Author Topic: 1953 kaiser Dragon Made for the 53 Chicago Auto show  (Read 5452 times)

OldKaiser53

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1953 kaiser Dragon Made for the 53 Chicago Auto show
« on: September 16, 2009, 09:42:19 PM »
Hi, I know a guy who has a 1953 Kaizer Dragon. THe car is torquoise with the Brown leather interior. The car has 25K miles on it and was last driven in 1961. The guy is wanting to sell it. I read thye book 'The Last Onslaught" and this car has all of the options that it says in the book that were made for the 53 Chicago Auto show. The car is complete with the exception of a broken tail light. The interior is good and the headliner is perfect. It has rust around the bottom of the back window and a little on the rockers, but would be anb easy restore. The stainless is good and the motors turns over although it has been years since it has been started.
Can anyone tell me what its worth unrestored Purchase price
What it would be worth restored to concurs.
How can I tell if it was made for the 53 Chicago auto show? Vin? Serial ?
THanks
Nik

joefrazer

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Re: 1953 kaiser Dragon Made for the 53 Chicago Auto show
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2009, 08:03:30 PM »
Kaiser Frazer usually took factory built cars to the auto shows...with the exception of the 1951 model year where they had specially built cars on display. By 1953, KFs fortunes were waning so they hand picked cars from either local distrbutors or factory inventory and took them.
The Dragon you mention is one of the rarer versions. Restoring one is as easy as restoring a Manhattan or Deluxe...until you get to the interior and top material. It's pricey and depending upon the pattern, no longer available anywhere. Then there's all of that gold annodized pot metal on the exterior. If the interior didn't put you in the poorhouse, the gold plating will!!
An unrestored original car that needs it all is usually worth about $2500...maybe a bit more if the interior is servicable. A restored Dragon can fetch into the high teens or low 20s but it'll take most of that to restore one the right way.

DL

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Re: 1953 kaiser Dragon Made for the 53 Chicago Auto show
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2009, 09:11:09 PM »
Where are you located ?

joefrazer

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Re: 1953 kaiser Dragon Made for the 53 Chicago Auto show
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2009, 07:54:32 PM »
I'm in northern Ohio...just east of Cleveland.

kaiserfrazerlibrary

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Re: 1953 kaiser Dragon Made for the 53 Chicago Auto show
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2009, 11:10:23 PM »
Hi,

The show dragons have distrinctive identification.

First, the door post serial number will start K530 followed by an "X-" with a single digit number; the highest known number of the group is X-6.  The larger firewall body tag will have 999 and 888 for paint and trim numbers along with a number beginning with K-at the SPEC-FO heading.  The smaller firewall body tag may start out K5311 or K5321 rather than K5301 but a K5301 is not a show stopper.

Also, be advised that the "6-pack" seems to have already been accounted for.  One went to the wife of Brooks Stevens, the Milwaukee WI based Industrial designer.  My father owned one at the time of his death; it has since gone to ground.  Jerry Johnson in IL owns perhaps the best of the group, and the Buchinger family owns another.  One was supposed to have gone to Bob Smith, one of Milwaukee WI's K-F dealers (the Alice Stevens car was delivered by De Boer Motors, another Milwaukee WI K-F store) and the last was supposed to have gone to Hawaii, assigned to the Henry J. Kaiser Corporation pool and later returned stateside.  However, it is possible that some of this may not be correct or the car could have migrated over time.  Further, additional cars could have been produced matching the color, trim and equipment of the original show Dragons.

If you want someone to look at it, I live in Rocky River just a bit off I-90 near the Clague Road exit (west side of Cleveland OH).

Jack Mueller
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jerussel

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Re: 1953 kaiser Dragon Made for the 53 Chicago Auto show
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2009, 06:55:23 PM »
Pics?
How do we contact the seller, unless, of course, you are interested in buying the car.
I'd be interested in discussing it with the owner.