1951 Frazer Manhattan

[xkssfrank]

Auctions America will auction a 1951 Frazer Manhattan restored car in NC on June 21, very nice car, details at their web site.

[Fid]

Here it is -

http://www.raleighclassic.com/new/details.php?cid=1632

They've got it listed as a "Kaiser."   What surprises me is that it really is a Manhattan. Seems every auction house out there with a Frazer for sale just assumes they're all Manhattans. This one really is.

[joefrazer]

Nice car, but I think the auction company's estimate is a bit strong. I'd say half their estimate...or close to it, is where the top bid will land.

I wonder what 51F hardtop #1 would fetch? Here's what it looks like today after we dragged it out of 40 year storage...

[R-Sargent]

My late father Calvin Sargent owned and showed this car back in the mid seventies here in washington ,serial numbers match my records. I have kept track of this over the years and it has sure been around the US. When dad passed away mom sold the car to a club member in seattle , he sold it to nordstrom' s department store and they put it "inside" the men's shop at their store in the   portland shopping mall and did a raffle for charity. The fellow that won it contacted me because he was having trouble transferring it into his name  , the numbers on the car did not match the title so he could'nt get it through state inspection(Dad had lots of titles). The car sat out in the oregon desert and eventually he sold it to club member Lowell Johnson, Lowell got it running and drove it to Sheboygan ,wisconsin.  I think Lowell got the title straightened out.   The desert was hard on the clearcoat we used and destroyed the paint job, i sent lowell the delstar formula we had saved and he repainted it  . It was sold again to Joe Ferris and then to Charles Lehnen in florida where i thought the car went to retire  Seems it may be on the move again !   Charles had an extensive restoration done to it .

[JFerriss]

Thanks Randy for telling the background story on my former 1951 Frazer Manhattan. I bought it from Lowell Johnson in 1998 and enjoyed it for 12,000 miles before selling it to Charles Lehnen in 2003. It was a nice looking well maintained car when I got it from Lowell and I continued to take care of it and enjoy it. I did a few small rechroming things and some mechanical repairs but mostly just enjoyed it. However, just before selling it to Charles Lehnen, I had the engine fully rebuilt. It is so nice to see that he had the car fully restored. I hope it sells well for him. Looks like from your description the car had about 6 known owners since your dad got the car in the 1970s. One of the reasons why I think the Auctions America listing is my former car is that the speedometer still shows the sun fading with slight blue/green cast instead of the normal burgundy. I think that must have occurred way back when the car sat out in the Oregon desert. Also, unique to this particular car is that the vinyl top did not have the little metal window supports in the lower corner of the rear windows like most 51 hardtops, and uniquely this vinyl topped one did not have full metal drip caps over the windows. And finally unique to this particular car is the green painted portion over the front windshield is narrower than on other 51 Frazer hardtops. I believe that when I got the car Lowell told me that this was one of the few "true" vinyl topped versions, which explains why it is slightly different than the metal topped 51 Frazer Manhattan Hardtops.

[xkssfrank]

I am glad to see more KF cars being offered for sale, prices are advancing making us who own such cars very happy, at last people are realizing the true value in these wonderful cars.

[R-Sargent]

Hi Joe, wondered if you were still into KF's or not.  Dad went through that engine and transmission but i know he put a lot of miles on it showing it  . Dad and Mom drove it to the nationals in colorado one year pulling a 13' travel trailer.

[JFerriss]

Hi Joe, wondered if you were still into KF's or not.  Dad went through that engine and transmission but i know he put a lot of miles on it showing it  . Dad and Mom drove it to the nationals in colorado one year pulling a 13' travel trailer.

Hi Randy, I sold my last KF a 1951 Kaiser Deluxe Golden Dragon in April of 2008 and have been with a KF car since then but I rejoined the club last December and have been getting back into the swing of things slowly. I always enjoyed my KF cars and the 1951 Frazer Manhattan was one of my favorites. I drove that car on 500 mile or more long trips in reliability, comfort and style. The interesting thing about going on long trips in that car was that whenever I stopped at a rest area to use the bathroom, I could hardly get to the restroom without fielding a lot of questions. Prior to the 1951 Frazer Manhattan, I had a 1953 Kaiser Manhattan (from Dan Stockberger in Colorado) and that was a stunningly beautiful car that looked and drove like a brand new car (Sabre Jet Blue top over Australian Beige body). I put 16,000 miles on that car before selling it but it seems that the 1951 Frazer drew more attention and curiosity than any of my other cars. Glad to see that it has been fully restored, although it is no longer its original tagged Garden Metallic Green, at least that is how the repaint appears in the auction listing.

[JFerriss]

did anyone ever happened to find out how well it went in the Raleigh Classic sale for this 51 Frazer Manhattan?

[JFerriss]

well it appears that my former 51 Frazer, later owned by Mr. Lehnen, that apparently did not sell in Raleigh will now be in the annual Auburn, IN Labor Day weekend auctions as shown in the following link. The car is scheduled to be auctioned on Saturday, August 31. I will be down there to see it. It will be nice to see it so beautifully restored under Mr. Lenhen's ownership...

http://www.auctionsamerica.com/events/feature-lots.cfm?SaleCode=AF13&ID=r545&Order=runorder&feature=&collection=&grouping=Salon Offering&category=Cars

[R-Sargent]

So did you get a look at your old car ?    If so how did the color look ?   The pictures ,even the ones outside look like the color is way off. While my father had the car we made a  paint formula for it in delstar ,actually furnished Lowell with it when he repainted the car .

[JFerriss]

Hi Randy,
Yes, I did go to Auburn and saw the car in person. It was not repainted in the original Garden Metallic green that was maintained by your dad and by Lowell. It looked to be similar to Turf Green Metallic as seen in Kaiser-Frazer bulletin No. 3-A in the ACME Color Works paint chip sheet. Seeing it in person confirmed that it truly was my former car. The restoration was excellent and it looks like no money was spared in doing it. Most everything was redone from scratch except the hood ornament and the original gauges. The speedo still has the slight sun fading from the car's days in the Oregon desert just as it was when I had it. So even though it was not the stock color, it still is a fine example of a 51 Frazer Manhattan Hardtop. Since I had  the engine completely rebuilt just before selling it, the car is good to go for show or enjoyment for whoever gets it. Unfortunately for the seller the car did not reach its reserve price. I don't know what reserve they had on it but bidding stopped unsold at $33,000 I believe. I am sure he has a lot more than that into the restoration. Attached are a couple of snapshots I took of it before it went through the auction. It is a really a beautiful car.

[Fid]

Lowell Johnson, not me!

[JFerriss]

Hmm, not sure how your name came up as I was referring to Randy Sargent and his dad, and of course also to Lowell Johnson who I had mentioned in reply #4 above.

[Fid]

I'm just half making a joke Joe. I see you clearly refer to Lowell Johnson in your initial post but people sometimes mix us up. I've even been asked (more than once) if the two of  us are related! Most relatives I know are related by last name. Anyway, my remark was tongue-in-cheek.