Dragon 2-door coupe

[Aeroman]

About 30 years ago, I stopped to visit the late Jack Edward #300 when he lived in Grass Valley, CA. He showed me a 2-door Dragon coupe that he had sitting in the yard, with vinyl roof and interior (can't remember if it was Dinosaur, Dragon or Bamboo vinyl, I think Dragon vinyl). It was a parts car at best. I seem to remember it was a factory car, but 30 years have made my memory spotty. Can anyone tell me the story of this car and whatever happened to it? Anyone got pics of it?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

The 1953 Kaiser Dragon coupe I know of was in the midwest back in the 1970's.  It had a supercharger and was made up by then-club member Larry Smith.  It had no factory pedigree as such & the body tag & serial number was that of the donor car.

[Gordie]

I saw that coupe at Jacks house near Grass Valley CA many years ago.  He wanted about $400 for it at that time and someone had taken the front end off and was going to make a hot rod out of it.  It was rust free as I remember it and would have been easily restored.  I bought some parts and literature from Jack but passed on the coupe as I already had a nice original dlx coupe.  If I had known that it was probably the only one left I would have tried to get it the 400 miles home.  Rudy ended up with it and stored it for many years and I understand that he recently junked it out.  That would have made a fantastic car, but one of life's regrets!  I thought that it was a 1951 rather than 1953.  There were no '53 coupes.  Only '51 and few '52's.  Jack also had a Carabella in his garage at that time.

[84RabbitGTI]

Larry Smith's "1953 Kaiser Dragon 2-door, with supercharger" in New Orleans, KFOCI National, 1990.  From my video camera.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Please re-read my comments.  The factory built none, nada, zip, 2-door dragons.  This was a member-built custom.

[84RabbitGTI]

Which is why I placed the name in quotes.  Sorry I was not clear on that.  I was a newbee when I first saw it in 1990, but even then knew there was something off about it.  I didn't hear the story until much later that the car was done up by a member who had the parts at his disposal.  Nothing wrong with that, it is his car, but if he tried to present it as something it's not, then that could be wrong.  I don't know if that's what he had done as I have never talked directly to him about it in any way.  Other members have and know far more about the car than I do.  I just posted the few "photos" (captured from my video camera) as I had just to add to the discussion. 

[Gordie]

Larry Smith's car is a two door sedan not a coupe.

[Aeroman]

Personally, I have no problems with people building "Phantoms" as they've come to be known as. I owned a phantom for about 8 years: my 1952 Kaiser Manhattan 2-door Traveler. It was never passed off as a factory car - it was built by Don Rouse back in the 1970's from several different cars, but based on a 1951 Special 2-door Traveler. When I brought the car home to GA from MI, I stopped to visit Jack & Barbara Mueller when they still lived in KY and Jack and I had fun working out details for a correct serial number tag, body tag and trim code tag. That car is now in Sweden with KF collector Gören Braun. (see attached pic)
As to the Dragon coupe that started this thread, I don't think Jack Edward ever knew the history of the car, but thought it would be pretty cool to restore it anyway. And Gordie, I also remember it as a 1951 and it was definitely NOT Larry Smith's car. Did you take any pics of it Gordie?

[joefrazer]

The 54 Willys headlights doors really dressed the car up!

I recently acquired a collection of Jack Edward's correspondence. I'll look to see if he mentions the car in any of his letters.

[Aeroman]

Actually, those aren't '54 Willys headlight doors, they are aftermarket sheet stainless shaped to be "eyelids" for a standard bezel.

[Gordie]

The original owner of my '51 coupe modified it a little by putting those stainless steel eyelids on the car along with '52 tail lights two extra bumper guards front and rear and spent about an hour with a paint brush and a can of bright red paint doing wheels, rocker panels hubcap centers and grill trim.  When I bought the car I flew into Dearborn MI and picked it up and drove it to my first National Meet in Pigeon Forge TN.  After polishing it in Motel parking lots I entered it in the modified class and won a second prize being beaten by a nice hot rod Henry J.  It still has some of the red paint and a non original fan to clear mist off of the rear window and those odd head light rims but I figure it is part of the patina of this car.  It is not perfect but a very nice original with all original paint and interior.  I don't have it judged as it can't compete with a restored car but it is one of the nicest original coupes that I have seen.  It turned 39.000 miles on the way to the San Diego meet a couple of years ago and hasn't been out of the garage since. Driving it home from Pigeon Forge is a whole other story and I broke down about fifty times and had to get under the car in the hot sun and blow thru the gas lines and by the time I got to Denver it got so tiresome that I dropped it off at Walkers Garage where they proceeded to do much damage to the car by breaking the trunk hinges and replacing all of the original gas lines and tank with old dented parts and after leaving it there for a week I flew back to Denver and it still would not run without the electric fuel pump and I nursed it home to Los Angeles and John Parker who got it running right away after taking off the high altitude carb. and other parts that prevented it from running correctly.  Aren't our old cars fun??  I'll bet you have some stories too!  PS  I never did take pictures of that Dragon Coupe but maybe Rudy took some.  I hope he saved the serial number tags from it.

[Aeroman]

Gordie, I remember when you showed up with that coupe at Pigeon Forge. Didn't you have to replace tires at various points during that trip?
I really miss John Parker. If you ever had a problem with a Kaiser or related, John would fix it for you, prices always reasonable and he always seemed to have the parts you needed. I used to go down there and just hang around, work on whatever he was working on, strip out some of his junkers for him or have him coach me when I'd work on my cars. A real mentor for me. And lunches with Fred Upshaw across the alley.

[BigDave LM6174]

John Parker is truly missed.  He got my car up and running before we restored it.  Great friend.

[Gordie]

Hi  Rick,  I had forgotten about the tire problem on that trip as that was the least of my troubles.  I got to the motel in Pigeon Forge and some one pointed at my right front tire so I got out and looked only to find half grapefruit size blisters  on two of my tires.  The car was very low mileage and still had the original tires.  It had been stored in the owners garage after he passed away and so when I bought the car in July of 1984 the tires were already 34 years old  I drove slowly to Nashville to Coker tire and bought new tires.  At that time Coker would not install the tires so I had to find a tire store to install them and it turned into an all day project.  Those tires are still on the car after thirty more years and the original spare is in the wheel well and it is now 64 years old and still looks new.  I hope I don't need to use it any time soon!  My favorite picture of that car is on Hoffman's front lawn taken by Rick Lenz for an article in Automotive Quarterly that never happened.

[Aeroman]

Gordie - More SoCal people I miss: before I moved to Georgia, I created a photo album of SoCal KFOCers and their cars. I had shots of just about everyone, the Thorntons, Hoffmans, Parkers, Herb Smith, Watsons, Terry Zeug, Don Naugle, Stuart Whitsett & Marie Dressel, Sandens, Hogels, Greenes, and many more. I left the book with Tom and Leona. It might be nice to get it and scan those pics for the internet. I don't think I have any copies of them.