1953 Kaiser at Auction in June in Raleigh, North Carolina

[Geoff Hacker]

Nice Manhattan at auction this summer:

http://www.raleighclassic.com/used-Raleigh-1953-Kaiser-Manhattan-Base-K532007478

See attached ad posted on Hemmings - interesting approach to getting attention.

Geoff

[r1lark]

Original 1953 air in the tires?? 

[Fid]

One of my favorite color combinations.  Nice looking example.  The interior does not appear to be original - at least on the seats.  It will make a nice car for someone that's for sure.

[rialto]

This car looks familiar I think it formerly belonged to a KF member.

[JFerriss]

Yes, that 1953 Kaiser Manhattan was my car. I bought it in 1998 and drove it until 2001 when I sold it to a man in Wisconsin and it has changed hands several times since then. This car was a bronze winner at the 1994 KFOCI National. It was a truly beautiful car and still looks great in the pictures. Not only does the vin number match but my car uniquely had rolled and pleated fabric on the seats as seen in the picture. That was not original material but it was comfortable in driving. The car had about 86,000 miles on it when I got it and I put an additional 16,000 miles on it so that odometer by now should be 130,000 not 30,000. Also the tires on the car when I bought it were replicas of the BF Goodrich (not radial) and they are not original. Nonetheless this car was excellent mechanically and never used oil or leaked. The only think I ever did to it mechanically was to have the starter and carburetor rebuilt. I drove this car everywhere including road trips over 400 miles at a time. See attachments.

[Gordie]

I hope that the dealer seller can see these comments as it is a beautiful car but it is not quite the way he is describing it and he needs to adjust his description before the car crosses the bidders line.  My 35.000 mile '51 club coupe still had the original tires when I bought in in Dearborn MI and I flew in to Detroit to pick it up to take it to my first convention in Pigeon Forge TN I had two grapefruit size lumps in the sidewall of two tires before I got there and ended up going to Coker Tire in Chattanooga before I got to the meet. That was the easy part of getting home!  Some vacation that was.   Another story!

[r1lark]

Maybe the current owner was mislead by the person he bought it from. Or, the current owner does not know any history of the car and is making assumptions (sometimes owners can easily talk themselves into believing their car is super special - lowest mileage known, some special one-off from the factory, perfectly original even down to the air in the tires, etc).........or, the current owner and/or seller is purposely trying to mislead buyers.

The good thing is if someone who visits this forum is interested in this car, they now know the correct history thanks to JFerriss.

It sure is a beautiful car. Wonder if it's just as nice in the engine compartment and underneath?