars sometimes, ok, but a star), like here (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c2/Sam_and_Max_cover.jpg/256px-Sam_and_Max_cover.jpg), on the cover of htr.. And well, looking at that cover, another thing appealed to me: In season one, they drive a cabriolet. Before, it's always a normal car.. It may look as if they'd drive a cabriot on the htr-cover, too, but that's the windows -> In the game, you can see the roof, like here -> http://home.arcor.de/agenti/HittheRoad.JPG

Well that about the different car in Season one.. but hey, perhaps they took a saw and sawed the roof off? (and oversprayed the star)?.. No, they didn't, because the season 1 desoto seems to be a completely different model.. watch that: http://www.the-nextlevel.com/reviews/pc/sam-max-culture-shock/sam-max-culture-shock-desoto.jpg and compare it to the htr-desotos above.. the rear is a LOT bigger than in htr.. Also, it looks completely different than the one from the DeSoto Firedome, which i first guessed to be the sam and max-desoto. Like this one: http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1950-1959/1959-Desoto-Firedome-2dr-ma-2.jpg But that can't be true at any point, cause the firedome always got 3 seperated lights on each side (as you can see on the picture).. The Sam and Max Desoto hasn't, which means, it must be after 1960-desoto, because every desoto in a long time before had those 3 lights... So it HAS to be a 1960-fireflite or an 1960-adventurer (The 1961-adventurer has different front lights).. In MY opinion, it HAS to be the fireflite, because the adventurer is much bigger than the sam and max-desoto.. But since season 1, the sam and max - desoto is also got much bigger, and it looks more like an adventurer, if you just look at those 2 opportunities, because in fact, i think the season 1-desoto doesn't look like an existing DeSoto at all! (because of it's giat rear)..

however, what do you think?

[SIZE="5"]Hi,while the fireflite has the same general body style,Its definetly an Adventurer! at least in the comics.
If you look at the panel in "Monkeys violating the heavenly temple" where Sam instructs Max to say hello to his unsavory pals,you can see that Steve has drawn the special stainless steel roof trim that only the Adventurer has.
You can also see the outline of the special Adventurer roof trim in the big first panel of "Sam and Max on the road" part 2 "I love a band leader"
Definetly an Adventurer!
I have a real 1960 Adventurer so I am quite familiar with the car.
Besides the Adventurer was top of the line and had a 383 v8,why would Sam and Max have settled for anything less?
One funny thing I always notice is that Steve Purcell draws the mirror on the windshield when in real life the 1960 DeSoto has a dash mounted mirror,they work great and look cool unless you have folks riding in the back seat!/SIZE]

[sam&maxfreelancepolice]

For me, though, one question remains unanswered...

When and why did they buy a new car? (from the obvious differences in the original S+M desoto and the TT one, AND from Sam's comment "Remember our old car max?")

I'd also ask how they paid for it, but consideirng the cash they have at their disposal for boscotech devices, clearly it wouldn't be a problem... lol

Just a guess but I think the reason they changed the car for the video games was so that Sam and Max wouldnt be obscured by the roof of the car.
I personally like the old stock 2dr hardtop Adventurer best. The whole "kustom" thing has become a cliche,everyone does the same thing,flames,sidepipes,etc.

To me its like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa....(hmmm,on second though that sounds kind of fun!)

Thankfully its just a video game and no real DeSotos were harmed, lol!
Just my personal opinion,but I love the way the Forward look cars look stock.
Virgil Exner was way ahead of his time,and was a big influence on the auto industry back in the day.
If you look at the 1959 GM lineup they are a direct reaction to Chryslers 1957 Forward look cars,the low 2dr coupe rooflines,the agressive grille,especially the 1959 Buick (my personal favorite GM 50's car) they have tons of Exners styling cues.

They were great handling cars too,thanks to "torsion-aire" front suspension they would out handle the fords and chevys.


Some more DeSoto facts-
DeSoto didnt have a convertible in 1960.
1960 was also the year they switched to unibody construction and the final year for the Adventurer.
Stuffing the muffler of a DeSoto with match heads wont get you to the moon!
There were only 3,092 Adventurer 2 door hardtops made,so they are quite scarce now!
Only a handful survived.

I love mine,I think its the most beautiful DeSoto ever made.

It sure gets lots of attention and baffles people when they see it..."Hey Mister!? what years your Cadillac?" and what are "Sam-n-Max"?

Dont they teach kids anything in school nowadays??!!

[sam&maxfreelancepolice]

Yeah, and overall, It's a car that originally was in a comic, so it's not meant to be accurately any specific model, just a recognisable DeSoto. And fans are always trying to discover all accurate info of the cars, just like I tried to discover what car is most likely Homers or Marges car. The best result was just that Homer had some 70's coupe with cadillac rear but definately not Cadillac front. And Marge has most likely a 'fuselage' Plymouth Suburban from 1970-'74
www.fuselage.de for more info about 'fuselage' styled cars (they're long flat, fat luxury cars from the seventies, and they're manufactured by Mopar / invented atleast)

BTW I made the avatar of it yesterday.

Matt Groening used to drive a beat up old dodge with a coathanger antenna back when he was doing his "Life in Hell" comics.

[Sven_Q45]

My question. I think a Adventurer. I mean Sam and Max Season 1 and 2 and Hit the Road are adventure games. ;)
But does the Desoto from Hit the Road look different to the Adventurer. I thougth it´s another one.
I´ve an 1/43 scale model from a Edsel (not that from MM). I think I must buy a Desoto scale model.
Or please make an officially Sam and Max Freelance Police scale model. :D