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Saturday, May 12, 2007

Who Owned a Kaiser?

We had two Kaisers purchased from Vic Stasser. A brand new 1950 maroon and grey two tone Kaiser and another new 1951 Kaiser after Mamma wrecked the first one. Actually, it was only partly her fault... It was a cloudy, cold and icey day and we were trying to go home. The roads were covered with ice and Mamma was trying to get up the hill south of Haigler on the old Highway 27, which is now named Logan Avenue. We were just above the cemetery entrance over the center line, slipping and sliding with wheels spinning trying to climb that hill when Charlie Chartier came over the hill on his way to town. He slammed on the brakes, but couldn't avoid hitting us. We were lucky he was driving slowly because of the icey conditions. In those days, there weren't seat belts and we were probably leaning forward with our arms hanging over the back seat as we usually did. It seemed like the accident happened in slow motion as the cars collided and slid to a halt. I don't remember how we got home, but I do remember the car was not in any shape to drive. The insurance company totaled it and Daddy went back and got a new one.

Here is a picture of the 1951 Kaiser we had.
Below is a picture of my mamma and Floy Ruggles's Uncle Lute and Aunt Georgie Stafford standing behind their green Kaiser.
These pictures were taken in the 1950s by Floy, who had a camera that would take colored slides. These pictures are from her slide collection.

Anyone else remember having a Kaiser?



wikipedia.org/kaiser motors has quite an article on the kaiser/frazer motors.
dallas adams


My first car was a 1951 Kaiser. I was not yet old enough to drive. But my Dad (Vic Stasser) had traded for one that one of our customers had totaled in a head-on collision. He gave me the remains with the understanding that any parts in the junk yard were fair game. But anything that came out of the parts room, I had to pay for.

Francis Neville was working for us at the time and he and I worked nights to pull the engine and rebuild it (the crankshaft was snapped in the wreck). The engine was finally reinstalled and the work on replacing body parts complete.

At that time Boyd DeGarmo had the body shop in the south-west corner of town. I traded him my bicycle for a paint job and by the time I had my license it was on the road.

I also had 4 other Kaisers by the time I was in college. The most impressive was the 1954 Manhattan that I had while a freshman at CSU. It had a factory installed McCullough supercharger. It was very fast and got me in more trouble than recommended. Not many 1954 models existed and I never saw a 1955 model, although I think they made some.

I also had 2 Henry J's and 2 Willys aero series that were produced after Kaiser bought Willys (I think in 1954). The last time I saw my last Willys it was being used on a rural mail route and had over 300,000 miles on it and had had never had any major engine work.


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