I personally have owned a 1948 Frazer standard and two Henry Js - a 1953 which I've had for almost 30 years and a 1952 Henry J Vagabond I bought of ebay in 2001 (See 2010 KF calander). I sold the Frazer when I moved out of state and my parents moved out of state. I had nowhere to store it so I sold it. It was my daily driver from 1978 - 79 and I kept it around because it rode so nice and it was a decent car, although not a show car. Since I was a little tyke I helped my dad restore many cars, KF and non-KF. In the late 60s we did a 1952 Henry J Vagabond which he made into a pickup way back. We put Chevy 283 in it because we couldn't find a Henry J engine at the time. Next we did a Pea****** Blue 1953 Henry J Corsair deluxe which was painted yellow with green around the bottom. Drove it till it died, it was in 3 accidents over it's career, the last one in 1974 it met its demise when rear-ended by a semi (no one was in it and no one was hurt).
As far as Kaisers go, I remember walking home from school and seeing a green Kaiser sitting beside a house for years. Dad bought and it was the first Kaiser we ever did. We had no idea how rare it was when he bought it. It was 1948 Kaiser Custom with all leather interior and was in exceptional condition. At that time we thought all Kaisers had leather interior! Anyway, starting with that 1948 here's a list of cars we owned/restored in the 1970s, most of them still on the road:
1948 Kaiser Custom
1953 Kaiser Manhattan (with hydramatic)
1953 Henry J Corsair Deluxe (sold to finance the restore of the 1951 Frazer)
1951 Frazer F5155 four door sedan (I still see it at shows here every now and then)
1951 Frazer Vagabond (rough shape, used only as a parts doner)
1948 Kaiser Special (rouch shape bought it to get the radio and engine-parts doner)
1954 Kaiser early Special (badly rusted and bondo-ed. Previous owner painted it with a brush! Paid $35 for it, drove it a while, pulled the motor and junked it)
1953 Henry J Corsair Deluxe (I still own it)
1948 Kaiser Speical (decent car, bought it from a KF member's widow. Got it running and sold it to Marvin Rauch in KS)
1951 Henry J (low-mileage, highly accessorized car. Very good one, when the folks had to relocate in the mid 80s it was sold - no storage)
1949 Frazer Manhattan (a beauty. Tutone green, I've posted the picture of it in the snow many times on here. It was sold when our interest in KF was waning in the early 1980s)
1953 Kaiser Manhattan (Low-mileage, all original with hydramatic purchased from an ad in the Seattle paper. Kaiser Bill has it in his museam now)
1951 Kaiser Special (knick-named Lasagna, very sold nice car now owned by Weas)
1953 Kaiser Manhattan (Very nice white over tropical green, hydramatic. Sold when dad retired and had to move. Owned by someone in Utah now)
1951 Henry J deluxe (the blue one pictured in Last Onslaught On Detroit. Purchased from John Haller in Mpls, now owned by Ted Harrington in New Mexico)
1951 Henry J deluxe (Mariner gray, pictured in the November 2004 issue or Hemmings Classic Car magazine. My dad still owns it)
1952 Henry J Vagabond (cape verde green. Low miles, I still own it)
1951 Henry J (A '53 that was custom assembled and retagged as a gift for Edgar Kaiser. Purchased from Edgar Jr. in 2004. It belongs to my dad but I have it here at my place)
I may have missed some too! The one I really wish we still had was the 1948 Custom with the leather interior. We know where it is and may try to get it back some day.
Otherwise, I find that selling them is just as much fun as buying them as you often make friends while doing so and you certainly bring a lot of joy to those who buy them and appreciate them.
