As the title suggests, this is essentially a picture book. The photographs are large but all black and white. The captions offer a mix of product information and a brief analysis about why Kaiser-Frazer failed.
Kaiser-Frazer: 1947-1955 Photo Archive
- Patrick R. Foster and Bill Tilden; 2009
- Iconografix, Hudson, WI
“The running prototype of a proposed small fiberglass-bodied Kaiser sedan was built in 1945. For a while Henry J Kaiser hoped to produce a low-cost, economical everyman’s car, which some referred to as a modern Model A. With that idea in mind, Kaiser engineers experimented with many different types of cars including front-wheel drive, rear engine and even tiny ‘shopper’ type runabouts with fiberglass bodies. In the end Kaiser had to abandon his small-car dream for a while, and the first Kaiser production car shared its body with the Frazer car.” (p. 10)
“The 1949 and 1950 Frazer cars looked identical, though the fender script shown in this press photo wasn’t used on production models of either year. This upscale Manhattan continued to be popular with Frazer buyers. Though overall sales were down, the company was struggling to hold on until its all-new cars could be introduced. It ended up that Joseph Frazer’s advice to trim production for 1949 was correct and by ignoring it Kaiser may have irretrievably damaged the company.” (p. 60)
“Notice that the production Kaiser-Darrin’s front fenders rise up slightly toward the front. Engineers had noticed that in Howard Darrin’s original design the headlamps rode just a little too low to meet federal standards, so they redesigned the front fenders to raise them, reportedly without telling Darrin first. The designer was furious at the change, since in his opinion fitting larger tires would have given the car the needed height without spoiling its lines.” (p. 122)
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