What Do I Have Here?

[shadetree77]

Driving down the road with the wife today and spotted a Kaiser on the side of the road. Stopped to check it out. Owner doesn't know much about it (owns a towing company). It's in ROUGH shape to be sure but might make a good parts car. We took some pictures of it. Can anyone tell me exactly what it is? If I'm reading the tag right it's a '52. And if I'm reading what the manual says correctly, the serial number on the door tag along with the model designation of K522 means this is supposed to be a Virginian. Can anyone shed some light?

[shadetree77]

More pics.

[shadetree77]

More...

[shadetree77]

More....

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

The body tag on the firewall (larger tag) shows the car to be a 1952 Kaiser Virginian that was built as an export order (2 in the DR heading and a FO- type number at SPEC-FO to indicate Foreign Order).

[shadetree77]

i guess I was reading the manual correctly. Thanks Jack.  The export order makes sense as this car still has 1973 Ontario plates on it. Few more questions for you guys:

1. Were the continental kits on the '52 Virginians an option? Because this one clearly doesn't have one.

2. I'm assuming the little extra tail lights/turn signals were not a factory item?

3. And now the most important question, how much of this car would be interchangeable with my '53 Manhattan? Doors? Hood? Glass? Gas tank? Floors? Etc.?

Thanks again guys.

[joefrazer]

This car appears to be an early Virginian. Looking at the registry, there's only one car with an earlier serial number reported. That would be why there's no continental kit. The early cars were not always equipped...the later ones stood a better chance.

The extra lights are probably for the add-on turn signals.

Between this car and a 53, what wouldn't interchange would be the front sheet metal, tail lights, windshield, trunk lid and hinges, trunk ornament, intake manifold, and bumpers. The interior differs as well, otherwise, most everything else is the same.

[shadetree77]

Thanks! Just what I needed to know. Now, what I'm not sure of is whether or not it would be worth it for me to buy this car. It's ROUGH. Ton of body damage on both sides. Front drivers side fender is DESTROYED. Might even be some fire damage to this car. EVERY. SINGLE. PIECE. of trim had screws drilled into it to hold it on. Even the nose badge had a screw through it! Hood ornament and 99% of the badges are gone and looks like whenever this car was repainted they shaved the holes for them. Looked like the steering linkages were busted and lying on the ground. Don't know if the engine is any good. And a real kicker, NO TITLE. Just papers from the estate that he bought it from. Probably bill of sale. He was asking $600 for it. Decisions, decisions. Opinions?

[joefrazer]

If you're considering it as a parts car for your 53, I'd keep looking. Not that the pictured car is that bad, but I'm sure there are 53s out there in the same shape for the same money. At least you'd then have most everything the same between the two cars.

[Fid]

Just to tack on regarding  the Continental kits. When I hosted a meet here in Mpls 10 years ago, we had  speaker (forget his name unfortunately) who worked for KF and he explained how he, and others, went to the dealers (and he may have meant distibutors) to convert the cars (Kaisers to Virginians, Henry Js to Vagabonds) and he said if the rep didn't have the parts or the dealer was not set up to do painting or even if the rep was just lazy, the cars on the lot did not get the Continental kit installed.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

As indicated in the KFOCI HANDBOOK on CD, the "Continental" tire kit is a factory (or dealer) installed option.  Doors, glass except for windshield, radiator and a number of other parts are interchangeable with a 53 Manhattan however the radiator and many other parts will probably need some $$$ for rebuilding, repairing, etc.

If you do get the vehicle as a parts car, please advise if the firewall tags (large & small) and the door post serial number tag would be available & if so, how much?

Lastly, 1952 Virginians were for the most part unsold 1951 Kaisers in factory hands.  DO NOT use the body number tag (firewall) as to position of the car on the production line; that's what the door post tag is for.  Door post tag may say Kaiser-Frazer of Canada LTD rather than Kaiser-Frazer Corporation, Willow Run MI.  1951 & perhaps a small number of 1952 Virginians (1951's left in company hands when the model year ended were re-tagged and reworked into 1952 Virginians) were assembled at the REO Motors LTD plant in Leaside Ontario (the Toronto area).  Ironically, the REO facility started out as the main export assembly plant for Graham-Paige who sold it to REO in the 1930's.