51 kaiser

[ken taplin]

I'm always amazed at the number of people that don't know what my car is and when I tell them they say they never heard of it. then there are the people that know exactly what it is like the guy at the 4th of July parade who announced to everyone in the area "Now there's a Hudson Hornet!"

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Here are a few things I heard over the years....

1.  Frazers are Canadian Chryslers built at a factory in Ontario for sale overseas

2.  Frazers were built in England by Nash Motors under the Frazer-Nash name, for export along with the Nash trucks

3.  Kaisers were built in the United States by Ford (wish it were true, I could get a parking permit at the engine plant if they were)

4.  The Henry J was built by Willys

5.  All Kaisers were built in South America by relocated Nazi party members and were imported in the USA by a front for the Communist Party.

6.  Kaisers and Frazers used Lycoming engiines (this is out of the book REAL STEEL that was published in the 1970's).

7.  Howard Darrin built the Kaiser-Darrin Sports car at his shop in California; Kaiser-Frazer dealers sold the cars

8.  Kaiser-Frazer cars used the 161 cubic inch Willys 6 cylinder engine during their production life (this came out of a Southerby's auction description of cars offered in an estate sale).

[Fid]

Here are some things I have been told about KF products, mainly the Henry J as that's the one I show the most:

1.  The Henry J was the English version of the Ford (probably confused with Anglia)
2.  Kaiser cars had 5 coats of enamel and each coat was hand rubbed.
3.  Only Kaiser Manhattans had straight eights
4.  The Henry J used Continental engines (most recently reported in Hemming's Classic Car, Nov 2004)
5.  The Henry J was Ford's biggest flop, worse than the Edsel, which is why you never see them.
6.  Cadillac and Lincoln conspired to destroy the Frazer Manhattan
7.  Many Cadillac and Frazer parts interchange.

Maybe others can join in and we'll keep this going.  It's good entertainment if nothing else.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

This is a true story, backed up by a postcard put out by the dealer.

Not far from Barbara and I is Elyria, Ohio.  in 1950, Earl J. Lance became the city's Kaiser-Frazer dealer.  Like a number of K-F stores, Lance lost his K-F franchise in 1954 and secured Packard.  While a Packard dealer, Lance refused to totally give up on Kaiser-Frazer.  There is a c.1956 issued postcard promoting the dealership around that shows his building displaying Packard as well as Kaiser-Frazer signage.   This picture has resulted in a lot of local historians calling Mr. Lance a Kaiser-Frazer-Packard dealer, and believing that Kaiser-Frazer merged or was otherwise acquired by Packard. 

Despite the early setbacks, Earl J. Lance ended up a successful Buick dealer in Elyria, in business into the 1980"s.

[kenneth]

Hi have anyone heard this one before? Kaiser,yea I know they were made of empty oil barrels, by the way they were made by AMC!

[GA Kaiser]

LOL, what great stories.  I've heard the same thing from many people: Those cars were all made from aluminum, right?  what is a Kaiser?, who made the Kaiser?  Is it German?  I always try to explain if they will take the time to listen. 

I once met a really funny guy at an orphan show who had a Citroen 2CV.  He told me if people acted really stupid with him, he would just flat out tell lies about the car.  Some time later, I met a real jerk who was trying that with me.  I pointed out the "K" logos on my '54 Manhattan, and told him was made by K-Mart.  That shut him up and he walked away convinced he had learned something new.  I had to pray for forgiveness on that one, but I had the last laugh.

[Gordie]

This is a true story, backed up by a postcard put out by the dealer.

Not far from Barbara and I is Elyria, Ohio.  in 1950, Earl J. Lance became the city's Kaiser-Frazer dealer.  Like a number of K-F stores, Lance lost his K-F franchise in 1954 and secured Packard.  While a Packard dealer, Lance refused to totally give up on Kaiser-Frazer.  There is a c.1956 issued postcard promoting the dealership around that shows his building displaying Packard as well as Kaiser-Frazer signage.   This picture has resulted in a lot of local historians calling Mr. Lance a Kaiser-Frazer-Packard dealer, and believing that Kaiser-Frazer merged or was otherwise acquired by Packard. 

Despite the early setbacks, Earl J. Lance ended up a successful Buick dealer in Elyria, in business into the 1980"s.

 

Earl Lance was one of the more attractive dealers with a modern building and great signage.  He also put out a linen finish postcard in 1952 with three cars in the showroom.  There is also a card that he did in the 1970's with three views but of course by then he was a Buick dealer.  K-F dealer cards are hard to locate and I have only been able to find eight in many years of searching

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Here's another bit of bogus Kaiser-eze...

In the 1976 book REAL STEEL by William Nevell(?) there was a page on the 1954 Kaiser Manhattan.  In it, the writer authoratively indicated that all Kaisers were powered by Lycoming engines.

I have also found several references in 1980's vintage articles on Kaiser-Frazer that refer to the company not as K-F but as KFC (Kaiser Frazer Corporation?) or are they implying that the cars were FOWL, perhaps laying an egg in the annals of automotive history!

[Fid]

Well, the fowl thing makes sense. After all, KFC did produce the Hen-ry J!

[Fid]

I drove my Henry J to a car rally tonight. An old timer stopped to talk to me and tell me where the KF Dealer was in Saint Paul back in the day. He told me all about the time he and his brother went there and bought "...the last 1950 Kaiser Manhattan on the lot."  He then proceeded to inform me that "The Kaiser Manhattan was a Kaiser that had all of the Frazer features except suicide doors."
He explained to me that "There were some Kaiser 2 doors but all the Frazer were four doors with suicide doors."
How many of you knew that?
Needless to say, I just smiled and thanked him for the information. I saw no point in arguing with a fine gentleman who took the time to stop and compliment my car.  Who was I to tell him what he did and didn't remember?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

One has to remember that our situation is "expanded on" by the following:

1.  Kaiser-Frazer products faded rather quickly...after 1957 for instance, Sears Roebuck & Co. dropped K-F related listings from their "wish book" information for car parts.

2.  Kaiser-Frazer dealers faded just as fast...at least I can remember a few places in Wisconsin still sporting Studebaker dealer signage in the early 1970's and were servicing Studebaker cars...not so when K-F stopped building cars in the mid 1950's.