Author Topic: Quarterly and Keller automobile  (Read 1231 times)

Doc

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Quarterly and Keller automobile
« on: September 30, 2010, 09:11:48 PM »
Terrific Quarterly just arrived with lots of very interesting reading. FYI, on page 26 reference is made to the Keller automobile.  Below is a website dedicated to the car made right here in Huntsville, Al on the Redstone Arsenal.  I believe there are at least two or three remaining and definitely one just across the Tennessee River on Brindlee Mountain that is undergoing a restoration with much dedicate effort to the all the wood paneling.
<http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/auto/welcome.html>
'54 Manhattan
'54 Late Special
'51 Frazer sedan

kaiserfrazerlibrary

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Re: Quarterly and Keller automobile
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2010, 06:59:28 AM »
This car started out in California as the Bobbi-Kar and fizzled out.  A group of Alabama investors bought the business and moved it east under the Dixie Motor Car Company name.  They too were unable to get the thing started until they were able to entice a Studebaker executive to break with the South Bend firm and become president of the new company, Keller Motors.  Keller was ready to launch an IPO to raise money for production when Keller died of a heart attack and the business fell apart.  Interestingly enough, the thing wasn't quite dead yet.  Another group of investors--Belgians--bought the remains of the company and packed the whole thing up for shipment to Belgium where a low number of cars were produced for the "home market". 

Your comment about the wood body work is worth noting; Keller bodies were made mostly of wood in an Alabama factory that made seats and wood stuff for the aircraft industry during World War II if memory serves.  Tom MacCahill commented on this in his road test of a prototype (in later years, recalling the article, "Uncle Tom" remembered how badly constructed and other problems, but tempered his findings with the understanding that it was a prototype and he expected production cars to be much better).