Kaiser Explorer and Last Kaiser in in the Newsletter

[Roadmaster49]

I was blown away to see at least 2 cool cars in the latest newsletter for sale.  The Explorer and the last production Kaiser. Does the club know the whereabouts of all the Kaiser Chicago show show cars such as the Caballero, South Seas, etc?  This is quite a find.

And the ad for the last production Kaiser. the Kaiser community is fortunate to know this car if this information is true. Because I'll bet the Packard Club(s) would like to know where the last East Grande Boulevard Packard is located.  That's history. Would love to own either car.

And Jack, I read with great interest the comments and photos on quality initiatives at KF.  Overall a great newsletter.  Would love to make one of the KF Wisconsin events coming up in late August or Sept. 

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

The Explorer's been listed off and on in the Monthly Bulletin for the better part of a year.  It is the only known survivor of the show cars from 1951.  Safari was junked out c.1955.  The Clyde Beatty Circus bought the car (or was loaned the car) and used it in parades and other PR activities.  South Seas ended up in Hawaii and was on the list of cars Mrs. Ale Kaiser (the second wife of Henry J. Kaiser) had available.  Story is that she did not like the netted headliner so the interior was gutted out and replaced with regular.  There were supposed to be 5 Cabalerro sedans built, and one may still be in a storage barn on one of the larger farms near Dallas/Fort Worth but that story has never been confirmed.

While the information on production--including what was built when--is not totally complete, at present we can do a better job of identifying production info than GM can for their 1960's models.  They can tell you how many of a type were built, but can't tell when (even just a month) they were built. 

[joefrazer]

The remains of one of the Cabalerro's is on a ranch outside of Helena, MT.

[Roadmaster49]

I wonder what it would take to purchase "the remains". At least for the Caballero, I would think it could be restored using hides from animals it would be OK to take hides from.  I don't know about the others, baby seals, polar bears and the like, one would have to do it "faux" or maybe PETA would burn your car down.

The Show Cars are best purchased in original condition but if that's not possible, a restoration would be worthwhile to preserve a piece of KF history.  I would hate to see it stay "in remains" much longer.