New to the Kaiser World

[Bad49chevy]

 Glad to have found this site, I just picked up a 51 kaiser. I am very new to these cars and know nothing about them, but I think they are a really kewl car and can not wait to dig into it. Right now all I know is its a 2 door and runs like a top. Body is in pretty good shape needs some minor work. My first question is how do I tell what model it is, and is the Darrin emblem on the back from this car or was it put on there by someone. I have a ton of questions but will not flood your forum all at once. It will be at my garage this weekend, I cant wait to really dig into her. Any help will be appreciated.
            Thanks

[Jim B PEI]

go to this KFOCI linked site to find out more about your car, and to register it/update it (it might already be there!)
http://www.eskimo.com/~hhagen/reg/reg.htm

For 51, the serial number (not VIN) is on the driver's door post between the hinges, and will start 51n-nnnnnn. If it is a 511 it is a Special (lower trim model) and 512 is a Deluxe, or upper trim model. The other numbers after are the serial number of the car in sequence for that model year.

Now, the body tag info on the cowl under the hood has all the interesting info about how the car was built originally. It will start with 51nn-nnnn  The 4th digit is the body style and a 2 door in 51 could be a 5110, 5113, 5114, 5120, 5124 or 5127. 0 is for a Traveler (hatchback utility), a 4 is a 2 door sedan, and a 5113 is Special Business Coupe, and a 5127 is a Deluxe Coupe. The other digits are the particular body number that was welded up and waiting to be used...and it can be well out of sequence to the serial # There is also a wealth of other information on this tag ie PNT: Paint Code TRIM: Trim Code DR: Delivery region (1 for US, 2 for export) TR: Transmission code AG: Accessory Group SCH: SCHED(ule) Number ITEM: Item Number. If you can post both sets of information here on the Forum, we can decode it all for you.

cheers! Jim Bartley

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

You can email the Club Historian to get a translation of the Body tag numbers as well as anything unusual on the door post serial number tag.

What general area are you located in?

[Fid]

I'll answer the question about the "Darrin" emblem on the back. If you examine it closely, you will see it says "Darrin Styled" to indicate the car was styled by Howard "Dutch" Darrin.  All 1951 Kaisers had this emblem on them so it is a standard feature. The 1947 Kaisers and Frazers and the earliest 1948 models had it too but Darrin himself wanted it removed on the early cars as he felt the actual production car deviated from his original design.  When he actually did design the 1951 Kaiser, the emblem was again installed on the 1951s and the early 1952s, called Viriginians, which were just left over 1951s which didn't sell.

[Bad49chevy]

 I am in Ohio around Dayton, and thank you all for the information so far. When I found this site I was very excited to see so many knowledgeable people on the Kaisers, I will have many more questions to come.
      Thanks again

[HJ-ETEX]

Say, you know it is easier to put a SB Chevy in a 51-55 Kaiser than it is to put one in any pre-55 Chevy. But most regularly serviced mechanical items for a Kaiser are available locally if you know what to ask for.

[Jim B PEI]

True!  When I had to rebuild my 49 Kaiser engine, ALL the parts for the complete rebuild were on the shelf in a town of 1300 7 miles down the road, or next day from the warehouse 100 miles away. Hint--it helps to be near the countryside, where there were Massey-Ferguson tractors sold new, that people now like to restore. Also, Clark forklifts. industrial portable air compressors on a trailer for jack hammers, field irrigators--they all used Continental engines at one time or another, and many of the mechanical parts including shocks etc are not difficult to find.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

The trick in asking for parts is NOT to ask for Kaiser when dealing with regular sources but to know the cross-reference.  Kaiser-Frazer products were "assembled" rather than "manufactured" which means the company went to supplier catalogs whenever possible; this saved on design costs and (especially in the early days) gave dealers a sales point (same rear end as DeSoto, same shocks as Chevrolet, etc). 

I'm in Rocky River, right across the street from Lake Erie.  If you want to stop by some weekend to romp through my collection of factory information, call first to make sure Barbara and I will be home.

[Bad49chevy]

 Thank you every one for the information, it looks like the engine and drive train is all in pretty good shape. I was going to pull the engine and tranny tear the motor down have it cleaned up etc, install new rings and gaskets and paint it up. Looks like it might need a new distributor and cap. Nothing major. Any good advice on this and a place to get the parts. All help is appreciated.

               Thanks Terry