RUNNING CHANGES MADE TO DARRINS BY THE FACTORY

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Between the end of 1953 and June 1954, the Kaiser-Darrin engineering team ran a "board" listing various running changes intended for the car and periodic updates to status of the items.  Items include changes to the frame, top assembly and even the fender medallions.  The board indicates at what cut point the change became regular production AND the serial numbers of cars given the change as a retrofit, either at the company garage, experimental engineering department or wherever. 

Various people at the plant "on the list" got periodic update memos listing board items and status at time of memo issue.  Three of them are attached here.  The information is also a part of KFOCI HANDBOOK Version 5.0.

[Terry T]

The seller of the Darrin referenced in an earlier entry in this Forum claims that the car for sale is one of only 50 that had emblems on the side of the fenders.
I tried to convince him otherwise, but he pulled the "do you have a P. H. D., I have a P. H. D." trick.
Looks like that "change"  never made it into any KF document.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Why not ask your PHD guy to provide a legible copy of the FACTORY DOCUMENT or documents that support his claim and inform him that if he doesn't have anything, the person who sold the car to him must have told him wrong.

[Terry T]

He claims that he has done extensive research.
I had asked for docments so that I could change the judging standards----FAT CHANCE!

[Logan]

To my knowledge, the majority of Ph.D.s do not make baseless claims such as this.  I would doubt the veracity of his statement, viz. about having earned a Ph.D.  And I would never presume to tell the club's Darrin specialist about my extensive research without backing it up.  In fact the hallmark of research is a paper trail: source citation, documentation, etc.  What some sellers won't do!

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

I have found the problem is not so much outright fraud as it is the mess of K-F mis-information out in the world.  REAL STEEL by Bill Neville, released in the mid 1970's says 1954 Kaisers had LYCOMING engines under the hood.  A couple of the British written books on cars of the 1950's indicate that Kaisers had 134 cubic inch 6 cylinder engines under the hood.  The list goes on and on.  Also, a lot of researchers ask owners about details.  In some cases, the owners, being told "the car is 100% original" by the person they got the car from will tell people that their car has factory curb feelers, dual exhausts, etc.  I even came across a 1954 Kaiser with an aftermarket top oiler on the engine.  The person had purchased the car from a long time club member who fessed up that the oiler was not factory but he personally felt it was needed on the car.  By the way, this KFOCI event was the last time the owner ever took it to a club event.