1954-62 Kaiser

The End of U.S Production and the Move to Foreign Production

The Kaiser Willys Merger - Overview

Kaiser bought Willys-Overland in 1953 for US$63,381,175, renamed it Willys Motors and combined the remains of the Kaiser product lines into it. Before the sale, Willys was hemorrhaging money and saw a steep decline in domestic sales of all models of Jeeps and cars. In 1954, the Willys Motors business unit lost US$35 million and posted even lower sales. Although the Jeep line had solid foreign sales, U.S. and Canadian sales of Jeeps and Willys automobiles were uninspiring. The Aero was a very nice solid car but cost W-O far too much to keep in the marketplace. Under the new Willys Motors, the necessary decision to discontinue all Willys and Kaiser passenger cars was made and, with the focus shifted to Jeep sales, Willys Motors did considerably better. By 1956 Willys Motors had turned an estimated US$15 million profit (see footnote 1) and expanded foreign sales while cultivating a domestic market for Jeep products.

Kaiser Automobiles for 1954

1954 was not a banner year for sales of Kaiser automobiles. Nor was 1953 for that matter. About 3,500 1953 Kaiser Manhattans were leftover at the end of the model year and these were returned to the factory to be face lifted into 1954s with new front fenders and hood, new taillights and new paint. These models were then sold as 1954 Specials, the entry-level low-priced models, which were a very good deal for the purchasers since they were trimmed as the high-end Manhattans. By mid-1954 all of these Early Specials were sold and the Late Special, built on the 1954 body (the differences: a larger rear window than 1953, new dash and a much more Spartan interior), was in production. 929 Late Specials were built by the end of the model year. The top-of-the-line Manhattan had seen some of its sales stolen by the bargain-buy Early Special but Kaiser also suffered from a lack of funding to complete their V8 engine and found GM unwilling to sell them the Oldsmobile Rocket V8. They then turned to McCulloch (renamed Paxton in 1956 using the middle name of their corporate leader Robert Paxton McCulloch) for superchargers for the 1954 Manhattan to increase the horsepower of the venerable 226 cubic inch (3.7L) Continental L-head six. The normally aspirated 226 turned 118hp but when equipped with a supercharger would deliver 140hp. Only 1,200 Manhattans were sold in the 1954 model year.

With the 1954 model year coming to a close Kaiser management had a dilemma. If they announced an end to passenger car production their distributor and dealer agreements required the company to buy back any new cars, parts and accessories held by the distributors or dealers . By manufacturing a 1955 model the company was relieved of a considerable expense. For 1955 a very minor cosmetic change was made consisting of casting a new hood scoop to make the '55 distinctive from the '54. The only other change made to the car was the implementation of a new body numbering system for all Kaiser-Willys passenger cars and Jeeps. The 1955s were also the first models to comply with a late 1954 agreement between the AMA, the auto manufacturers and the US government to implement a new vehicle identification system replacing the use of the engine number to identify a vehicle for licensing. This new number, called the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), required a plate with this VIN to be attached to the body and to have this number also stamped somewhere on the frame. Kaiser assembled 270 Manhattans for the domestic market (226 four-door 51367 and 44 two-door 51467 models) between February and April of 1955. There were no Specials produced in 1955.

Down but Not Out

Meanwhile, Kaiser's management was making deal to build Kaiser cars in a foreign country. Starting in 1951 Argentina sent their emissary, Brigadier General San Martín, to the United States in an attempt to convince an auto manufacturer to build cars in Argentina. In 1954 Kaiser was the only one to accept the offer with the rest believing the market was too small to justify the investment. But they didn't have the rugged products Kaiser did. On January 19, 1955 Kaiser and the government of Argentina signed an agreement to permit Kaiser to manufacture automobiles and trucks in Argentina. In February, Kaiser created a wholly owned subsidiary named Kaiser Automores, the holding company which in turn owned part of the newly created Industrias Kaiser Argentina S.A. (IKA), the manufacturing and marketing arm. Other partners in IKA included the government-owned vehicle manufacturer IAME and private investors. In August Kaiser applied for and got an import license to bring in 1,021 completed cars, manufacturing equipment and spare parts from the USA. Groundbreaking for the new factory was in March of 1955 with the first Jeep vehicle rolling out of the plant on 27 April 1956. (see footnote 2)

Back in Toledo, Ohio once the domestic production of the 1955 Kaiser Manhattan was complete in April, Kaiser began assembling export models of the Manhattan deleting the automatic transmission and the supercharger found on the domestic models and completed the assembly of these 1,021 cars in June. Once this last Kaiser was produced, the production line was shut down and its disassembly was started. 1,006 cars were ultimately exported to Argentina with six more sent to Argentina as company cars and six retained at the Toledo factory. One of these retained cars was requisitioned by design consultant Brooks Stevens and still in his possesion up until 1995. Anecdotal evidence suggests the balance of these cars retained in the USA were equipped with superchargers and Hydramatic automatic transmissions and used as executive cars. Interestingly, several more 1955 Kaisers would be assembled between 1955 and 1957 from parts remaining at the factory. The first of which, serial number 11022, was built for George Harbert, the head of Toledo engineering, having all of the domestic factory options and domestic standard equipment installed along with being painted in an unusual three-color scheme. Another two cars were assembled in the next few years the last of which is still in existence with documentation from Kaiser Jeep confirming its assembly in 1957.

The new Argentine factory was built in the city of Santa Isabel in the province of Córdoba with the Kaiser Manhattan being rechristened the Kaiser Carabela - named after a type of Spanish sailing ship. The USA vinyl and fabric interior was replaced with a more rugged leather interior, the speedometer was recalibrated in kilometers with the temperature, oil, and fuel gauge annotations in Spanish and the spring rates were increased to accommodate the unimproved Argentine roads. Oddly, the dash castings with annotations for vent, heater, headlight and wiper controls remained in English. No consideration was given to offering an automatic transmission due to the anticipated difficulty in obtaining service in remote towns. Production started on the Carabela on 25 July 1958 and, in the remaining months of year, 2,158 cars were built. IKA was also building Jeep vehicles at the Cordoba factory and assembled 20,454 Jeeps in 1958 alone. The combined Carabela-Jeep production of 22,612 units was 81% of all vehicles manufactured in Argentina in 1958 with the only competition being a state-run utility vehicle manufacturer. Many have questioned the wisdom of building IKA automobile factory in remote Santa Isabel which was far from ports and transportation hubs but the principle reason is that Córdoba was General San Martín's home province and he had strong ties to President Juan Perón.

In 1962 the Carabela, the “Gran coche argentino” (the Great Argentine Car), ended production with some 15,000 cars assembled providing elegant transportation for the doctors, bankers and other notables in Argentina. Unlike the U.S. operations, the Argentine operations also built Carabela limousines. The Carabela had some stable mates in 1960-62 in the form of an Alfa Romeo 1900 sedan derivative named the Bergantin (another type of Spanish sailing ship) and an Argentine-manufactured Renault Dauphine (badged IKA Dauphine). In 1962 Rambler variants licensed from AMC would replace all of these. The final form of the AMC variants was the potent Torino which saw a lot of racing on international circuits. The Carabela is to this day the heaviest, longest, and widest car ever manufactured in Argentina.

Kaiser in Brazil

The focus of this is essay is the history of the Kaiser product line but a similar exercise was undertaken in Brazil using the Willys Aero product line. The Willys Aero was manufactured in Brazil through 1967 with a variety of modernizing facelifts to the original body. Below left is a 1954 Willys assembled in Toledo, Ohio and to the right is a 1960 Willys built in Brazil.

And the End

In 1970 Kaiser divested itself of all automotive operations selling the Kaiser Jeep Corporation in the USA to American Motors (with AMC being bought by Chrysler in 1987 for US$360 million), selling Willys do Brazil to Ford and Industrias Kaiser Argentina to Renault. The net profit from the sale of the all of the auto operations was US$145 million.

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Footnotes:

1. "Pulling Willys off the Rocks", Business Week, 15 December 1956, pp.111-112.

2. According to Franco H. Cipolla, Investigador de Historia de IKA

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