I am trying to find more out about the Kaiser automobile company. They were in business from 1950-1953, and they never were profitable. Moreover, the cars they produced were not as technically advanced as the ones from FORD and GM. So why did this firm get it wrong? I know that Henry J Kaiser was something of a business genius-he owned steell mills, construction firms, and shipyards. His shipbuilding operations became famous in WWII, because he had pioneered assembly-line techniques and applied them to shipbuilding-his yards were able to build ships much faster than the competition.
So what poseesed this guy to think he could get into the car business-and fail so miserably?
I can’t find anything on Kaiser in my local library-anybody know a good source?
I don’t know if it’s good, but I found at least one such book through a search for “Kaiser Automotive” on Amazon.com:
“Built to Better the Best: The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation History” by Jack Mueller. The description reads, “Built to Better the Best is the story that began as a joint venture between a Detroit auto maker and a West Coast construction typhoon and ended up the last successful effort to crack the American car market with volume production. See unique development photos of the first hatchback sedans along with numerous never publicly published photographs. Author Jack Mueller has owned Kaiser-Frazer products since 1974 and has held the post of Club Historian with the Kaiser-Frazer Owners Club international since 1991. Mueller has written numerous articles on automotive history and was used as a historical consultant by GM, Ford and Chrysler.”
I don’t remember that there was volume production of the Kaiser-Frazer automobiles. Certainly I don’t remember seeing a lot around. I do remember that they were marketed by Sears (in the catalog, even) at some point as the Allstate car.
Bob