What-If the experimental 288ci / 4.7 Kaiser-Frazer V8 OHV entered production in 1951 onwards?
Would Kaiser-Frazer have fared any better compared to OTL?
Would Kaiser-Frazer have fared any better compared to OTL?
What-If the experimental 288ci / 4.7 Kaiser-Frazer V8 OHV entered production in 1951 onwards?
Would Kaiser-Frazer have fared any better compared to OTL?
Do you have more information on it?
Looking at the PDFs, I'd revise my remarks. I think the claim of the early ponycar is overblown, but something close to the '49 Merc isn't out of bounds. As for the Darrin, IMO it approaches the Corvette, which TTL K-F could beat by two years, & with a V8 against Chevy's Stovebolt 6. Whether that moves Chevy to make the 'vette an Olds (with the 303) is another thread.(plugMasked Grizzly said:Found some info from the following:
1) - http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2015/02/24/a-v8-that-never-was-the-kaiser-frazer-288/
2) - http://www.kaiserbill.com/Flyers/1.pdf
3) - http://www.kaiserbill.com/Flyers/4.pdf
Appears some allege the Kaiser V8 later formed the basis of the AMC V8 given that engineer David Potter worked on both engines.
Looking at the PDFs, I'd revise my remarks. I think the claim of the early ponycar is overblown, but something close to the '49 Merc isn't out of bounds. As for the Darrin, IMO it approaches the Corvette, which TTL K-F could beat by two years, & with a V8 against Chevy's Stovebolt 6. Whether that moves Chevy to make the 'vette an Olds (with the 303) is another thread.(plug) A 'vette analog might help K-F more than I thought.
I can't claim to know K-F's financial situation well enough to do more than guess. Jeep was a moneymaker, but Kaiser (sez WPMasked Grizzly said:How long would the V8 allow ATL Kaiser-Frazer / Kaiser Jeep to hold out for before being bought out by another company?
I'm wondering if the marque has the cachet to compete. Against Buick or Olds, maybe; against Cad or Lincoln, no. Do you think the Darrin coupe changes that?1940LaSalle said:By 1951, Frazer was all but done as a marque. A V8 might have kept it afloat maybe another couple of years if the trim levels and creature comforts had been upgraded to match (at least!) Buick, if not the lower levels of Cadillac and Lincoln.
IMO, if Stude is part of the deal, it's going to sink K-F.1940LaSalle said:A V8 in a Kaiser probably would have kept that marque going another several years. Then things get interesting. It's not impossible that Kaiser and Studebaker-Packard might have gotten together with Packard replacing the erstwhile Frazer as the top of the line--and avoiding the so-called Packabakers of 1957 and 1958. By now, Nash and Hudson are on the edge of forming American Motors IOTL; perhaps instead Hudson joins KSP (Kaiser-Studebaker-Packard) and Nash is somehow fit into Chrysler's lineup, perhaps between Dodge and De Soto.
Packard, yes; DeSoto, I doubt it. It was already under fire from Dodge...1940LaSalle said:That makes several venerable names last quite a while longer. We may see Packard and De Soto production well into the 1960s or even the 1970s, for example.
I like it.1940LaSalle said:Ultimately, though, there's likely to be some attrition, with KSP as the odd man out. What would survive--my guess is Kaiser for mid- and full-size cars; Studebaker for trucks; Henry J / Allstate for compacts--would wind up as part of a larger Chrysler organization perhaps in the 1980s or early 1990s. Still, you'd see contemporary Hudson Hornets and Kaiser Manhattans coming out of showrooms today.