An original 1947 Kaiser

[Gordie]

Member Jerry Wilbeck reports that he has a nice low mileage 1947 Kaiser that has been in his family since it was new.  Jerry says that it still has the jack in a box in the trunk along with a new 6:50x15 tire on the spare tire rim that has never been on the ground.  Jerry, could you post a couple of pictures of those rare features?  6:50x15 tires were only used on about 14,000 Kaisers before the low pressure Super Cushion 710x15 tires appeared on the new Kaisers and Frazers.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

According to Kaiser-Frazer service bulletin #80 (Miscellaneous group, dated December 8, 1947) 1948 model year production of Kaisers and Frazers Began December 1st.  Frazer and Frazer Manhattans were leaving the factory with the Super Cushion 7.10 x 15 tires but Kaiser and Kaiser Custom cars still had the 6.509 x 15 size.  When factory stocks of the old size were exhausted, the company equipped the Kaiser models with the 7.10's.  All 1947 Kaisers should have originally had the 6.50 x 15 which have been out of production for decades so a 7.10 is ok for judging purposes.  Goodyear materials also recommend a 7.60 x 15 size tire IF the car has 5 1/2 inch wide rims.  That last item is from a Goodyear circular (B195 1) dated September 1 1947).

[Jerry Wilbeck]

Here are some files for your review,
Jerry

[Jerry Wilbeck]

More files 2

[Gordie]

Thanks Jerry,  That is the first time I have ever seen the box that the jack came in and it may be the only one in existence. That is a 6:50x15 inch tire size that you see and not many of those have survived either.  An insert page in some of the owners manuals says "All Kaiser and Frazer cars after the following serial numbers, Frazer F485-001001, F486-001001. Kaiser K-481-012520. K482-001256 are equipped with the new 7:10x15 low pressure tires......  There were apparently several different Jacks used in the early years and that would be an interesting study.  11/1/46 parts book says part #200935,  11/1/47 book says #202898 and the same number in the 4/48 parts book. none of these are the same number as on the box in the illustration.

[joefrazer]

In 1993 I attended the Ken Hembrough estate auction and in the trunk of a 47K was a jack in the same box. A fellow club member bought the whole car to get the jack, if memory serves he paid something like $100.

Attached is a picture set of some of us at the sale.

[Gordie]

It looks like Dave Antram in some of the pictures.

[kfnut]

I remember that auction . It was like KF meet . There were a lot of KF members present . As a teenager ( we won't say how long ago ) I lived in that town about 6 months and never saw the business there . I don't remember going to that side of town much .

[WillysTom1]

  I grew up across the railroad tracks from Ken Hembrough's collection, I admired the cars through the fence while walking by.  In 1960 my dad rebuilt a 51 Kaiser Deluxe for me to use in high school. He probably bought from Hembrough. Hembrough also had a brother in town that had a beautiful Dragon, i don't know what year it was though.