The 1951-53 Kaiser may be the most forgotten sedan from that period of time. Which is a shame, because this car may be one of the most stunning and dramatic sedans of the early 1950s.
I will confess that I have neglected the many pages of great cars found by the Cohort, but this one posted by Davo grabbed me by the collar.
I have a soft spot for these Kaisers. After sixteen years of service to family and farm, my grandfather finally decided to replace his 1935 Ford sedan. The Ford was the car that got my Mother’s family through much of the Great Depression and a World War. His choice to replace it? A beautiful blue 1951 Kaiser DeLuxe. Probably a lot like the one right here.
The car was a stunner when it made its debut as a 1951 model. This was a very low car for 1951, and its basic shape (particularly below the beltline) would soon be echoed by the most successful players in the industry. Remember, this car came out two full years before the 1953 Studebaker Starliner. But unlike the Starliner, this was not a sporty coupe, but a bread and butter sedan. It was also popular, as Kaiser moved about 145,000 out the door that year.
As beautiful as the car was, it was otherwise pretty undistinguished. A lot of the chassis was carried over from Kaiser’s original 1947 model, including an off-the-shelf Continental flathead six for power. The ’51 Kaiser’s only other noteworthy feature was the interior design: Kaiser was an innovator in colorful and stylish interiors, and other carmakers would follow Kaiser’s lead here, as well.
This example is a 1953, the last with the original front end concept. Note the widow’s peak over the one-piece windshield. Also, this is not just a Kaiser, it is a Kaiser Manhattan – the high-end model that tried to plug the hole left by the Kaiser’s discontinued sister brand, the Frazer.
We can engage in a lot of ‘what ifs” with Kaiser. What if they had spent the money blown on the Henry J on a modern V8 engine, or on a restyle of the beautiful 1951 car, or a hardtop and convertible to add to the line? We will never know. Kaiser sales dwindled to nearly nothing by 1954, and after a few leftovers re-titled as 1955 models, the line was dead.
It is a pity, really. By the mid 1950s, all of the independents were desperately trying to modernize tall, stubby, outdated designs from the late ’40s or early ’50s. How many of those stylists secretly wished they had been able to start with something as long and low and attractive as the 1951-53 Kaiser? Probably all of them.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Kaiser probably made too many avoidable errors at the start, and had no real chance. When son Edgar took over from Henry, he finally made one big smart decision. He bought Willys and abandoned Dad’s vanity project. Edgar simply let Willys be Willys, and the Kaiser auto division prospered as a holding company for Willys.
I’m thinking these were made for stodgy people, I have never warmed up to how they looked and having a Flat Head was a non starter .
-Nate
A neighbor had one when I was a kid in the early ’50s. Note the Kaiser’s C pillar design at least a decade ahead of BMW’s so-called “Hoffmeister” kink.
Try driving a Kaiser as opposed to a Buick of the same era. The Buick feels like 20 years in the past. Much of the Buick design is from pre war, the Kaiser all new in 47. The steering, handling, visibility, ride, all vastly better in the Kaiser. I know since I have a 51 Buick we bought brand new, and also a 53 Kaiser, both daily drivers. I think the word for driving the Buick is “ponderous”, the Kaiser easy and effortless handling.
Standing next to a 1951-55 Kaiser or even the last of the Frasers, the lines are beautifully done.
Kaiser made many avoidable errors, true, but hidden within these avoidable errors is the big avoidable error that Packard made – alienating “Dutch” Darrin, who had a prominent (and profitable) relationship with Packard, but (probably because of the ego of Alvin MacCauley) moved on to work with Kaiser after the war. Hence – the 1948 Packards were atrocious, and the 1951 Packards were unremarkable. The 1947 and 1951 Kaiser’s were remarkable in everything except the engine, but of course that, along with Kaiser’s mistakes, were their downfall. But if Packard had Darrin (or someone else with any design sense) to tell them, in 1948 and 1951, STOP!, well, then the Packard story might have ended differently.
It’s accepted that George Christopher, and by extension his boss Alvan Macauley, made the decisions that produced the 48 Packard. Dutch Darrin would have been ignored like everyone else.
The 51 Packard was fine for 1951. It aged quickly. Packard, mostly for market reasons, got stuffed into a smaller and smaller box that made a product-led comeback improbable, then impossible.
Also, Cadillac in the Fifties was a juggernaut. It was the prestige leader, the volume leader, the performance leader, and the innovation leader. Buick was right behind Cadillac with a fine car that anyone with a good job and good credit could own and be proud to drive. This wasn’t the GM of the Seventies selling Impala-based luxury cars against Mercedes-Benz.
A car occasionally remembered in movies. Skip ahead to 1:20 of the movie to see some teenage car strippers go to work on a beautiful Kaiser.
The original ’51 Kaiser was good-looking, and then they mucked it up, year by year.
A beautiful car. If only they offered a two door hardtop, no B pillar.
Was parked yesterday next to my friends mint restored KM. White sedan with blue roof, wide whites and wire wheels.. A striking automobile…!!!
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Growing up, a couple the next block over in the neighbourhood had two Manhattan’s.
The gentleman was still driving them in 1967 when I was in grade 7. He took very good care of the green one he drove regularly. Perhaps the other car in the back of the yard was for parts.
Sorry, but I had to look past the very nice Kaiser to the (probably) ’73 International Travelall behind. They don’t make em like that anymore, either.
Whatever they put into those “Internationals”, they were fast at rusting!
Recall seeing one just a few years old @ “Westview Park”, in “Pgh”.
Loads a rust below the doors. I was pretty young, my brother pointed it out.
Once I looked, took it in, stayed with me forever.
I’d be looking anytime I spotted one.