Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Parker on July 14, 2010, 09:21:28 PM
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Does anyone know anything about the Darrin that was listed on Ebay today 7-14-10? Where can one find doors etc. Thanks, Parker.
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I couldn't find the ad being discussed in the forum until I stumbled on it as a 1954 Willys. If anyone wants to look it is Ebay: 300446478371
The engine is clearly a flathead and every Darrin I ever saw, including mine, was the 161 Willys F-OHV engine. Was the flathead ever put in one? Also, it looks like the gelcoat is cracked off in several places. Finally, isn't that a strange serial number sequence?
I think that I would err on the side of caution. ???
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This car came from a collection owned by a gent who had about a dozen odd old cars and needed to sell out to pay bills. It sold about a year or so ago to a fellow near Toledo, Ohio. I guess he's realized that a Darrin that's missing alot is much more difficult to restore than a complete one. I am going to stop and take a closer look at it on Friday as I will be in that area.
Darrins didn't orginally come with the L-head engine...the 161 F-head was OE. I think one or two got superchargers and the same count saw a 226 installed by engineering or early owners and there are the V8 car(s) that Dutch did too. My guess is that early in life, this car had an engine failure and the HJ replacement was easier to find and cheaper to install.
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That Elrod who determined the engine was original must be real pro.
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I'm a little late ringing in on this subject, but. Could this be a early (prototype) car? The car that was circulated around Northern New England dealers in 1953 or early 1954 had the flathead with 3 carbs. I remember the car well as I instantly fell in love with it during the five or six days it was in my little home town in Maine.
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During the development of the Henry J, the original plan was to use the L-head with tri carbs. I have a copy of the Experimental Engineering report with photos showing a couple engines in test cars. The project came to an abrupt end in July 1953 when top management decided to use the F-head 6 instead. Pitty...at the time the project was abandoned, the engineers had the motor up to 105 bhp without a blower and seemed pretty close to resolving the various reliability issues (holding timing, etc) that the changes were causing.
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So could that engine have found it's way into some early Darrins only to be replaced by the 161 before being sold to a customer?
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Nope....they never got it to work reliably...it was junked out.
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So do we know what Dutch used in the car he first showed KF?