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Kaiser: The Man
General George MacArthur is a well known World
War II hero, but it takes more than the military
to win a war. Without another WWII hero, Henry
J. Kaiser, a prominent American industrialist
known as the "father of modern shipbuilding",
our troops would have had nothing to fight with.
Kaiser launched more ships than any other builder
during the war. Involved in many aspects of converting
peacetime industry into a fully integrated weapons
and supply complex, Kaiser accomplished what would
seem nearly impossible today.
At the end of the war, Kaiser recognized the need
to quickly convert the military industrial back
to private industry. Ford, Chrysler, GM and other
companies had to convert from weapons, airplanes
and tanks to cars, with their best efforts providing
essentially the same cars they were building in
1942. Kaiser took a short cut and built an all
new car. With the decline in the number of automakers
during the Great Depression, this was a significant
event.
Kaiser combined the Kaiser company and Kaiser
Industries with the automotive experience of former
Graham-Paige Motor Company Chief Executive Oficer,
Joseph W. Frazer. Using the remaining assets of
the Graham-Paige Company, the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation
was founded on July 25, 1945. Kaiser was the Chairman
of the Board and Frazer was President and General
Manager.
Frazer Automobiles
Frazer entered the market in June of 1946. Initial
designs for both the Frazer and Kaiser were created
by Howard "Dutch" Darrin and were based
on almost identical bodies. These distinctively
modern and clean designs had straight through
fenderless lines devoid of the current industry
styling of separate fender sculptures.
Joseph Frazer left the company during the 1951
Frazer model year and, thus, 1951 was the last
year for Frazer automobiles. Sales had slowed
and competition for new designs by other automakers
had taken their toll on Frazer.
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Kaiser Automobiles
The Kaiser was first produced in August of 1946.
In 1952 Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was renamed
Kaiser Motors Corporation and continued to build
passenger cars in the United States through the
1955 model year. In 1953 the company acquired
Willys-Overland and merged the companies to form
Willys Motors. For the 1956 model year the Kaiser
model was discontinued and only utility vehicles
(Jeeps) for domestic and export use were built.
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1949 Dealer Databook |
1949 Dealer Databook |
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1950 Owner's Manual |
1954 Dealer Databook |
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Kaiser was constantly thinking about future products
as can be seen by the innovative features and
designs of his cars. Stepping in that direction
again, this time with the introduction of a low-priced,
compact sized, economy car, the Henry J. It was
exactly what customers said they wanted. Unfortunately,
they were not ready to buy them.
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The Kaiser-Darrin sports car had been "Dutch"
Darrin's promised "bonus" for joining
Kaiser-Frazer and it was finally announced on
September 26, 1952, with prototypes shown the
following February. On January 6, 1954 sales of
the fiberglass-bodied two-seater began. An innovate
feature of this futuristic design was the sliding
doors which opened into the front fenders - and
the convertible top could be locked in three positions.
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