Kaiser Motors
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| Industry | Automobiles |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired Willys-Overland Motors and re-named it Willys Motors; renamed it again as Kaiser Jeep Corporation in 1963. Kaiser Jeep was acquired by American Motors Corporation in 1970 and renamed Jeep Corporation. American Motors was acquired by Renault in 1983 and sold to Chrysler in 1987. Lives on today as the Jeep Division of Chrysler. |
| Predecessor | Kaiser-Frazer Corporation |
| Successor | Kaiser Jeep |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Founder | Henry J. Kaiser |
| Defunct | 1953 |
| Headquarters | Willow Run, United States |
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Key people
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Henry J. Kaiser, Edgar Kaiser |
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Production output
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1945–53 |
| Owner | Henry J. Kaiser |
Kaiser Motors (formerly Kaiser-Frazer) Corporation made automobiles at Willow Run, Michigan, United States, from 1945 to 1953. In 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland to form Willys Motors Incorporated, moving its production operations to the Willys plant at Toledo, Ohio. The company changed its name to Kaiser Jeep Corporation in 1963.
Kaiser-Frazer Corporation came into being during early August, 1945 as a joint venture between the Henry J. Kaiser Company and Graham-Paige Motors Corporation. Henry J. Kaiser, a California-based industrialist & Joseph W. Frazer, CEO of Graham-Paige both wanted to get into the automobile business & pooled their resources and talents to make that wish come true. Less than a year after Kaiser-Frazer's formation, the first Kaiser and Frazer branded automobiles were coming off a production line at the Willow Run MI. headquarters for both Kaiser-Frazer and Graham-Paige. By the end of 1946, over 11,000 cars (total Kaiser and Frazer) went out to dealers and distributors; many of them sold to retail owners. During the summer of 1948, the 300,000th car came off the production line. In 1950 Kaiser-Frazer began production of a compact car, the Henry J and ended production of the Frazer automobile; both makes were 1951 model year automobiles. In 1952 and 1953 Kaiser-Frazer provided Sears Roebuck & Co. with Allstate-branded automobiles that Sears sold through selected Sears Auto Centers; these cars, extensively based on the Henry J Kaiser-Frazer dealers were selling did appear in the Sears "wish books" but the car could not be purchased by mail order. At the 1953 New York Auto Show, Kaiser-Frazer announced it would produce a fiberglass bodied sports car, called the Kaiser-Darrin-Frazer 161 (the car had a 161 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine & was designed by stylist Howard Darrin, who also did the 1947–48 Kaiser & Frazer as well as the 1951 Kaiser automobiles). This vehicle went into production during January 1954 and was sold as the Kaiser-Darrin. Production of the Allstate ended during 1953, the last Henry J automobiles were built in late 1953 as 1954 model year cars, the sports car was in production only during the 1954 model year and the last Kaisers were produced in America during the 1955 model year. Close to 760,000 cars were produced, all makes and models between May 1946 and September 1955.
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