Pictures from Sublette, IL show today

[Fid]

I drove my '52 Henry J Vagabond down to Sublette for the show today. Quite a turn out on a gorgeous day.
Here are some pictures -
http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/album.sfly?sid=1SatmLdmyYyo&startIndex=0&fid=e084e1d45c6edc91d33ce936de451066

[j762538]

Good to see those Kaisers getting out!

[G.B. (All Vinyl Dragon)]

I drove my '52 Henry J Vagabond down to Sublette for the show today. Quite a turn out on a gorgeous day.
Here are some pictures -
http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/album.sfly?sid=1SatmLdmyYyo&startIndex=0&fid=e084e1d45c6edc91d33ce936de451066

Good Pictures of the 51 Jade Dragon of Henry J Kaiser.  I wanted to see it when it was in Arkansas.
Wish You got More...
Same Color as My 53 All Vinyl Dragon. I have wanted to see if it is the same White Poplin Top They used on the All Vinyl Dragons in 1953.
They used the Bambu on like Lowell Johnson's. His is All Vinyl but His inserts is a Lt. Green Boucle Vinyl. Mine is White.

[Fid]

I took a lot of video of Henry J Kaiser's personal car. Unfortunately, he wouldn't open the garage door all the way or drive it out so we could get good pictures. It's an amazing car. Has the large 1948/50 Deluxe steering wheel

and the upholstery is amazing

. Stunning color and vinyl top.
Special overhead valve engine -

A great treasure to have for sure.
I was also surprised by all the awesome Hudsons. Unfortunately, for an orphan car show, there were no Packards or Studebakers representing the post-war orphans. Oh well, if they made room for more Kaisers then I guess it was OK. I really liked the '47 Frazer Manhattan but it was hard to photograph in the heavy shade. It was actually tutone green and really amazing. I've never seen it before.

[84RabbitGTI]

Great photos, Fid!! Thanks!  I'm especially interested in the OHV engine in Henry J's car!

[r1lark]

Great photos, Fid!! Thanks!  I'm especially interested in the OHV engine in Henry J's car!

Me too! What's the history behind the OHV engine?

[Fid]

There's an article about the car in the Volume 8, number 2 KFOC Quarterly. Perhaps pnw_oldmags posted a link to the one at one time?  Anyway, regarding the engine, all the article says is "overhead valve 248 cubic inch six with several strange numbers, among which is VH-6-248-BX14." It further states the Autolite electrical components, generator, starter and distributor are all mounted on the right and that the carb and intake manifold are on the left and the carb is "Carter 723S."

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

At a point prior to 1975, the car's owner at the time got copies of the car development file papers from Toledo, right down to the name of the foundry who cast the block.  I hope the paperwork is still with the vehicle.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

A bit more on the OHV engine in the Kaiser Dragon:

During 1950-51, Kaiser-Frazer's management gave serious consideration to replacing the 226 flathead with something a little more up to date.  Several ideas including the OHV 6 in that Dragon were worked up to running prototype/test status.  Of the various ideas, this one showed the most promise especially where future updates were concerned.  Unfortunately, K-F ran out of money; it would have cost millions of dollars to finalize the design for production and tool up to build it.  Given its production lifetime, the cost would not have been bad (expenses spread out over production run) but by tne end of Summer 1951, more and more executives at Willow Run looked at cars as having limited potential for the time being and there was no money available to back-up a production commitment.

It is also worth noting that in 1953 Oldsmobile finally could go ahead and expand Rocket 88 production to meet Oldsmobile demand and supply other customers.  K-F was asked if they still wanted motors based on the 1951 purchase order cost & delivery schedules but by than, the Board of Directors voted to phase out the Kaiser passenger car after the 1955 model year.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Here are a couple of pictures of the OHV when it was undergoing assembly and test in the Experimental Engineering department

[84RabbitGTI]

Thanks, Jack for the photos!

[r1lark]

Was this engine based on the 226 flathead block (ie, same bore spacings, crank, rods, etc), or was it a totally clean sheet design?

[Roadmaster49]

A bit more on the OHV engine in the Kaiser Dragon:

It is also worth noting that in 1953 Oldsmobile finally could go ahead and expand Rocket 88 production to meet Oldsmobile demand and supply other customers.  K-F was asked if they still wanted motors based on the 1951 purchase order cost & delivery schedules but by than, the Board of Directors voted to phase out the Kaiser passenger car after the 1955 model year.

Speculation - of course - but in hindsight a BAD decision. 1. Public wanted V8 power.  2. There would have been a reduction in costs, right? Since KF would not be producing an engine- at least temporarily - that should have meant less payroll, overhead, etc.

I am not a fan of the 54 styling.  IF KF would have committed to a new 54, I think they would have survived. 52-54 was the Ford/Chevy infamous sales war, but KF would have had a modern V8 and automatic, and fresh styling.

[Logan]

I'm late on this, but just saw this post and had a question: the experimental pictures look like both manifolds are on the same side, but in the car, it looks like manifolds are on opposite sides.  Is the engine in the car an F-head?  Why the difference?

[joefrazer]

They are two different engines. The one in the HJK car is a later incarnation.