Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: kaiserfrazerlibrary on April 27, 2013, 04:25:31 AM
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I have received an email from Dan Stohl at HEMMINGS asking for picture(s) of Willow Run in the K-F days. He indicated the photos would be used in a daily blog story about Willow Run being torn down. Anybody have any info on the demolition?
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http://www.freep.com/article/20130423/BUSINESS0101/304230099/Yankee-Air-Museum-Willow-Run-General-Motors
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Maybe the KFOCI can buy the building. Gordie and Fid can store all their cars in there 1,000 feet apart. LOL
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Not one mention of KF in that article.
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Interesting. It is a problem that the FREEP article never mentioned KF. This means the writer is too young and put little research into the history of the building and it's usage. Makes it appear it went from Ford to GM.
Is there a KF Museum? I don't think so, but it would be cool to have one, at the Willow Run complex. Perhaps a recreation of the cottage could be constructed. Perhaps a joint venture with the other museum could be arranged because as noted, there is plenty of space.
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Here's a link to the Hemming's article on the subject:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/04/29/willow-run-assembly-plant-faces-the-wrecking-ball/?refer=news
Perhaps KFOCI could arrange a farewell tour/show at the facility this fall?
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If the decision is made to tear down the main building, it will be rubble by the fall. Problem is cost of reclaimation may exceed the amount set aside for site clean up. The allocation of $36.5 million was based on leaving the building stand and rot away naturally. Tear down may turn up asbestos in some areas of the building and added costs if they break up the concrete pad the place is built on. It caps various places where pockets of toxic or otherwise nasty chemicals congretated as the ground under the pad settled. Everything from floor cleaner to aviation gas and lubricants (as well as paint).
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About a KF museum. There have been at least three members who've expressed an interest over the years in building a more or less "official" museum to KF. None have come to pass for reasons that are many and varied. Fortunately, the cars are well represented at several mixed-make museums around the country.
My girlfriend calls my home a museum to KF. With eight cars and several tons of mostly rusty parts, I can see why...
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The Early Ford V-8 Club is well along on their museum in Auburn IN. They have about 10,000 members and donations have been very generous but it would be a huge undertaking for us but wouldn't it be wonderful!!. We are just too small a club and old cars take up a lot of space so a building would be expensive. Insurance, taxes, upkeep and manning it would all be big obstacles. We have lost out on a few very nice offers of artifacts because we did not have a museum. Fortunately a few members have sizable collections so some very nice items are being saved and preserved for the future but it sure would be nice to see it all in one place. The cars we get to enjoy at National Meets and the collectibles we get to enjoy online and in our club publications.
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I came across this link today and figured I would share it. http://savethebomberplant.org/ (http://savethebomberplant.org/) It looks like the Yankee Air Museum and the Michigan Aerospace Foundation have put together an effort to save a portion of the willow run plant from destruction. According to their website, they need $8 Million by August 1st 2013 and they have raised $3 Million.
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The Yankee Air Museum was offered a portion of the main plant building for $6,000,000 USD. I am guessing the area in question is the hangar door section of the building which was final assembly in the KF days. They need a new "garage" for maintenance of aircraft and this would make sense.
As for a Kaiser-Frazer museum, at present the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage product in nearby Ypsilanti is about the closest thing to a K-F museum that exists. We can't do anything similar to what is going on at Red Barns (Cadillac/LaSalle museum, Model A Museum, etc) because of short-term and long-term costs. I drew up a business plan for such a facility, which would start out with around 5,000 square foot (with room for expansion) of building. The facility would own its home as well as the cars and items on display. A portfolio account would provide enough money for operating expenses, building fund (repairs and/or expansion over time) and acquisition fund (to buy cars and items that otherwise were not donated). The start-up cost for this 501c3 based operation 100% independent of the KFOCI would be at current economy $27,000,000 US, most of the money going into the portfolio account (approx. $24,000,000) to guarantee operating expenses would be covered).
To put this more in perspective, the Corvette Museum in Bowling KY keeps its doors open and lights on because of a special tourism subsidy from the Commonwealth of KY . Income from admission, gift shop, factory delivery of new Corvettes and other activities is not enough to have the facility pay its own w
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I own a 16,000 sq ft building in St. Joseph MO that is currently unoccupied and would sell it or lease it to the club for a very reasonable price and it would make a nice museum but it would take a commitment from many people to maintain it. I just don't think that the club has the funds for such a project. Commercial museums are usually not money makers but wouldn't it be great if several individuals could pool their resources and collections and maybe open one weekend a month to the public? Just a pipe dream but would anyone be interested? The building would hold fifty cars easily. I have about forty Kaiser Frazer wall posters to help decorate it. I bought the building to house my own collection but am now getting too old and have decided to stay in California where my kids and my doctors are.
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Latest news http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/07/17/bob-lutz-pitches-in-to-help-save-willow-run-assembly-plant/?refer=news
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Gordie has touched on many of the reasons why a Kaiser-Frazer museum is not practical at this time:
1. As far as the club treasury goes, considering the cost of heat, light & building rental cost, it is financially impossible now or at any point in the club's history to cover the expense. We also lack 501c3 status with the IRS so any interested high-rollers can't donate money to the club to make this happen. In all this Gordie's comments on money is correct.
2. Gordie is also right in noting that a museum with paid admission would not work out.
3. Location is another point he mentions; assuming you had the money to make the project work, you would need at least 10-12 members in the immediate area of such a place (distance less than 25 miles 1 way) to set up a workable rotating staff to open it to the public from time to time and in general, keep an eye on the place.
I know well of this. I came very close to setting up a similar type of facility in a former Willys dealership building c.1988. While plans were rolling along, job changes made continuation of the project impractical. I did set up the basics of a K-F museum when Barbara and I lived in Cave City KY. Unfortunately, yep, job changes that moved us to Cleveland and currently, Buffalo NY.
Could there be a Kaiser-Frazer Museum in the future? Got $27,000,000? This amount would provide enough annual funding to keep the place going indefinitely, and it would own its own building, have land for expansion and be able to buy as many cars, display items, etc as it needed over and above what would be donated to a 501c3 operation that would run the place.
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That is kind of sad isn't it? In the meantime Jack and Jim Betts and I and countless others collect all of the Kaiser, Frazer, and Willys collectibles that we can find and have our own little mini museums. When I tried to put on a display for the San Diego meet a couple of years ago the meet chairmen offered me one table and mentioned that the kitchen staff had access to the display room so they got their wish and I withdrew my offer. Maybe at some future meets we can all get together and put on a first class display. I even have a 1948 Kaiser Frazer billboard that has never been out of its package. It is ten feet high and twenty feet wide and would really take up some wall space. The fantastic Peterson Museum in Los Angeles has decided to sell one third of their cars because they are not making a profit. They were trying to accumulate one of every car that was manufactured in California and were well along in accomplishing that goal and now many of those rare cars are being sold. Museums cost big money to maintain, even with volunteers I think that our future meets could have great displays of all of the K-F-W collectibles including magazine ads, accessories, literature, dealer sales aids, toys, license plate toppers and license frames, press release photos and countless other topics. If you guys would like to see future meets feature collectibles let the new officers know and I'm sure that they can make it happen.
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Almost done with demolition. Nice early production line picture http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/04/25/willow-run-assembly-plant-demolition-proceeding/?refer=news
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I was at the factory 2 weeks ago. The demolition is concentrated on the newer portions of the complex...those added by GM and others after KF left. The original bomber plant still stands as the Yankee Air Force wants some of it for their museum. They've mounted a fundraising effort to save the part they want and have most of the $8M needed.
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I remember touring the Hydramatic plant in '74 when KFOC held their National convention in Dearborn. I dug a bolt out of one the grease packed pathways in there as a souvenir. I still have it. I need to dub the video of some of the KF cars arriving there so it can be viewed/shared. One thing I remember about that home movie is there were numerous others there doing the same thing so there must be more footage of it out there.