Kaiser Frazer Literature

[Gordie]

I recently acquired a small sales catalog from Kaiser Frazer of Israel Ltd. in Haifa regarding their display at the Industrial Exhibition on April 23 to May 13 1956.  Illustrated are a 1952 Kaiser Manhattan, the full line of Willys vehicles including the Aero Willys which also appears to be maybe a 1953 with one piece windshield and a line of Renault vehicles and some motor scooters.  It is interesting that Israel was still offering Kaisers for sale as late as 1956.  Perhaps they had a large supply from earlier years that were unsold.  There were no illustrations of the later 1954 style.  There was a picture of a large crate on a forklift marked in Large letters Kaiser but it looked large enough to hold a body shell not a whole car.  Does anyone know when Israel ran out of Kaisers and Aero Willys?  Interesting!

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Kaiser-Frazer of Israel LTD was an Isralei majority owned concern that was associated with the Isralei company that assembled various makes of car and truck including Mack Trucks and Studebaker automobiles.  Kaiser production started during the 1951 model year and ran into 1956;  post 1954 production reflected using up of parts stocks at the Haifa facility & ran at very low volume (handfuls a year).  The same held true for the Willys cars.  It was only recently that the last of the original principals in the Isralei operation died. 

Most of the production at Haifa went to other countries that were reluctant to part with US Dollars or Dutch Gulider. 

[Gordie]

Thanks Jack,  I wonder what kind of serial numbers and data plates these cars carried.  It would be interesting to find a 1956 Kaiser that looked like a 1952!  More K-F mysteries!

[Jim B PEI]

I have seen a picture of a 54 style Kaiser built in Israel that is in a small museum in far northern Israel, so at least one or more was made there. I have no idea if it is a Special or Manhattan, or  similar to one of the Cordoba AR cars, or any idea how the number plate was set up. As far as the Studebaker connection, I have purchased several NOS pieces for 60/61 through 66 Lark-type cars, especially metric speedometers. I did enquire and there was essentially no parts for before 1960, as that is when they set up for Studebakers. I wasn't aware of the Willys Aeros though--something new every day!