Beautifully Original! 1951 Kaiser Deluxe
We’ve already covered a 1951 Kaiser Deluxe this week but it was a long-term stored car and in pretty ratty shape with an enormous pair of holes in the passenger side quarter panel. And sometimes when you spy a dusty indoor barn find, it’s hard to have imagination around how that subject car could look with some elbow grease and improvement. Well, here you go, another ’51 Kaiser Deluxe but this one is as close to an original survivor class vehicle as you’ll probably find. It is located in Greenwood, Arkansas and is available, here on Now and Then Fine Automobiles for $8,495. Thanks to John V for this fine tip!
I’m not going to get into an AACA definition debate over what is or isn’t a survivor but this old Kaiser appears to have pretty good bones and has undergone some minor, at best, repairs. The body isn’t perfect as there is a bit of rust showing in places but the 70-year-old finish still shines. There has been some at-home floor repair performed too but the seller claims that the frame is solid. The chrome and trim are surprisingly clean as well. The mileage recording on this three-owner Kaiser Deluxe is stated as 46K miles but the seller is clear that he lacks the backing documentation.
The feature on this Kaiser Deluxe that initially caught my attention was the blue-painted steel wheels which nicely complement the pale gray finish. It’s not a color combination that I would have thought of but it works well. And I really dig the “widow’s peak” treatment of the top edge of both the windshield and backlight. Some modern automakers try to get edgy with their designs, the Korean designers in particular, but I scratch my head and flip them away with a “whatever”. The styling cues of this 70-year-old sedan speak to me but then I’m not the target market for most new cars either.
The interior of this Kaiser is showing typical wear on the seating surface and backrest, but the rest is in fantastic condition, amazingly so. There is some missing windlace and a sun visor that needs some new threads but the headliner is not earthbound and the floor covering looks like new. The two-tone color scheme is appreciated especially when compared to the sea of monotony found in today’s car interiors.
Under the hood is the same deal as our earlier Kaiser discovery, a 115 gross HP, 226 CI, in-line, flathead six-cylinder mill except for one major difference, this one actually runs. The seller adds, “This car starts and runs every time and it runs like a top. The clutch is in excellent condition and the car shifts smoothly. This car runs down the road straight and smooth.” Obviously, it has a manual, three-on-the-tree actuated transmission.
OK, consideration time, Monday’s little-known find, or this pretty original, nice-looking runner? If you are a Kaiser aficionado, the decision should be easy, right?
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Comments
These are a good looking car, simple design yet the glass takes it over the top. This one looks pretty nice to move forward with.
Just shows how “brand loyalty” played a big part in sales. Kaiser was a premium vehicle, we probably wouldn’t have won the war without them. That technology helped make one of the best cars, built by people who liked their job. I read, Ol’ Henry treated his employees fairly and was a good man.
Back to the “loyalty” thing. If it wasn’t the Big 3, you had a snowballs chance in Hades. Rambler and Studebaker suffered the same fate. Lost some great cars along the way, and Kaiser was one of them. You want a tire smoking Challenger( like the TV ads portray) by all means, have at it. If you want the definition of a standard classic car, no better car than this. From a time when this was good enough. Great find.
Obviously you could not repair the earlier one to this level for the same money, but still if you had them both what could go wrong? Heh, hee hee. I actually do like these very basic transportation cars. Not much I couldn’t repair myself on this one even at my mid 70’s age.
God bless America
I am the buyer of the previous one yeah I’ve got a lot of work to do to bring it up to the level of this one but the car was very inexpensive and came with patch panels to repair the worst of it, I’m working on it 👍👍👍
This is a Special, not a Deluxe. The Deluxe used wider door moldings and different bumper guards as well as upgraded interior trim, among other things. Nice car nonetheless!
Definitely a Special, not a Deluxe. Deluxe would have a padded dash with a chrome bottom, tenite steering wheel, full size wheel covers, wide chrome trim with extra chrome on to of the doors, larger bumper guards among other things. It’s still a nice car regardless.
The selling dealer watches this site so hopefully, he’ll change his listing description to properly reflect the model.
JO
Gentlemen thank you for bringing the error to my attention, I will certainly cede to the experts here as I know some of you know far more about Kaisers than I do. I have fixed the error on my web page. Thank you for your kind comments about the car.
That “widow’s peak” is called the Darrin dip. Dutch Darrin was a very renowned and respected designer. Four door Kaisers have one on the front of the rear door. Also note one on the rear window. Darrin proved working with Kaiser that he could probably do more with less than any designer in history.