Tag: kaiser

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The Best Way to Start the Week: Project Cars, Vintage Parts, and a Little Bit of History

We spent an enjoyable morning at a local shop digging through dust-covered inventory in search of desirable parts. Adding to the ambience of the dig was this neat project in the middle of the shop:

Until recently, this ’52 Dodge Coronet Business Coupe had been in storage for decades. It originally had a 230-ci flathead six, but now it’s about to get a new bowtie in the form of a 327/300 hp Corvette engine. A Mopar with a Chevy engine is controversial to some, but there is no arguing that the result will be tons of fun to cruise around in.

Here are just a few of the parts we came away with. First, a horn button from a 1950 Crestliner, one of the most sought-after Ford steering wheels:

This illustration from the ’50 Crestliner brochure shows the horn button on the “ultramodern” steering wheel against the background of the two-tone Sportman’s Green and black dash (it was also available in Coronation Red Metallic and black):

We also found these and, to be honest, we didn’t know exactly what they were at the time:

The K stands for “Kaiser,” of course, and some online sellers had them listed as horn buttons, but that just didn’t seem right. A little time and research resulted in the realization that they are backup light deletes/covers for a Henry J, and they are exceedingly rare. It is somewhat hard to make out, but the ’53 Henry J in this photo is sporting a pair:

1953 Henry J Corsair Deluxe at 2015 AACA Eastern Regional Fall Meet
Photo credit: CZmarlin — Christopher Ziemnowicz

We also found this 1949-1950 Frazer hood ornament in surprisingly good condition:

This ornament measures 17 inches long and features a knight’s head and an aerodynamic vertical fin, and it was the first official hood ornament for Kaiser-Frazer. The company didn’t make hood ornaments standard until 1951. Because cars were being sold without that extra touch of class gracing the hood, aftermarket companies seized the opportunity to produce hood ornaments specifically targeted to Kaiser-Frazer owners such as this buffalo sold by Gem:

These were made of cheaper materials that didn’t always survive the time and elements, so they are also difficult to find. We really hit the jackpot this week, however, and we walked away with one of those as well:

Sorry, this one is NFS. Both our county and our local school mascot are named for this majestic creature, so into the private collection it goes. Speaking of buffalo, I also found some old brochures that were published by the local Chamber of Commerce in 1922. These pamphlets touted the things Kearney, Nebraska, had to offer in the way of schools and industry, but this town was filled with hot rodders from the very beginning, and so the Chamber also felt compelled to mention that Buffalo County had the fastest dirt track in the state:

A selling point, to be sure.

Advertisement from the June 25, 1925, Kearney Daily Hub
Story from the August 23, 1924, Kearney Daily Hub
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Fallout’s Kaiser Darrin

We finally got around to watching Fallout and enjoyed it much more than I thought we would. Having just finished watching the Justified series for about the seventh time, it is nice to have another opportunity to watch Walton Goggins finesse the fine art of scene stealing. The show has a unique, vintage aesthetic, and it was a wonderful surprise to see Goggin’s character “Cooper Howard” tooling around in a Kaiser Darrin during the flashback sequences. We published this post about the Darrin many years ago, but here it is again for those who missed it the first time:

This unusual front end belongs to a rare automobile, a 1954 Kaiser Darrin:

1954 Kaiser Darrin (Classic Car Collection, Kearney, Nebraska)

The brochure for this unique machine boasts that it was designed by “Darrin of Paris,” also known as Howard “Dutch” Darrin.  Darrin was an interesting character who flew combat missions over France as a member of the U.S. Air Service during World War I.  He designed luxury automobiles for movie stars like Clark Gable and Errol Flynn, and his gravestone in Santa Monica simply reads “AUTOMOTIVE ARCHITECT.”  A thoroughly interesting 3-part article about his life was written by Richard Langworth and can be read here.  Although Darrin had some successes designing automobiles, the Kaiser Darrin wasn’t one of them and only 435 were produced.

The Darrin was a product of the struggling Kaiser Motors Corporation, and it just beat the Corvette to be the first car with a fiberglass body.  It also featured sliding doors that retracted into the front fenders when opened as seen in this picture from the sales brochure:

The grille has been said to look like pursed lips, but I think it looks more like Tweety Bird.  Think about it.

Design preferences aside, the Darrin was not cheap.  It was priced at $3,668 (compared to $2,774 for a Corvette) and, although it cost more, its 90-hp engine was completely out-classed by the Vette’s 150 horses.

Another problem may have been the sales pitch for the Darrin.  This is an excerpt from an article dated February 13, 1954, that featured an interview with a model, Pat Matteson, who had been hired to demonstrate the Darrin at the International Sports Show in New York City:

Cars with plastic bodies are still a mystery to most motorists.  They want to know if the plastic will dent if people lean on it, whether snow will melt the plastic, whether hot water will make a hole in it, or whether insects will become permanently embedded in it.

“No. . .No. . .No. . .No,” says Pat.  “But a motorist can repair a fender dent in the same way he’d patch a tire.  And he can fix it so it doesn’t show.

“If a lady wants to change the color of the plastic body to match her hat, gloves or a new dress, she can do so by spraying on a new paint with a vacuum cleaner.  But it would take her three hours.”

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The “Big Three” and “Little Three” Car Companies of 1954

I found this blurb in a 1954 newspaper:

If you’ve been watching the automobile news, you know that there are now only six passenger car manufacturers in the U.S. – the “big three” and the “little three.”

So, can you name the six surviving car companies of 1954?

The Big Three are easy to identify:

Ford

General Motors

1954 Chevy Corvette

1954 Chevy Bel Air

Chrysler

Recalling the Little Three is more problematic as there was a lot going on in the way of mergers and acquisitions. In no particular order, they are:

Studebaker-Packard – Detroit’s Packard Motor Car Company bought Indiana-based Studebaker in 1954 and became Studebaker-Packard.

1954 Studebaker Station Wagon

1954 Packard Clipper Super Touring Sedan

Kaiser-Willys – Kaiser-Frazer had started up after WWII, riding high on the post-war boom. The company struggled in the early 1950s after a series of missteps, and the Frazer name was dropped. In 1953, Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland and, in 1954, the companies merged into Willys Motors, Inc.

1954 Kaiser Darrin

1954 Kaiser

1954 Willys M38A1

American Motors – AMC was formed in 1954 when the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation merged with Hudson.

1954 Hudson Hornet with Twin H-Power

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1954 Kaiser

This is the front end of a 1954 Kaiser, among the last manufactured in America before the company moved operations to Argentina.  That hood scoop  was functional, and the Kaiser Super 226 “power-on-demand” engine had considerable horsepower for its time.  It needed it, since the body was a whopping 218 inches in length (for comparison purposes, my Ford F150 Super Cab barely surpasses it at 231 inches in length)!

 

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Henry J Hood Ornament

I was positively ecstatic to find this hood ornament while out bird-dogging car parts the other day:

It is an extremely rare one, originally found on a 1952 Henry J Corsair (or Corsair Deluxe). The Kaiser-made Henry J was introduced in 1950, and this hood ornament was one of many appearance and mechanical changes for the economically-priced sedan in 1952. It was described as “a new lance-style chrome and plastic hood ornament” and survivors this nice are not common.

The Henry J was really quirky. It had washable vinyl upholstery in “authentic Scotch tartan plaids” in 1952. Also, to save on production costs, early versions didn’t have glove boxes or even trunk lids. The trunk was accessed by folding down the back seats!

The introduction of the Henry J was poorly timed. The war and its accompanying gas-rationing was over and the public was looking for large and luxurious automobiles, not smaller, cheaply-made ones. The last of the Henry Js were sold in 1954.

I haven’t taken any pictures of a Henry J lately, but I do have this one of an Allstate and that’s almost the same thing (but that’s a story for another day)!


Sources:

“New Look For 1952 Henry J Sedans.” The West Schuykil Press and Pine Grove Herald, 29 February 1952, Sec. 2 p. 1.

Henry J. Advertisement. The Times Recorder, Zanesville, Ohio, 29 February 1952, p. 16.

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Kaiser Darrin

This unusual front end belongs to a rare automobile, a 1954 Kaiser Darrin:

1954 Kaiser Darrin (Classic Car Collection, Kearney, Nebraska)

The brochure for this unique machine boasts that it was designed by “Darrin of Paris,” also known as Howard “Dutch” Darrin.  Darrin was an interesting character who flew combat missions over France as a member of the U.S. Air Service during World War I.  He designed luxury automobiles for movie stars like Clark Gable and Errol Flynn, and his gravestone in Santa Monica  simply reads “AUTOMOTIVE ARCHITECT.”  A thoroughly interesting 3-part article about his life was written by Richard Langworth and can be read here.  Although Darrin had some successes designing automobiles, the Kaiser Darrin  wasn’t one of them and only 435 were produced.

The Darrin was a product of the struggling Kaiser Motors Corporation, and it just beat the Corvette to be the first car with a fiberglass body.  It also featured sliding doors that retracted into the front fenders when opened as seen in this picture from the sales brochure:

The grille has been said to look like pursed lips, but I think it looks more like Tweety Bird.  Think about it.

Design preferences aside, the Darrin was not cheap.  It was priced at $3,668 (compared to $2,774 for a Corvette) and, although it cost more, its 90-hp engine was completely out-classed by the Vette’s 150 horses.

Another problem may have been the sales pitch for the Darrin.  This is an excerpt from an article dated February 13, 1954, that featured an interview with a model, Pat Matteson, who had been hired to demonstrate the Darrin at the International Sports Show in New York City:

Cars with plastic bodies are still a mystery to most motorists.  They want to know if the plastic will dent if people lean on it, whether snow will melt the plastic, whether hot water will make a hole in it, or whether insects will become permanently embedded in it.

“No. . .No. . .No. . .No,” says Pat.  “But a motorist can repair a fender dent in the same way he’d patch a tire.  And he can fix it so it doesn’t show.

“If a lady wants to change the color of the plastic body to match her hat, gloves or a new dress, she can do so by spraying on a new paint with a vacuum cleaner.  But it would take her three hours.”