Classic Kaiser Cars for Sale

8 listings

Buy & Sell Kaiser Classics. New listings added daily.

Manhattan (4) Frazer (2) Henry J (2)

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Frequently Asked Questions about Classic Kaiser

Kaiser was founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and auto executive Joseph W. Frazer, as the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation. It began as a joint venture with Graham-Paige Motors, which Frazer headed as president. Henry Kaiser became chairman of the new company and Frazer its president. The first Kaiser and Frazer cars were built in 1946 as 1947 models, and the company was renamed Kaiser Motors in 1953.

Kaiser cars were first built at Willow Run, Michigan, in a factory that had produced B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II and that Kaiser-Frazer took over after the war. After Kaiser bought Willys-Overland in 1953, car production moved to the Willys plant in Toledo, Ohio. Willow Run was sold to General Motors, which used it to build Hydra-Matic transmissions.

The Frazer was the higher-priced companion to the Kaiser, named for Joseph W. Frazer, the company's first president. The two makes shared one basic body shell and the same Continental 226-cubic-inch L-head six, rated at 100 horsepower in the first cars. Frazers were sold for the 1947 through 1951 model years. The final 1951 cars were facelifted leftover 1950 models, after which the Frazer name was dropped.

The Henry J was Kaiser-Frazer's compact car, introduced for the 1951 model year and named for chairman Henry J. Kaiser. It was a two-door sedan on a 100-inch wheelbase, powered by flathead engines supplied by Willys-Overland: a 134.2-cubic-inch four rated at 68 horsepower or a 161-cubic-inch six rated at 80. Sears, Roebuck sold a version called the Allstate in 1952 and 1953. The last Henry J cars were 1954 models.

The Kaiser Darrin was a fiberglass-bodied roadster designed by Howard "Dutch" Darrin that reached showrooms in January 1954. Its doors slid into the front fenders instead of swinging outward. The car used a Henry J-based chassis with a 100-inch wheelbase and a Willys 161-cubic-inch F-head six rated at 90 horsepower. Production ended in 1954 after 435 cars.

The 1954 Kaiser Manhattan was available with a McCulloch centrifugal supercharger that raised its 226-cubic-inch flathead six to 140 horsepower. Kaiser had no V8, and Auto Restorer magazine wrote that the company had no money to build one. Sources differ on whether the supercharger was standard or optional on the Manhattan. The body was the Howard Darrin design that Kaiser had introduced for the 1951 model year.

Yes, Kaiser built Jeeps after buying Willys-Overland of Toledo, Ohio, the maker of the Jeep, in 1953. The business was run under the name Willys Motors, and Jeep production continued after the Kaiser and Willys passenger cars were dropped in 1955. Willys Motors was renamed Kaiser Jeep Corporation in 1963, and Kaiser Jeep was sold to American Motors in 1970.

Kaiser stopped building passenger cars in the United States in 1955, when the company dropped both its Kaiser and Willys car lines and kept the Jeep in production. Tooling for the big Kaiser sedan went to Argentina, where Industrias Kaiser Argentina introduced a locally built version of the Manhattan, the Carabela, in 1958. Sources give either 1961 or 1962 as the Carabela's last year.

The 8 Kaiser listings on Classic Cars Arena right now are priced from $15,900 to $42,495, with a median asking price of $22,948. These are the prices sellers are asking today, not sale prices, and the figures change as cars are listed and sold.

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