DeSoto Adventurer I, 1954                                        
      The arrival of Chevy's two-seat Corvette in 1953 prompted
  this dashing one-off in 1954. Though visually related to earlier
  Exner specials, it mounted a '53 DeSoto chassis cut to a suitably
  sporty 111-inch wheelbase. Despite the close-coupled coupe styling  
  with no rear side  windows, the Adventurer could hold four in comfort. 
  Highlights included a new iteration of the inverted-trapezoid grille, 
  functional side exhausts, another quick-fill fuel cap, the usual chrome  
  wires wearing "wide whites," off-white paint, and minimal bright accents.
  The interior was swathed in black leather with white piping, and satin-
  finish aluminum set off a dashboard with a complete bank of circular
  gauges.                                                            
      Exner tried very hard to get the Adventurer approved for limited   
  production. But as  Maury Baldwin, one of  his staffers,later recalled,
  "Management at that point was very stodgy. A lot of people attributed  
  it to the old Airflow disaster. They were afraid to make any new inroads.
  "Ex himself later said that the Adventurer came closer to production than
  any other Chrysler special to that time: "If it had been built, it would 
  have been the first four-passenger sports car made in this country.... 
  Of course, it had the DeSoto Hemi [a '53 stock 273  with 170  bhp]. 
  It was my favorite car always... " A second DeSoto-based exercise, 
  the '55 Adventurer II, was mainly Ghia's work and never a serious pro-
  duction prospect.