I thought I'd create a new thread to discuss that 1950 Kaiser limo since there was some intrest. I remember reading about that car sitting in a farm yard in Iowa and being visible from I80 back in the early 1970s. As I recall, the conversion was done by "Armbruster" who converted a number of different makes of cars into, literally, stretch-limos. I found an article in the Spring 1973 edition of the KFOC Quarterly, where KFOC member Sid Sidwell of IA wrote in to say he had made a deal to buy the car, which for years had a "Not For Sale" sign on it, and that he had no plans to restore it, he just wanted to save it. There is an addendum at the end of the article stating that Sid has sold the car because he needed to move and had no storage and that the person Sid sold it to was in negotiations with the former KFOC President Alan Payne who planned to purchase it.
The Summer 1976 issue of the KFOC Quarterly has an article by James Arnett of Colorado who purchased the car from Alan Payne and he highlights how he did the restoration that he said took "One year and five months to complete."
When it came to Minnesota, I don't recall. My guess is sometime in the early 80s. For the 1980s and most of the 1990s I paid little attention to KF items and the club so I really don't know the particulars. The October 1993 issue of "Collectible Automobile" has an article about the 1947-50 Kaisers and it has a picture of the limo and the caption states it "Served a Spanish Mission Church in Del Rio, Texas for 20 years before its restoration in Minnesota..." and lists the owners as "John Haller and Keith Zimmerman." Of course after reading the article in the Summer 1976 issue of the Quarterly, it is apparent that the part about it being "Restored in Minnesota" is not true. Keith Zimmerman had a large quonset hut with some very nice KF products in it. He left the hobby around 1990 but kept his cars till 2002 when he sold them at a much publicised auction. I was there and video taped much of the auction - they started the bidding for the limo at $75,000 but there were no takers. The frustrated auctioneer kept lowering the bid and I think mr. Z was quite disappointed when the car sold for $16,000.
Francis "Fuzzy" Fruzyna of Green Bay, Wisconsin bought 3 cars that day, the 1950 limo, a mint 1951 Henry J four cylinder and the mint 1949 Frazer Manhattan Zimmerman had. Looks like he used some of this millions to customize the limo for the short duration he owned it (he died less than a year after the auction). No idea where it is now. His cars never showed up for sale in the KFOC bulletin or on ebay so perhaps he willed them to someone. He also had a Tucker and Darrin with all gold plated hardware.
