I bought this car from my uncle in March 1989. He bought it Dec. 1958, and according to him he drove it about a year before front end collision damaged the GRP ( glass reinforced plastic ) early fiberglass body. Pictures show then and now.
1954 Kaiser Darrin (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter timmyisinthewell
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This has a straight-6 version of the Hurricane-motor that Kaiser used in Jeeps?
Probably the coolest car I've never heard of, I had to look it up on the interwebs...
silodrome.com
The Kaiser Darrin – "A Forgotten American Sports Car"
The 1954 Kaiser Darrin you see here is number 281 of the 435 that were made, it was an innovative car with a lightweight fiberglass body, doors that slid
silodrome.com
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That is correct. It has an F head, inline six. The engine was used in the Willys line of vehicles.
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Thank you for the kind words, and thanks to my old pal Scrapdaddy of Pig fame, the guy doing all the work, for hauling this wreck for me.Probably the coolest car I've never heard of, I had to look it up on the interwebs...
The Kaiser Darrin – "A Forgotten American Sports Car"
The 1954 Kaiser Darrin you see here is number 281 of the 435 that were made, it was an innovative car with a lightweight fiberglass body, doors that slid
@scrapdaddy is the man, our friend @bobm would love to see some scrapdaddy pictures from your scrap book!
I still had some hair left! That car has some futuristic looking features to it, like the sliding doors. Wasn't it one of the first cars to have seat belts?
bobm
WTF, WTF, WTF!!!!
Love the doors. Came out before Corvette I believe 
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Kaiser was the second maker offering seatbelts with Nash preceding the Darrins by a few years. The Darrin also had a "passive restraint" padded dash.
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The Kaiser Darrin was presented to the public at the Los Angeles Autorama in Nov. '52, but due to restructuring of Kaiser Frazer with Frazer leaving and Kaiser merging with Willys Motors, the Darrin wasn't available till Dec '53 with all 435 units sold as 54's only. GM sold a small number of '53 Corvettes.Love the doors. Came out before Corvette I believe
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For bobm, a couple of pics from the past, mostly late seventies stuff. The yellow cruiser I bought brand new in April '76 and had gone spring over within a year of ownership. It drove like sh_t, but I drove that death trap for about a year before I reluctantly and against my better judgment sold to a high school buddy of mine, who now had a wife and children. Yep Scrapdaddy. The red truck is the '72 I bought in Oct. '78 and still own (in lots of pieces). The last pic is of what's left of my brand new '76 I sold to Ron. He can tell his story.
The good old days! Pre internet and didn't know what I was doing. 
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Not only the Hurricane engine but this Darrin was also fitted with this bad boy. These McCullough vs57b superchargers were fitted in some of the Kaiser cars using the 226 c.i. six cylinder Continental engines trying to boost horsepower as the Big Three were offering V8's.
For no more than they made, I have seen a bunch of them. (20+). I think they are re cool.
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Thanks for the kind words. The last I read there were about 388 serial numbers and enough parts to identify as Kaiser Darrins, of the 435 produced. As being fiberglass cars they were not sent to the metal crushers. Over the years a number of independent folks and Kaiser enthusiasts and the Kaiser Frazer Owners Club manufacturing fund have made necessary parts unique to the Darrin and required to get these cars back on the road. I attended the Kaiser Frazer Owners Club annual convention in Nashville in 1994. The club was hoping to have 40 Darrins in attendance for the 40th anniversary of the make. There were only 20 something from around the country. I've never seen another Darrin at any car shows here in St. Louis, but I was aware of about five owners in Missouri. I've never passed another one while out driving.
