Kaiser 1946-1955 - Post-war production champions from Detroit
Summary
There were around 10,000 car brands and designers - most of them have disappeared. One of these vanished brands is Kaiser, the largest newly founded car brand of the post-war period. Kaiser was successful from 1945 to 1955 with sometimes revolutionary designs, but ultimately designs suitable for mass production, but was then taken over by Willys.
Estimated reading time: 3min
Preview (beginning of the article)
Kaiser was the largest newly founded car brand of the post-war period: including the second brand Frazer, 756,267 cars were produced in ten years. Joseph W. Frazer, owner of the renowned Graham-Paige car factory in Detroit, joined forces with the industrial magnate Henry J. Kaiser in 1945. They planned revolutionary designs, initially with a rear engine, then with front-wheel drive and a self-supporting body. However, the Kaiser Special, which rolled off the assembly line from mid-1946, had a box-frame chassis with a front-mounted 3.7-liter six-cylinder engine and rear-wheel drive. The main feature was at least the consistent pontoon body designed by Howard Darrin, which would only become a feature of the Ford two years later.
Continue reading this article for free?
_RM.jpg)
