O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle Jan 2

Christmas present form Elizabeth. Really sharp!!!!

I visited a car collection owned by John? Hembrough (that may be his son; I confuse

their names) in Jacksonville, Ill. way back when (late sixties). He had some fabulous

cars, one I drooled all over, a mint condition 1930 Gardner 150 roadster, with all the Gardner accessories (griffin horns, etc.) and ridiculously low mileage (it had been owned by an Illinois Central RR engineer who always rode the train and used it sparingly). (railroad engineers, like my great aunt, had very good tastes in cars..

Walter P. Chrysler first worked for railroads) These cars, and others with that engine, in addition to Auburn, are now (FINALLY!) recognized as classics.  But, another car in there was a Kaiser experimental car with a V-8, I think aluminum, that was a car with just that example, not put into production. I think all the engines for production Kaisers and Frazers were Continental sixes.  Continentals were used by some other makes from the pre-Depression era that are now also recognized Classics, such as Jordan (although the last Jordan has been long recognized).   Lycoming engines were used by Auburn, with E.L. Cord then owning Lycoming.  Other Lycoming powered cars were Gardner, Elcar, and 12-15 other makes, and certain models, such as Velie,

Roamer, etc.

I just wonder how long Continental made engines that were used in automobiles (or

trucks) after the Kaiser/Frazer era?  And Lycoming, now known for aircraft engines ...some were used in fire engines?

Kaiser Frazer built their own engines, although they were bases on Continental designs.

Checker was the last automaker to use Continental engines. They used them into the mid '60s, after that they used Chevrolet engines

Okay...wasn't sure about K-F engines, as I thought I had read them referred to as

Continentals.  I had an experience related to Checker when they were closing out

their vehicle production.  I had a 1965? Chevrolet V-8 pickup that I had bought used

in early 1970's from a local farmer, but that I did not like.  I had bought it to tow a car trailer and thought the three speed was not geared for the job.  I had it briefly because I put it in Hemmings and got a response from two guys who worked for Checker and wanted to put a diesel engine in it, that they could get from closing Checker.  So I sold it and off they drove back to, I think, Milwaukee.

Kiasers are intriguing cars but I only saw and rode in one once, when very young.  I am not sure why but I grew up thinking of them as rather mediocre cars, when I actually know little about them.   Not sure where I got that impression.  

I have that NEO Willys Jeep station wagon.  Wonderful, colorful car for the layout.

One of my hobbies is collecting stereo (3-D) slides from the late '40s through the 1950s. Many of them show cars, and I have some of 1951 Kaisers, Frazers, and a Henry J on turntables at a auto show. I also have slides of a family who's father worked at the factory, and owned a Kaiser convertible.

I also have the Brooklin model of the '53 Kaiser Manhatten, which has been re-painted, detailed, with a padded top added.

Most notable in the KF family yet not mentioned here is the Kaiser Darrin.  Some of it's unique features, besides being fiberglass, were engineering and styling innovations, if not oddities. Not sure if anybody has made a Darrin in 1:43.

Only Kaiser I saw up close, was a brand new, very basic model, that my Grandfather's

best buddy from working for the L&N shops building cabooses bought new and drove

out to the farm.  My grandfather was THE "Chevy Man", and he thought his buddy was

nuts for buying something that cost close to what he could have gotten a Chevrolet for (how times have changed...I used to be a Chevy man, too, but the cars changed)  There was a special stripped model Kaiser, that I can't remember the name of and

that was what his buddy was driving.   You would have thought that Henry J. Kaiser,

who cranked out myriads of Liberty ships during WWII, could have come up with

something a little more advanced than a side valve six cloned off of Continental, if

that is what it was.  In just a year or two, the OHV V-8's were available from all the

big three, and I think Buick and Dodge had them a year or two before that and contemporary with Kaiser/Frazer.  This, too, was when two door hardtops were coming

into vogue, and I never looked twice at four doors, so paid little attention to Kaiser,

who I do not think offered one, or, at least, I never saw one.  With no engine and no

popular bodies, Kaiser was doomed.

I have a red one that is made by Brooklin. I also have a 3-D slide of one at a auto show in the '50s. View Master made a "Pinky Lee" reel showing kids how to be safe. One frame was "do not get into a car with a stranger". The dirty old man holding out a lollipop was sitting in a Darrin!

Will have to keep an eye out for the Brooklin.  Thanks for the info, Joe

They do seem hard to find (none on eBay or DiecastDirect). There is a red one for $120. at the automobiliashop.com website (they were also made in pale green).

Whoops!  I really flunked my IQ test on Kaiser, and it was last made the year I got

my driver's license.  I just went through pages of Kaiser sales lit. ads on the bay,

(but found no sales brochure for 1955, except Darrin, although I found factory

photos for the sedans).  Early advertising showed a two door convertible...do not

think that was produced, but there was a four door convertible that I had forgotten

about.  I also found that there had been, in the early fifties, two door models, including some called "coupes".  (the later "hardtop" they advertised, obviously

feeling the pressure from hardtops in vogue, was a trimmed up four door sedan)

I prefer the front ends on the '54-'55 models, but could not find that they were making

2 doors, or the four door convertibles, after the early '50's)  Now if you want a later

model, they were making the car in Argentina, titled as a Carabela, 1960-62) Another

Kaiser made there in that period, looks like a restyled Willys and was called the

Bergantine.  I may have to get a brochure, to see for myself that Kaiser made a two

door.  I never saw anything but four doors on the street.  Kaiser and Frazer, the

namesakes, are shown in a 1945! phoro with their prototype cars.  With WWII still

winding down, I wonder how the heck they got tooled up for a new car so fast?

Alfa Romeo sold Industrias Kaiser Argentina S.A. or IKA the body molds for its discontinued Alfa Romeo 1900 sedan to become the Kaiser Bergantin. In 1959 IKA partnered with Renault to become IKA Renault and built the Dauphine badged as the IKA Dauphine. In 1962 American Motors partnered with IKA and produced various Rambler models badged IKA. Kaiser sold its interests in IKA to Renault in 1970s and exited the auto business

Kaiser Carabela Limo.

Kaiser Bergantin.

It looks a lot like a Volvo Amizon

All this about Kaiser reminds me of TV commercials when I was a kid in the fifties. Kaiser was a big sponsor of shows our family watched and one line at the end of the ad was about "Kaiser Gypsum and Jeep Vehicles." My father (who worked for Chevrolet) would change this to "Kaiser Gyps 'em with Cheap Vehicles."

Well, SWH, it sounds like your dad and my grandfather would have gotten along.