54 Late Special V8 Floor Shift?

[54LateSpecialV8]

Hello, new member here needing some help with a very odd 1954 Kaiser Late Special. I saw this car pop up on Craigslist in my area a while back and since I've always wanted a Kaiser for many years I went to check it out. Luckily I was the first person to come see it. The guy had owned it for the last 25 years and had kept it in his garage for a future restoration project but never got around to it. Unfortunately he had been battling cancer for the last couple of years and decided it was time to let it go. He told me on the phone that it was  a very special car, that it had a factory floor shift and was special built with a V8, the story was that an executive at Kaiser had picked a car off the line right before the end of the 1954 model year and had it built to his specifications with a GM V8 engine and a floor shift transmission. I was skeptical of the story and I went to look at the car halfway expecting a vintage backyard hatchet job with a Hurst shifter and a mid-70's 350 wedged under the hood. Boy was I wrong. When I got there and opened the drivers door I saw the factory floor shifter surrounded by factory Kaiser molded carpeting with factory sewn-in piping. That threw me for a loop, then I saw the pushbutton where the shifter would've been on the column, and that looked factory as well. Turns out that pushbutton is what started the car, turn on the key and push the button. I also noticed that the car was appointed with what seemed like every conceivable option including A/C, unity lights, speaker selector and other odd buttons and switches. Another thing I thought was odd was the color combination, 229 Powder Blue with red and white interior - which would've been striking, a red, white and blue car. Unfortunately the original engine was gone but the manifolds and transmission remain. The guy said the original engine was taken out for a rebuild years ago and stored with the car and someone broke into the shed and took the engine and the shifter knob(he said the knob was white). The previous owner that he got the car from passed the story of the car to him when he bought it. I was so intrigued with the car that I went ahead and bought it and brought it home. Here are the numbers from the car - Serial number 023106, paint 229, trim 5030, body number 5451 1624. I'll add several pics to this post. Any help with this mystery would be very much appreciated!

[54LateSpecialV8]

More pics, one manifold is still under the hood, one is off but was included.

[54LateSpecialV8]

A couple more pics. The car apparently had a full color change on the bottom sides many many years ago, almost looks like it could've been sprayed at the factory to change the main body to white while leaving the roof blue? Close inspection shows the roof was never sprayed over and left it's original blue color. I do have the original drive shaft which is out.

[joefrazer]

Interesting car for sure. The numbers break down as follows:

Paint 229 - Powder Blue
Trim 5030 - Australian Beige Stockholm and Vinyl - which means the interior was changed at some point in the car's life.

I suspect the car had a drivetrain transplant after it left the factory. Kaiser did indeed retain several cars for factory executive use but I am not aware of any that had engine swaps, beyond those done by engineering using their own prototype engines. My uncle bought one of the executive cars in 1964 and it still had it's factory equipment.

Most cars built using custom paint and/or trim would have a '999' and '888' on the trim tag denoting the special order. That's not to say that someone at the factory didn't have a connection that allowed them to have the car built to their specification. If documentation can be found, you would indeed have a one-of-a-kind. As it stands, it's a unique car and well worth getting back on the road.

[54LateSpecialV8]

Thank you for the interesting information. That's odd that the car may have had a color change on the interior. Whomever performed that task must have been very meticulous as the red looks right in all the right areas, even the trunk interior color is red.

Regarding the drive train, one other clue may be the engine mounts; the mounts that are present appear to be factory installed, not later additions. Also, the casting numbers on the manifolds denote 1955 Corvette 265 V8, which is very interesting given the year.

Here's a few more pics that may contain some clues:

[54LateSpecialV8]

Joe, do you have any suggestions as to how best I could go about finding any documentation for this car?  I plan to restore the car back to it's original configuration.

Does the executive car that your Uncle bought in 1964 still exist?

I just noticed the 2018 convention is scheduled to be held in Kingsport, TN. As it turns out, Kingsport is actually my home town. I have a business about an hour away in Chilhowie, Virginia and that's where the car is located. I'd be more than happy for any club members in town for the meet(who'd like to see the car in person) to stop by.

[joefrazer]

A small block Chevy engine can be mounted in a Kaiser using the original mounts. It's a fairly simple process to fabricate adapters, the how-to is detailed in another thread on this site.

The original brackets used to allow for column shift on the 54-55 cars was made of pot metal and most failed and fell apart. That may explain the swap to the floor shift. This one looks better done than most.

I'm sure folks would like to see the car when at your convention. We have no shortage of armchair speculators!

[54LateSpecialV8]

Thanks for all the help...

I've decided to try my best to put her back to the configuration that I think she was intended, whether by a Kaiser executive as the story goes or by whomever had enough pull or forethought to get such a unique beast put together. I'd love to be able to find some documentation for this particular car but I'm definitely going to need some guidance toward that end, if it's even possible to find any documentation after all these years.

I've owned a lot of rare and unique vintage vehicles in the last 30+ years and I've almost always been able to place them in the right hands every time but this one, I believe, will be a keeper, especially since I've wanted one of these cars for a long time and the color combination and drivetrain configuration is off the chain. My experience leads me to believe that there's something special about this particular Kaiser and it's not just some ordinary late special that someone decided to alter on a whim(not to say any Late Special is ordinary, they're all unique in their own way!). But, I've never claimed to be anything other than an armchair Speculator; I'm strictly involved not only to save pieces of history but also for the fun and camaraderie of the other great people involved in this fascinating hobby.

[joefrazer]

To answer a few questions...no the exec car my uncle owned no longer exists. My cousins, armed with ball peen hammers saw to that! It's too bad because it had a leather interior and a rare, color keyed steering wheel. The car had a lot of miles on it and that, together with the damage caused by his kids, spelled the end of the car.

I have a list of vehicles that were owned by the company - if you can provide your VIN I can tell you if the car is on the list.

[54LateSpecialV8]

Sorry to hear about the loss of the exec car; at this point we just have to try and save as many rare cars as we possibly can.

The VIN/serial number to this car is K545-023106. I've read the last serial number for 1954 was K545-023114,  would that indicate this car is among the last 10 in the end of production?

[joefrazer]

I have three lists, all dated either 1954 or 1955 and your car does not appear on any of them. Keep in mind, though, that the lists contain only those vehicles owned by the company at that time and not those cars owned by an employee.

Unfortunately, any documentation around special order builds was not retained so we don't know exactly how many were completed. And, there's always the possibility that a car went down the line and had items added or deleted by special request, without an order sheet. While these cars should have the aforementioned '999' and/or '888' designation on the trim tag, there were some cars that slipped thru the cracks. These tended to be cars with special order paint.

Given that your car had a 265 V8 in it, I'd be more inclined to believe the work to install it was done in the late 50s. By then, repair parts weren't as readily available since many dealerships had long since disposed of their inventories so folks went the custom route to keep a car on the road. I know of one who was so upset at KF leaving the market that he used his inventory as fill in his back yard!

Installing a V8 in a 51-55 Kaiser is not difficult and seems to be popular these days. If you're going to restore the car I would put a V8 back in it and show the car as a period custom - leaving all the old items intact. I know folks would enjoy seeing what someone did back in the day to keep their Kaiser running.

[54LateSpecialV8]

Thank you for checking the list. We're much further ahead now than we were when we first started in our quest to solve this mystery.

This car is basically a "fresh find" and has been hidden away for far too many years. I definitely want to "get it right" when it comes to putting her back in the historically correct order. I'd really like for you to see the car in person, it really gives a much better perspective. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the configuration of the floor shifter. The carpet is shaped and sewn around it to basically production quality. When I eventually remove the carpet for restoration, we'll see how the floor hump is installed - that should be very interesting as well and lend much more weight to either side of the factory installed v/s custom shop side of the debate.

I'll be in at my shop all day (where the car. Is located) and I'll look even closer to find any more clues that I may have overlooked; if I see any more relevant clues I'll post pics this evening.

My shop in Chilhowie, Virginia is called "Antiques at Winterhurst" and there's an open invitation for anyone who'd like to stop by and check out the car in person.

[joefrazer]

There are a great many 'lurkers' on this site...folks who like to read the posts but don't respond themselves...and some of them will be attending our convention in July. I would guess we'll be arranging a visit to see the car in person. Or, better yet, bring it to the show so everyone can see it!

And, I noticed the quality of the carpet work as well. Whoever did the work knew what they were doing.

[54LateSpecialV8]

Sorry guys I've been busy and haven't had time to reply. At this time I'm planning on bringing the car to the convention in July, I think it would be very informative and a lot of fun!

I've been looking over the car a little more and have found a few more odd things that I'm hoping we can figure out. I know we were assuming this car started out with a column shifted manual transmission, but upon further examination, I believe it was originally intended to have an automatic transmission. I'll include close-up pics of the column exiting the firewall and also pics of the clutch pedal(which looks to be factory installed!). 

Another oddity is the battery location; every '54 Kaiser I've seen pics of have their batteries mounted on the drivers side of the engine bay, this one is on the passengers side.

Any thoughts?

[r1lark]

What is the 'blob' of stuff near the bottom of the steering tube? Is it covering up a hole in the steering tube?