Frazer, 1951: Speed-Styled and Stillborn

By: John McCall

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

That there ever was a 1951 Frazer was a materialization brought on by an interesting set of circumstances having little to do with traditional automotive product planning. One glance at the photographs in this book tells the story. Due to Henry J. Kaiser's "never retrenching" policy borne out in 1949-50 against Joseph W. Frazer's warnings, the fledgling company of Kaiser-Frazer had over-produced and over-produced big. Willow-Run's body bank was knee-deep in "cars-in-the-white" by 1950. There were no standing orders for few if any of them. K-F had already used its sleight-of-hand to re-number a good portion of 1949 models as 1950 models but that practice could not hold up in court again. Something had to be done and done rather quickly. Here is the story of the proposed 1951 Frazer that never saw the light of day and the 1951 Frazer that found its way to dealer showrooms-- utilizing a ready supply of bodies from an earlier approach. The resulting 1951 Frazer was, despite it all, one of the most beautiful and luxurious cars the corporation ever produced. Here is an examination of what could have been and what was actually manifested in the last series of cars to bear the proud Frazer family coat of arms.

Very Brief

I didn't realize that this is not really a book, but a brief biographical sketch