interior and door pnl's

[Henry's HenryJs]

Here are some pic's of our interior, any ideas if the material has been replaced? Thanks, Henry.

[Fid]

I've never seen Henry J  material that looks like what's in those photos. The material looks to be of a later vintage than 1953. Most (but certainly not all) '53 Henry Js had brown dinosaur vinyl with volta cloth inserts like this.

The best way to find out is to look at the Trim Code listed on the data tag on the cowl. Get that number and post it on here and we should be able to provide you with examples of what it was originally.

[Henry's HenryJs]

Under TRIM is the number 5521. Below that is the # FO-4067, thanks again, and again, Henry.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Trim # 5521 is not listed in any of the 1953 model year factory documents I have; the numbering does fit the sequence for 1953 4 cylinder Corsair models.  The Foreign Order (FO-) number may explain the reason why the trim # is not listed.  Please post the door post serial number and the body serial number for this car.  Also, where was the car found & where is it currently located?

Thanks

[Henry's HenryJs]

The car came from Alberta, out of the Reynolds collection as they were selling off unwanted/ as is cars, and now it is in Woodlawn, Ontario. Here are some pic's of the tags.

[Henry's HenryJs]

Another pic of the pnl.

[Fid]

That second pic of the panel you just posted does appear original. The pattern and layout matches what's in mine just different material. It could very well be original.

[Jim B PEI]

About the 5521 and the "FO" aspect of this car. As a start, there were some large dealers in Alberta and BC, and some years ago I met a KFOCI member and his wife in Alberta who were (especially through his wife) connected with one of the biggest western Canada agencies of Kaiser-Frazer. I forget his name/small town, but he was still driving his 53? Manhattan nicknamed the 'Blue Goose" Not surprised really that it could be in the Reynolds in the first place--no salt on roads, lots to begin with.

It was common practice for Canadian (and in other countries too) operations of car firms to source some finishing details locally, either to reduce import duties, or just being 'politic'. Studebakers in Belgium, Israel, and Canada are rife with these touches, including models that didn't get sold at all in the USA (6 cylinder GT Hawks, W6 six cylinder "Presidents in all but name" sedans, Hardtop Hawks after 1956 that weren't Golden Hawks, etc) Kaiser did have an assembly plant for a short time in the Toronto area Leaside, around 1950 (for the long model year 1951 models ISTR)

FO would apply to cars destined for Canada, as well as overseas, I think, although the DR should cover that as well. It could be that it "was a foreign order", such as a Canadian service man stationed overseas that arranged delivery over there for repatriation when his tour was finished, for tax purposes. 

That the code 5521 seems to be a correct sequence number but unknown for US production makes perfect sense to me. Perhaps this is a carry-on touch for Canadian destined models after the Leaside assembly plant closed. About that time, I think there were changes to some aspects of Canadian duties and such under certain conditions (52 model year and after??) but can't remember what what the specifics were, since I was only born in 53 <GGG>

[Henry's HenryJs]

Thanks again to all for the info.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

JIM B PEI is somewhat correct.  Any car built at Willow Run to cover a foreign order (including American posessions) was run through Kaiser-Frazer Export Corporation.  The DR header will be a 2 for destination outside the 48 United States of the day,  and the car carried an FO or Foreign Order number that outlined the non-standard equipment (such as, when applicable, alcohol-based fuel lines, fuel pump, etc) put on each export car.  If the car was assembled at Rotterdam or some other assembly plant outside the 48 United States there would be an alphabet letter on either the door post tag or the body serial number tag (Like, for example, K533-R001234 would indicate a car made at Rotterdam). 

If the upholstery is all vinyl, I would guess that the trim was normally fleet or export as it might be considered one level below the normal domestic cloth insert, vinyl trim of the seats.   

[Jim B PEI]

I just mentioned this as my sold-new-in-Saskatchewan 49 Kaiser has a DR of 2. I have also seen a couple of early cars ie before 53 with a "2" that seem to have original upholstery, including one 11,000 mile museum car stored since 1955, that had (sometimes very slightly) different upholstery than what I've seen on "1" cars. What I mean is, it looked used and old enough to be original, and there were no noticeable changes in pattern or cutting, just that all the material was different. Bambu and Dragon were the same; it was the cloths on some of the earlier cars that were different.