07-13-2014, 02:44 PM
People tend to forget that there were more than "The Big Three" in Post-War America. There were quite a few smaller companies, and risking being lost in "The Big Three" March To Mediocrity, they took a few chances.
The Kaiser Darrin, while nothing special under the sheetmetal, was...
Sheetmetal?
Fiberglass. It beat the truck-chassis, six cylinder, Automatic Transmission Corvette to the market by a month, and it had the shifter on the floor, where it belongs.
Some of those little companies were undercapitalized, and frankly ridiculous, (King Midget...), some had a lot of really sharp tech, (Crosley.), and some were so mediocre that The Big Three paid attention, (Checker.)
Kaiser had a lot of capital behind it, a first-rate and prestigious Designer in Darrin, and a history of producing a car just right, but a decade too early, (Henry J.)
What went wrong?
Chevy put a V8 in the Corvette, and corporate squabbling pretty much destroyed Kaiser Motors. (Kaiser's other industries continue in one form or another to this day, and Kaiser Health Care is still ahead of its time.)
Once, in 1979, when shopping around, I found a Kaiser Darrin at Fantasy Motors. It was quite affordable back then, the doors hardly stuck at all.
Driving it was not pleasant, it was just dull. And also there was this Lancia Appia Zagato that was just a delight to drive, and it cost only twice as much.
Eustace
The Kaiser Darrin, while nothing special under the sheetmetal, was...
Sheetmetal?
Fiberglass. It beat the truck-chassis, six cylinder, Automatic Transmission Corvette to the market by a month, and it had the shifter on the floor, where it belongs.
Some of those little companies were undercapitalized, and frankly ridiculous, (King Midget...), some had a lot of really sharp tech, (Crosley.), and some were so mediocre that The Big Three paid attention, (Checker.)
Kaiser had a lot of capital behind it, a first-rate and prestigious Designer in Darrin, and a history of producing a car just right, but a decade too early, (Henry J.)
What went wrong?
Chevy put a V8 in the Corvette, and corporate squabbling pretty much destroyed Kaiser Motors. (Kaiser's other industries continue in one form or another to this day, and Kaiser Health Care is still ahead of its time.)
Once, in 1979, when shopping around, I found a Kaiser Darrin at Fantasy Motors. It was quite affordable back then, the doors hardly stuck at all.
Driving it was not pleasant, it was just dull. And also there was this Lancia Appia Zagato that was just a delight to drive, and it cost only twice as much.
Eustace