Graham was supposed to build a third of all Kaiser-Frazer cars, but ultimately managed fewer than 9,000. Graham-Paige, however, was still not pulling its weight. Kaiser-Frazer posted a $19 million profit for 1947 calendar year, offsetting the previous year’s losses. Kaiser-Frazer ultimately sold 70,474 Kaisers and 68,775 Frazers in the 1947 model year, giving the company the best market share of any of the American independents. When Continental couldn’t build engines fast enough, Frazer arranged to lease a plant in Detroit so K-F could build most of the engines itself. In such a seller’s market, it was all Kaiser-Frazer could do to keep up with demand. The headline alludes to recently rescinded wartime restrictions that had sharply restricted “pleasure driving.” ( Ad image: “1947 Kaiser & Frazer Sedans” provided by and used with the permission of Alden Jewell) Kaisers and Frazers might have been ordinary, but they were new and they had four wheels, which was enough for many buyers.Īnother early magazine ad for the 1947 Kaiser and Frazer automobiles. Dealers soon had lengthy waiting lists and automotive “scalpers” became common. As soon as civilian production resumed in the fall of 1945, customers began snapping up every new car they could get their hands on. Unlike depressed, devastated Europe and Japan, American roads were intact and American buyers, flush with unspent wartime earnings, had money to spend. Both Kaiser-Frazer products rode well, were reasonably economical, and had nicely trimmed interiors, but they were in no way exceptional.Īt almost any other time, that would have been disastrous, but Kaiser-Frazer had the good fortune to roll out its new cars close to the beginning of the postwar automotive boom. The Frazer, meanwhile, started at $2,053, over $100 more than an eight-cylinder Buick Special. The Kaiser Special started at $1,868, nearly $700 more than the cheapest 1947 Chevrolet.
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Despite Kaiser and Frazer’s earlier talk of inexpensive small cars, neither model was anything close to a low-priced economy car. The first cars were shipped to dealers on June 22 all were registered as 1947 models. The first production Kaiser and Frazer automobiles came off the Willow Run line on May 29, 1946.