Dustin Cooper's 1955 DeSoto

A photo of Dustin with the DeSoto. Photo courtesy of Dustin Cooper.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Cooper.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Cooper.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Cooper.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Cooper.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Cooper.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Cooper.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Cooper.

1955 DeSoto owned by Dustin Cooper of Indianapolis, Indiana. "I bought it all stock when I was 15," Dustin told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2020. He bought it with money he had saved from pinstriping and detailing cars. "I drove it all through high school, and after school, me and Tom Culbertson tore it all down and did all the custom treatments I had been planning on doing for years."

Dustin chopped the top 3 inches during his 21st birthday. "I actually sunk it down into the body." After chopping the top Dusin ran around in primer for some years. In 2013 he rolled it into his body shop and painted it. He also added chrome tape to the roof, "because I thought it was simple and different and knew it was done back in the day a lot." Dustin made the stripes with 1" wide tape, adding a 3/4" gap in between.

Dustin still owned the car in 2020. "It has its original 291 Hemi," he told Kustomrama. "I converted it to a 5-speed stick with a 9" rear with 3:90 gears. I live in Indy. I've driven to the West Coast once, East Coast 5 times as well as 37 states. She's a driver," Dustin confirms.