1951 Kaiser Deluxe

[Mr Manhattan]

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/cto/d/1951-kaiser-deluxe-4-door/6690182770.html

  Not sure if it was  posted before .

   Not responsible for CL ad rights or wrongs.

[joefrazer]

I like the wood-look treatment done to the inside door trim...different but I do like it.

[flamingchariots]

War-time Nashes had that wood-grained trim too--- at least on the dashboard. 
Trouble is you can't clean and rub too hard, otherwise it disappears!   

[Roadmaster49]

I too like the faux wood effect, always did.  As some of you may know, this was all the rage from about 1938 to 1946.  I am pretty sure KF chose not to go with the faux wood treatment because of 1. cost, and 2. because it was going out of style and evoked pre war thoughts, not modernity. 

There are specialists that redo those Cadillac dashes and Hudson, others.

[Gordie]

A quick fix for faded wood grain dashes was to put brown shoe polish on the dashboard and it woke them right up!

[jbailey]

The pictures show a 226 engine under the hood and the text states that the car has a 4 speed automatic transmission.  How common is that combination, and how well does it work?

John B.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

In 1952 General Motors released a new version of the automatic transmission they used in their cars plus Kaisers, Hudsons & other makes of car including Lincoln!  This was the "dual-range hydra-matic" that had a DR1 range and a DR2 range of gears.  In DR1 on the highway you got the equivilent of a 4th gear; it was the grandfather of the automatic overdrive transmissions GM had 45+ years later on. 

1952 later series (Manhattan and base-line deLuxe models) through 1955 used the dual range gearboxes.  With the DR1 set-up and the rear axle ratio used, you were at 3.31:1 final rear axle ratio; Kaisers and Henry J automobiles (also Allstates) got down to a 3.18:1 ratio with the borg-warner overdrive engaged on the boulevard or the highway.   That was how MOTOR TREND got almost 26 mpg in their test loop portion of the 1953 Kaiser Manhattan road test.