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barefootskater
barefootskater UltraDork
2/10/18 8:25 p.m.

I said I'd upload more pictures so here they are. Lots of really cool little details about this car.

The head is labeled "supersonic" and I found that very misleading. This car is slow.

This fuse block is right out in front of the radiator when you pop the hood open. Very nearly all the wiring had the old woven insulation. Super neat.

6v. Aside from my old man's 1942 GPW this is the first car I've ever been in running on 6 volts. I love the simplicity of old engine bays too.

Delco distributor and Autolite starter. Really cool parts. I think it is pretty cool that both these companies are still in business making car parts.

The oil filter housing was pretty cool. Most of the surfaces still had original print. This car was restored at some point and it is nice that it wasn't just some hack job.

The Kaiser also has the most attractive clock ever fitted in a car and a really cool AM radio. The whole dash is amazing.

I usually hate chrome but the hubcaps are sweet.

Bias ply tires and a sway bar that didn't appear to help with body roll at all. The handling was terrifying, and I'm used to driving junk.

That cluster tho.... Amazingly the only needle that didn't work was the fuel gauge.

The shifter handle. Just awesome details everywhere.

As a bonus, in Gary's garage was a pretty cool C3 with big block motivation.

Before we left to pick up the car we stocked up on all the usual "tune up" parts and disposables like plugs, wires, belts, fluids, etc... When we got there, the owner was friendly and allowed us to use his driveway to do our wrenching. After the test drive though, we decided that the car ran so nicely that we didn't want to risk messing anything up so we decided to just change all the fluids and hit the road. We figured if anything broke we should be able to repair it just as easily on the road as we could in a driveway.

The funny part of this picture was the fact that we were in Wyoming in november and this was the only footwear my dad brought.

So we loaded all the tools and a trunkload of spare parts, including a transmission, and hit the road about 3pm that sunday and headed south.

This was my view sunday evening. I really like this picture.

Crossing state line. I was in the rental on our way back to SLC. Nobody tell my wife I took pictures while driving.

 

We got to the hotel about an hour after dark. The rental went back to Enterprise first thing monday morning and more driving south.

Head wind was pretty bad. Did I mention how slow the car is? It'll do 65 on flat with no wind, I think we did about 45 most of the way. These signs were really taunting us. 

Southern UT is an amazingly beautiful place. I took a bunch of pictures but very few turned out ok from inside the moving car.

The drive was really uneventful and slow. The only problem we had was at the hotel monday morning. The car wouldn't start and we were fearful of running down the 6v battery. Turned out the fuel had gone somewhere instead of staying in the float bowl. I sat in the car and ran the pedal while my dad kept it alive with starting fluid long enough for the fuel pump to push fuel to the carb. It was smooth sailing after that.

We did discover while driving that the drivers door latch is misaligned and didn't latch properly. A firm shove and the door would pop open. Also with the windows up going about 60 the air pressure would just push the door open. The scary part is that there are no seat belts. Could have gotten real ugly real fast. We just cracked a window and kept cruising though.

The old car seemed to get about 15 mpgs. With the wind and no power we went slow. Rolled into St. George at dusk and topped off the tank. This last picture is one of my favorites, the car looks sinister. Thanks for reading along. For such an uneventful trip it really was fun.

barefootskater
barefootskater Reader
2/10/18 8:33 p.m.

In reply to loosecannon :

If you do that trip you'd drive right through my town. Drop a message if it happens and I'll buy you a burger.

AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair UltimaDork
2/10/18 10:46 p.m.

My Dad's last uniquely cool car (before us six kids consumed every penny he made for the next 25 years) was a '51 or '52 Kaiser 2-door with some custom lead sled work on the front and rear, and a Carson style fake convertible top.  That car was known as "The Buffalo" because of the hood emblem.  I have a few pix here somewhere.  When I find them I will post them here.

loosecannon
loosecannon Dork
2/11/18 7:56 p.m.

In reply to barefootskater :

Awesome, we will do that

AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair UltimaDork
2/11/18 8:36 p.m.

Mild threadjack:  here are a couple pix of my Dad's 1951 Kaiser.  It had been rolled, so he and a friend fabbed a fiberglass top for it. They also removed trim from hood, modified headlight buckets, reworked quarter panels to accept Lincoln tail lights, and added a Continental kit.  It was pretty baller, from what I've been told.

Same car, different paint:

barefootskater
barefootskater Reader
2/11/18 10:17 p.m.

In reply to AngryCorvair :

That car is sweet. I really like the spare tire cover on the back. I had never heard of Kaiser before my dad showed me the ad for this one. I don't think many people know what they are, which is a shame because the company had a really cool story and some of the cars they made were absolutely gorgeous.

onemanarmy
onemanarmy Reader
2/15/18 3:19 p.m.

Kaiser made trucks and cars, for civilian and military applications.

Very cool company.

spitfirebill
spitfirebill MegaDork
2/16/18 3:12 p.m.

Those were pretty stylish cars.   I guess Henry wasn't as good a car seller as he was a ship builder.    

Indy "Nub" Guy
Indy "Nub" Guy PowerDork
6/25/20 12:36 p.m.

Zoombie thread bump. 

Some how I missed this when it was all happening.  Really cool car, and an amazing time spent with your Dad.  Thanks for sharing.

 

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