Poindexter left a link to the ad for this 1954 Kaiser Manhattan in his Nash post, and it needs to be shared in its own post. This is just too delicious. If this were closer to me, I’d be tempted to do something foolish.
As you know well by now, this is how I like my old cars: original, with the authentic patina of age. But not too far gone, and this one is just about perfect. All the trim is there, and what trim it is; look at those taillights!
Here’s the text from the ad:
I came across this car stored under a cover inside in the back of a business, has not been used since 1973, (see pics of sticker). Redid the brakes, new master cylinder, new tires, battery, overhauled carb. Starts instantly and runs like a top. Everything works! Rides like a caddy. The trunk is full of original brochures and paperwork. I am sure I put over 100 hrs getting her back in shape. I’m only selling because I’ve taken on another old project and need the space. Don’t waste time with ridiculous low offers and the standard “is it available”. thanks
The interior looks to be in quite decent shape still. Kaisers were famous for their interiors, with bold use of fabrics, textures and colors.
The back seat looks about the same.
And the stickers, from 1972 and now.
Obviously, what’s under the hood is the least compelling aspect of it, as it’s the venerable old Continental 226 flathead six, which was barely adequate when Kaiser-Frazer first hit the scene in 1946, but was pretty hopelessly outdated by the 1950s, in its price class. This listed for $2670, which is $200 more than an Olds 88 Super, and just $130 less than the Olds 98, both of which of course had a 185 hp 324 CID V8 that would run circles around the…uh..oh…wait a minute. The 1954 Manhattan came standard with the McCulloch supercharger, which boosted power from an anemic 114 to a mighty 140 horsepower! Where’s the supercharger? It’s clearly missing.
Good thing, because the idea of a supercharged Kaiser might be a bit much to resist.
If you’re wondering where Kaiser got the inspiration for its new front end…
It was Buick’s 1951 XP300, another of Harley Earl’s favorite dream-mobiles.
As to the tail lights, well, they’re a bit more original, and one of the more remarkable ones of the times.
If you’re interested in a Manhattan that’s lost its supercharger, here’s the ad.
Part 1 of my K-F History is here. Part 2 is still to come.
Time for a SBC conversion?
The SBC is too obvious and plebeian, how about a twin carb Hudson 6 or a turbo Slant Six?
Personally I find the Kaiser’s styling too Baroque and I prefer the looks of the Nash.
If I am not mistaken, the supercharged 226 used a pressurized box around the carburetor rather than mounting the carburetor on the supercharger inlet. It looks like the base of it might still be there.
It is. But the rest of it is gone. I strongly suspect the blower packed it in, and replacing it was not going to be easy.
Given the questionable state of suspension, brakes and overall structural strength, I believe it is better not to have too much power. And who would want to drag race this car anyway? It is a classy old lady, and it should be driven that way.
All the Kaiser trannies were buyouts, so the appropriate bellhousing should be available for a wide variety of engine swaps. I talked with a Kaiser owner at the Motor Muster some years ago, who had an AMC 327 in his.
The box doesn’t look that complicated. A prototyping company could probably cast one, if you throw enough money at them.
The low beltline and large glass area makes it very appealing, and that wonderful dashboard, too.
I seem to remember Consumer Reports complaining the the large windshield would roast occupants in hot weather. Of course, not many cars had tinted glass much less AC.
Yes, you are correct. Have a 1953 Manhattan and live in Albuquerque. Lovely in the colder months, but it do get hot inside during the summer!
Hudsons step downs, however, are quite shady. 🙂
Love the styling, with all the glass, including the wraparound backlight and low beltline. It has the “Darrin Dip” on the upper edge of the windshield. Taillights are spectacular, as is the colorful interior.
This would get a lot of attention at a cars and coffee event. It’s in Ed Snitkoff’s area; maybe he could check it out and give us more information!
I used to have a strong preference for the earlier 1951-53 versions of this car, but the outlandishness of the 54-55 appeals to me now, if in a different way. Those taillights really are fabulous – having those intact may be half the value of the car.
And it is true that these really beg for V8 power, and the AMC 327 would be a cool choice, given that engine’s Kaiser heritage. I have read that these Kaisers had a really stiff, stout structure and felt like really solid cars. I wish my grandma had been able to have avoided a certain ditch which spelled the end of her 51 Kaiser. But then I would never have gotten to experience the 55 DeSoto, so I guess it worked out.
Kaiser was in talks with GM to purchase the Oldsmobile V-8 for the 1952 model year. Kaiser planned to call it the Rapier V-8. (Kaiser was already using Hydramatic transmissions bought from GM.)
The deal was supposedly contingent on Oldsmobile adding production capacity to its Lansing, Michigan factories. The expansion was stopped due to government-imposed Korean War restrictions. Some have claimed that GM really backed away because it was afraid that the Olds V-8 in the lighter Kaiser would give the car too much of a performance edge over its GM competition.
According to Richard Langworth, Olds suddenly increased the purchase price, making it uneconomical. This may have been in part because they weren’t too happy about seeing the light Kaiser prototypes equipped with the V8 zipping briskly in their neck of the woods.
“And it is true that these really beg for V8 power, and the AMC 327 would be a cool choice, given that engine’s Kaiser heritage.”
While the Kaiser V8, mostly shown as a 288, and the AMC 260/327 were both designed by Dave Potter, they are usually regarded as different engines, with fundamental differences between the two.
There is an alternate history, where, being frustrated by Olds, Kaiser rang up Studebaker, starting talks that resulted in Studebaker passing on the 232, and going straight to the 259/289 in 51, with the 289 being offered in the new, second gen, 51 Kaiser, but that is another story.
By the way, that small Kaiser/Hudson museum in Ypsilanti that we visited during the meetup in 2017 has been closed for the duration of the plague. Hope they survive to come out the other side.
Gonna say no on the stiffness, sadly. My ’53 Manhattan does not use boxed steel for the frame – they’re more like a C, box with an open side. Scare me every time I need to jack it up. Does ride really nice, though!
You want stiffness in this era, you want a Hudson.
An acquired taste for sure, I like the originality. Kaiser foolishly dumped money into the Henry J rather than develop its’ own engine, but who knows if that would have helped the cause long term and they didn’t want to listen to auto men like Fraser. Go long on Willys Jeep, Henry!
Kaiser-Frazer was on the ropes after the Big Three brought out their first true postwar cars for the 1949 model year. It received a government loan to stay afloat. One of the loan’s conditions was that the company build a vehicle that retailed for no more than $1,300 and still seat five passengers. The Henry J was the result.
K-F, with its dependence on Reconstruction Finance Corporation and its loan requirements plus the blundering cluelessness of Henry J and Edgar Kaiser with no small amount of egos thrown in, was doomed to failure once they were fully in charge..
Only Joe Frazer and the auto industry experience people who had come with him, might have navigated successfully that postwar market and acted on items such as the OHV V8 to keep their cars competitive. Frazer was smart to refuse the bull-headed “Kaisers never retrench” dictum to risk his personal fortune to produce 200K units for a market that wouldn’t absorb such when all-new Big Three choices appeared.
The ’54 Kaiser was one of the few successful restyles that was as good as or better than the prior model. And the “Safety-Glo” taillights are just the nuts!!!
I’m utterly convinced that K-F was doomed from the get-go. The post war buyer’s market was destined to last only a few years, after which time the Big 3 were inevitably going to continue to decimate any and all independents. There’s nothing Frazer could have done to change that, given that the cars simply didn’t have enough (any?) unique selling propositions, and had too high a cost to build and selling price. Buyers were wary of getting stuck with an orphan, rightfully so,
But it’s important to not that even though K-F as originally conceived didn’t succeed, their purchase of Willys and their oversees operations actually worked out reasonably ok. It’s not like the Kaisers took a personal bath on K-F. Edgar Kaiser was able to rationalize many of their operations, and make out ok in the long run.
You are correct, the independents were for all intents and purposes, doomed from the start. Though, as you note, the W-O acquisition and overseas operations salvaged some of their automaking ventures in the long run. Through savvy and good market sense, Frazer was better equipped to make K-F succeed but his chance to do so was short-circuited.by bull-headed Henry J.
When I was growing up in the sixties, somebody around the corner had a couple of these parked on the property. I thought they were the weirdest cars ever, especially the peaked windows. The dash is very attractive, and obviously a lot safer than the chrome embellished ones found on most of its peers.
This feels like something you’d see in Who Framed Rodger Rabbit?. That windshield shape is so different until I looked up other photos and saw earlier cars had split glass. Then it clicked. Those tail lamps are glorious as well.
Cool car. The tail lights bring to mind some modern designs.
This was the best example I could come up with….
When you need to have tail fins but you don’t have the trunk to do it.
When Chevy came out with the whale Caprice, this is the car that it reminded me of with its skirted back wheels and tall side glass and thick door surrounds and rounded roof. I hope this car finds a good home.
FYI, this is in the next town over from me, so if anyone is actually interested, I’d be willing to help out. Just reply to the comment if you want to get the ball rolling.
The styling is both odd, in the context of what the big 3 were doing at this time, and elegantly sleek. Too bad there wasn’t a place for them as the ’50s progressed.
Cool as the taillights are, I think the 52 in lower trim was miles better looking than these tinseled up 54 Manhattans, there is just so much going on! This body is like the sedan equivalent of the studebaker loewy coupes, the basic original design is way ahead of its time but fashion corrupted them to just looking weird.
I wonder if the supercharger was pilfered for a more popular(valuable)car of the time. Was it the same supercharger as used in the Tbirds?
Growing up in Israel in the 60s-70 those – locally assembled by Kaiser-Illyn in Haifa – were still around (as were Henry Js) and even in Israel very few people wanted them other than as hooptie of last resort and no choice. I found them weird looking and not particularly attractive compared with the more conventional models from GM, and I still do, sorry. Being low and sort of slick does not a styling tour de force maketh. The widow’s peak in particular is something which never caught up and rightfully so, it just looks… Weird. But then the same could be said about the predecessor which was (together with Packard’s pregnant elephant) a good example of how NOT to do the pontoon theme – check out Ford’s 49 to see how it’s done.
In 2020 though it would make a desirable car for someone I’m sure.
I’ve been showing Dad items, he ask me to post his 1951 Kaiser photos from his files. he had a ’50 Frazer Manhattan, this ’51 Deluxe, and ’55 Manhattan S/C. He said the ’55 drove like a small v8, mags in ’55, ‘they were still 1 of the most beautiful U.S. cars handling goood and 3 turns lock to lock P/S’. Dads eyesight is still screwed until second op, he ask me to do best wishes for all in the fire zones, we got thru ok, place behind us burned.
-Nate-
What a gorgeous looking car. I do hope one of you over there rescues it.
LRF’s dad’s ’51 surprises me even more than the fully-dressed topic car: I don’t recall seeing the divided windshield (which gives the widow’s peak a rationale) nor, indeed the matching rear-window shape. And these cars were on the road at the height of my teenage car-awareness. That speaks to how few of these graced the roads ?
My friend’s dad had a Kaiser Traveler, perhaps a ’51, in Howard Johnson’s Turquoise, which he bough used after owning a tired first-generation Frazer. A pretty nifty car. Here’s a rare 2-door—which again is a surprise to me. https://cdn.hswstatic.com/gif/1949-1953-kaiser-traveler-vagabond-9.jpg
When I found this ’54 Kaiser sedan, I was wondering if I’d ever see one of the very rare 2-door models; and, sure enough, here it is on eBay. CC Effect, right?
I believe this is a Series One, as opposed to a later Series Two. I can’t find exact production numbers, but I’m guessing under 1,000 were built.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-Other-Makes-Special-Two-door-Club-Sedan/233717938647?hash=item366aacb9d7:g:w9sAAOSwY~RfZRHG
In 1966 I had a ’51 4 door with a 394 Olds and slant pan hydro. Still used the stock rear end. It was grey and polished through to the primer. Now called patina! Rip and tear interior with a blanket over the front seat. Chrome rims with “pencil” white walls. Only give away to power was the homemade shifter in the floor and the drag pipe exhaust ending under the differential. Ran so well I blew off many a tri-five Chevy!!