Author: Patrick R. Foster Publisher: Enthusiast Books ISBN: 9781583882399 Category : Transportation Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
It was like a marriage made in heaven, the coming together of two great minds to create an all-new car. Henry J Kaiser and Joseph Washington Frazer, strong-willed men of vision, boldly decided to take on America’s Big Three automakers. Hoping to position their Kaiser-Frazer Corporation in the big leagues of auto manufacturers they would launch a radical new car to capture the public’s imagination and produce it in unheard-of quantities. The cars were an immediate hit. Thousands lined up to see and buy the new Kaiser and Frazer cars. In time K-F introduced hardtops, sedans, convertibles, an impressive fiberglass sports car and a line of low-priced compact cars. But competition eventually proved overwhelming and Kaiser-Frazer production ended in the US, though Kaiser cars continued to be built in South America into the 1960s. This new book by veteran auto writer Patrick Foster—America’s spokesman for independent brand cars—tells the full story of Kaiser-Frazer’s struggle to succeed in an industry that killed so many competitors. Heartbreaking yet uplifting, it is an allegory of men and automobiles during perhaps the most exciting era the industry has ever known.
Author: Mark S. Foster Publisher: University of Texas Press ISBN: 0292742266 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 407
Book Description
In the 1940s Henry J. Kaiser was a household name, as familiar then as Warren Buffett and Donald Trump are now. Like a Horatio Alger hero, Kaiser rose from lower-middle-class origins to become an enormously wealthy entrepreneur, building roads, bridges, dams, and housing. He established giant businesses in cement, aluminum, chemicals, steel, health care, and tourism. During World War II, his companies built cargo planes and Liberty ships. After the war, he manufactured the Kaiser-Frazer automobile. Along the way, he also became a major force in the development of the western United States, including Hawaii. Henry J. Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West is the first biography of this remarkable man. Drawing on a wealth of archival material never before utilized, Mark Foster paints an evenhanded portrait of a man of driving ambition and integrity, perhaps the ultimate "can-do" capitalist. He covers Kaiser's entire life (1882–1967), emphasizing many business ventures. He demonstrates that Kaiser was the prototypical "frontier" entrepreneur who often used government and union support to tame the "wilderness." Though today the Kaiser industries are no longer under family management, the Kaiser legacy remains great. Kaiser played a major role in building the Hoover, Bonneville, Grand Coulee, and Shasta dams. The Kaiser-Permanente Medical Care Program still provides comprehensive health care for millions of subscribers. Kaiser-planned communities remain in Los Angeles; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; and Boulder City, Nevada. Kaiser Engineers was actively engaged in hundreds of huge construction jobs across the nation and around the world. U.S. and business historians, scholars of the modern West, and general readers will all find much to absorb them in this well-written biography.
Author: University of California, Berkeley. Institute of Governmental Studies. Library Publisher: ISBN: Category : Political science Languages : en Pages : 848
Author: J. “Kelly” Flory, Jr. Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786452307 Category : Transportation Languages : en Pages : 1049
Book Description
From the resumption of automobile production at the close of World War II through the 1950s, the American auto industry would see the births and deaths of several manufacturers, great technological advances, and an era of dramatic styling as a prospering nation asserted its growing mobility. Cars of this period are among the most iconic vehicles ever built in the United States: the 1949 Ford, the remarkable Studebaker designs of 1950 and 1953, the 1955-1957 Chevrolets, the "Forward Look" Chrysler products, the ill-fated Edsel and many others. This comprehensive reference book details every model from each of the major manufacturers (including independents such as Kaiser-Frazer and Crosley but excluding very low-volume marques such as Tucker) from model years 1946 through 1959. Year by year, it provides an overview of the industry and market, followed by an individual report on each company: its main news for the year (introductions or cancellations of models, new engines and transmissions, advertising themes, sales trends etc.); its production figures and market status; and its powertrain offerings, paint colors and major options. The company's models are then detailed individually with such information as body styles, prices, dimensions and weights, standard equipment and production figures. Nearly 1,000 photographs are included.
Author: Patrick R. Foster
Author: Mark S. Foster
Author: New York Public Library. Research Libraries
Author: 
Author: 
Author: University of California, Berkeley. Institute of Governmental Studies. Library
Author: 
Author: Library of Congress
Author: Library of Congress
Author: J. “Kelly” Flory, Jr.