Kaiser motors

The company was formed immediately after the end of World War II in 1945. The headquarters of Kaiser Motors was the Willow Run plant. The founders of the company were Henry J. Kaiser, an American industrialist of German descent, and Joseph W. Fraser, former chairman and co-owner of the Graham-Paige automobile company.

The first models of the company were released at a long-term rental facility at Ford's Willow Run plant in the summer of 1946 (as the 1947 models), becoming one of the first post-war cars in the United States. They were advanced in design, although quite traditionally technically, full-size pontoon sedans (along with the Soviet “Victory” that appeared a month later, one of the first cars with such styling) with a frame chassis and six-cylinder Continental engines.

In 1948, after a long debate with Henry Kaiser, Joseph Fraser resigned as president of the company. In April 1949, Kaiser's eldest son, Edgar, became president. The Frazer brand has been discontinued since 1951. Joseph Fraser, however, remains as sales consultant and vice chairman of the board of directors at Kaiser-Frazer until 1953. In 1953, at the annual meeting of shareholders, it was decided to change the name of the corporation to Kaiser Motors . Shortly before, Kaiser-Frazer acquires the assets of Willys-Overland , a manufacturer of Jeep and other utility vehicles, as well as several passenger cars. After the transaction is completed, the name is changed to Willys Motors, Incorporated . In 1953 and the end of 1954, all production from Willow Run closed or moved to facilities in Toledo , Ohio .

Full-size models of the company were famous for their high quality, and starting from the 1951 model they also had a very attractive design, however, their low-power engines became a significant drawback - six-cylinder lower-valve manufactures of a third-party company Continental. At the same time, the top-end Kaiser Dragon of the 1952 model overtook the Cadillac Series 62 , equipped exclusively with V8 overhead valves, and came close to the even more powerful and luxurious Cadillac Deville . Even the factory-installed drive supercharger, proposed in the 1954 model year, did not improve the situation.

In addition, Kaiser did not have hardtops that were very popular in those years - as well as many other body types. As a ersatz station wagon, the Kaiser Traveler liftback was offered with a lifting door in the tailgate, which was not popular. Finally, the company constantly produced more cars than it was able to sell - the scale of production allowed to slightly reduce costs; unsold cars of the ended model year had to be equipped with a new model and offered at a big discount as a budget modification.

Along with full-size cars, in 1951-1953, Kaiser produced the compact model Henry J , named after Henry Kaiser himself and equipped with a 4- or 6-cylinder Willys jeep engine. Henry J, with a slightly updated design, was also sold through Sears Auto Center branches located in Sears department stores in 1952 and 1953 under the Allstate brand. However, these cars did not take a strong position in the market. Despite the low retail price, their production was quite expensive, which made it almost unprofitable. Kaiser believed that he could make good profit due to large volumes of output, but in practice cars were sold disappointingly poorly: buyers preferred small, poorly equipped, albeit very economical, Henry J ordinary full-size cars in the lowest configuration, which were sold for close money.

As a result, in 1953 their production was discontinued due to the transfer of production to Toledo (a car of the same class - Willys Aero ) was already produced there. Ironically, just one decade after the recession of the late 1950s and the beginning of mass import of European cars, compact and economical models will occupy a prominent place in the production program of all leading American automakers, becoming for them one of the main sources of profit, especially after the start gasoline crises of the 70s. So we can say that Henry J just appeared ahead of time. A certain amount of Henry J was also assembled in Japan at Mitsubishi factories, becoming the first cars to be produced in this country after the war.

At the end of 1955, Henry Kaiser management companies used Kaiser Motors to create an industrial holding called the Kaiser Industries , which included Willys Motors .

In the United States, the final production of cars was curtailed in 1955. Following the cessation of passenger car production in the United States, the company continued to manufacture Jeep in Toledo , and the production of cars was moved to Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA), where former Kaiser Manhattan became Kaiser Carabella . The production of SUVs from the USA was later transferred there.

In 1963, the company changed its name to Kaiser Jeep . In 1969, the Kaiser Industries holding finally abandoned the production of Jeep and transferred the car factories to American Motors (AMC) in 1970. As part of the deal, Kaiser received a 22% stake, which it subsequently lost. AMC also received the General Products Division (AM General), which operates today, releasing the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (for short - Humvee or Hummer H1).

• Kaiser - which included sedans Deluxe , Carolina , Traveler , Dragon and Manhattan .
• Henry J is a small economical car that included the Corsair and Vagabond models.
• Darrin is the first fiberglass sports car to be released a month earlier than the similar Corvette . This car had unique “sliding” doors sliding into the front wings. 435 cars were produced in the 1954 model year.
• Willys - Including Aero-Willys , as well as Aero-Lark, Aero Ace and others.
• Jeep - included pickups, CJ ( civilian Jeep - civilian jeep ), models of the brands Wagoneer and Jeepster .
• Allstate - a slightly modernized Henry J sold by Sears-Roebuck . Style changes were made by designer Alex Tremulis, who had previously been involved in the development of the 1948 Tucker Sedan .

• Willys aero

• Mueller, Jack (2005) Built to be the Best MT Publishing, Evansville, IN.