Darrin "release date"

[darrin145]

Good morning! It's Friday! I have read so much info about release dates and such for the Darrin and how it beat the Corvette to market by a few days, that I don't know who or what is correct. Does anyone have specific dates? "Experts" have told me that the '53 Corvette was released in June, 1953. Was the Darrin, labeled as a '54, sent to market that early? Or, was the parking lightless, split windshield model released first, or ...? It's not like I've been losing sleep over this, but I am very curious. Thanks for all your help.

Gary (darrin 145)

[Jim B PEI]

I don't know the answer, but one fun fact is, I seem to recall, and likely from my copy of Last Onslaught, that it was available for sale to the general public before the fibreglass Corvette was. Corvette's first owners were hand picked celebrities of one sort or another, and they got them before the Darrin was available. If you weren't a Marilyn Monroe, a Dwight D Eisenhower, or a Mickey Mantle type of personage, you were out of luck (just as examples, I don't know who got them) So, the Darrin was the first North American fibreglass sports car from a car manufacturer sold to the public.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

The actual design and parts requirements for the Kaiser-Darrin sports car were not finalized until the fall of 1953; set up of the production line and procurement of parts not on hand would still be required before production could start.

Of course, Kaiser-Frazer showed prototype Kaiser-Darrin sports cars at auto shows and other events, as well as loaning cars out to dealers for display during grand openings, etc.  There are pictures from before June 1953 that show this kind of thing happening.  The so-called "auto historians" use these photos to conclude that Kaiser-Darrin sports cars were on sale before the Corvette.

There is also an interesting observation from a 1954 issue of MOTOR TREND magazine.  I am not quoting it word for word here, but it states that because Chevrolet earmarked the initial production of the Corvette for company executives, "friends" and key dealers for their own use, the odds were that the general public could not by a Corvette at that time.  However, anyone off the street could walk into their Kaiser-Willys dealer and get a Kaiser-Darrin sports car.  The item concluded that this made the Kaiser-Darrin the first fiberglass bodied sports car built by an existing American car company that the general public could purchase.

Didn't help sales, but it is an interesting observation from a dis-interested third party.