Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: kaiserfrazerlibrary on September 03, 2011, 04:59:26 PM
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I have been informed by MT Publishing that a second printing of BUILT TO BETTER THE BEST will take place if the company receives at least 150 pre-orders for the book. Price is still supposed to be $39.95 plus Shipping.
Otherwise, they are sold out and please, do not ask me...I have NO copies for sale.
Those looking for a copy can contact Mark Thompson at MT Publishing for how to pre-order information. He can be reached via the company website mtpublishing.com.
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Are they going to fix all the spelling error before they reprint??
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OK. I went on the website and committed to 2 copies and said if it got close, within 10-15 copies, I would buy that up to get a printing. I then went to the AACA website and entered a post in 3 different sections to promote getting some interest.
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It is such a wonderful source of information and pictures, that spelling errors hold no terrors for me--and doing that type of correction usually drives the cost upwards.
If anyone does not have this book already, I would seriously urge then to order it--I treasure my copy highly
What WOULD be a good resource, perhaps as a disc for purchase or internet only resource, is list of updates based on more recent discoveries, such as the fate of show cars, oddities such as the single 54 Utility model, the recreations of some special cars, new materials and facts found out and other discoveries. Again, adding an addendum or corrections list TO THE BOOK ITSELF might be an expensive order.
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To answer the various questions:
1. In order to keep production cost down the original plates will be used...no additions to information, no changes to spelling. Sorry about the problems the first time but I am not the world's greatest proofreader.
2. Mark did not indicate the quantity in a second printing; last time was 1,000 copies.
3. The first printing was done by a company in Tennessee.
4. MT Publishing has the primary rights to distribution and sales; I collect a royalty on each book sold. MT Publishing also fronted 100% of the cost on printing and production. I paid no money up front.
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Note to Jim PEI
There is no 1954 Kaiser Traveler. As I noted in KFOCI HANDBOOK Version 4.0, the traveler in rough but potentially restorable condition that has 1954 Kaiser cowl and tail lights on it is according to the tags a 1953 Kaiser Manhattan 4-door Traveler with the custom interior and paint plus a special order number on the firewall tag. My father's 1953 Show Dragon also got the new cowl and tail lights along with a supercharged engine. When the car was disassembled, it turned out that (according to Mike Barker) the fenders were hand formed test stampings; production fenders had pre-punched holes for "Kaiser Manhattan" script which have different pins than "Kaiser Dragon" script.
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OK. I went on the website and committed to 2 copies and said if it got close, within 10-15 copies, I would buy that up to get a printing. I then went to the AACA website and entered a post in 3 different sections to promote getting some interest.
Submitted my request for a copy.
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Note to Jim PEI
There is no 1954 Kaiser Traveler. As I noted in KFOCI HANDBOOK Version 4.0, the traveler in rough but potentially restorable condition that has 1954 Kaiser cowl and tail lights on it is according to the tags a 1953 Kaiser Manhattan 4-door Traveler with the custom interior and paint plus a special order number on the firewall tag. My father's 1953 Show Dragon also got the new cowl and tail lights along with a supercharged engine. When the car was disassembled, it turned out that (according to Mike Barker) the fenders were hand formed test stampings; production fenders had pre-punched holes for "Kaiser Manhattan" script which have different pins than "Kaiser Dragon" script.
Ah, I agree with you completely! Pity there was no 54 Traveler, just like there was no 54 Dragon. What you say is completely in line with what the small manufacturers did...ie, pull cars off the production line (one Studebaker example is the "Frua Larks" that got sent over to Italy for the Frua design exercise) and modify them for special purposes such as show cars, mules for next year's model showing the changes in a running vehicle, or sometimes, from a special internal or external order. The point about the pins/fender is well taken!
As far as the Travelers, there were no 5325 Manhattan Travelers made in regular production (they were all 5315 Deluxe Travelers), although I could swear that I saw a picture once of a one-off factory 53 Manhattan Traveler. I would hazard a guess that it too started off as a 5315, and had the Manhattan trim added, and that car would have been a 999/888 too, I betcha. So, the same way I would consider that "54 Traveler" to be a similar sort of exercise, and definitely they, like the 53, would NOT have had created a one-off body tag just to build an 'feasibility evaluation' car. Similarly, "54 Dragons" and those 2door Carabelas we have heard about--they would have had a tag that was almost certainly different that what they purported to be.
I have seen up close a 1966 "special order car from a little old lady and determined long time customer" Studebaker" in the last few years, that is carefully stored by a former Studebaker dealer. As well, I have a previously unknown and unusual (and perhaps the only one (still) existing??) 1964 Studebaker 2 door "Commander Special" which was a special Canadian factory build, as the build sheet shows, and which all the experts agreed either wasn't original or had the wrong serial number attached, until I got the production order from the Studebaker National Museum. I am very intrigued by factory specials, show cars, and authorized or unauthorized insider modifications, as you might see.