Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => Kaiser Forum => Topic started by: ken53Deluxe on October 12, 2010, 12:48:03 PM
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After being in storage for 18 years, my '53 Deluxe 2 door is on the road! I do need the chrome headlight rings (2 screw hold in place), hubcaps, and the door lock for the passenger side (outside part that the key goes into). I would appreciate your help. Ken
kenbrown@techcoat.net
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Congrats on getting it back on the road. I don't have any of the parts but I'm sure someone will come on here and help.
Here's one of the wheel covers -
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1-1952-1953-1954-Kaiser-Wheelcover-HUBCAP-/300467382549?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item45f5406915
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I always thought Deluxes had the smaller caps. Was the full caps also used? Or were they only on Manhattans?
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I think the full covers were optional on the Deluxe and standard on the Manhattan. Good point though, if you need the small ones, I have one I'd be willing to sell. It's not too bad so let me know.
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The 1952-53 Supplements to the parts book show large wheel discs as "*" on the Deluxe. Also, the list of options available for installation at Willow Run on cars delivered to retail purchasers there includes wheel discs on the Deluxe as an option. I have no specific Parts and Accessories information on this, but indications are that it was a dealer-installed extra cost item.
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If you have a Deluxe and need to dress up the wheels, I would urge you to find a set of the small caps rather than the full covers. There is a very good reason for this. The full covers become tweaked and the teeth that grip the rim become dull after numerous removals so you have a situation where you have 1 block, 3 block, 1 mile, etc grades of covers, the numbers referring to how far the car can travel before the cover falls off. The small caps snap on to fingers on the rim and tend to stay on.
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We have one PNW member that runs the small caps when he drive to the meets with his 54 Kaiser Manhantan Special and puts the big caps on at the meet. Looks great and lets him clean his white walls with the caps off.
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Just a note to thank everyone for their help! All my parts are on order. I did go with the small caps. Again, Thanks for the help! Ken
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My 51 Deluxe is Carribean Coral and the rims are body color. I decided to use small caps because they were less trouble than the full covers and they show off the color on the rims. As I recall small caps were used on Early 51 Deluxes (this isn't one) but they were used with wide beauty rings so the appearance would be like a full cover.
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Concerning the wheels, the front and back of the wheels and the bead area were painted a dark gray primer and then only the front was painted a color. When I did the wheels on my car, I sandblasted each rim, primered all surfaces and then painted all surfaces with color. This is incorrect but I didn't want the bead area to redevelop rust and it was just as easy for me to paint all the surfaces especially since I was using red primer instead of a dark gray primer. I also baked each rim in my mother's oven for 45 minutes. Fortunately we didn't have cornbread that month.