|
|
Article: Manhattan on the Rocks.(Escape Roads)(1953 Kaiser Manhattan)
- Article from:
- AutoWeek
- Article date:
- October 31, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Byline: BROOKS BRIERLEY
In the 1940s industrialist Henry Kaiser applied his formidable manufacturing talents to building very attractive new cars and making them available before the Big Three revised their lines following World War II. Kaisers sold well at first, with low-six-figure sales registrations, about the same as Studebaker in 1948. But this great postwar automobile story began to unravel.
By 1950 Detroit's new designs and engines offset Kaiser's novelty. The marque's dramat- ic 1951 redesign, created by the legendary Howard "Dutch'' Darrin, was hobbled by a six-cylinder powerplant that couldn't compete with buyers' increasing preference for ...