BF Auction: 1951 Kaiser Special Collection

Seller: Joseph D onato

Location: Fairview, North Carolina
Mileage: 100,000 Shown
Chassis #: K511038785

Title Status: Clean
Engine: Flathead 6-Cylinder
Transmission: 3-Speed Manual

I hope we never have to worry about the term “post-war auto production” again, but it was a real thing in the mid-40s and Kaiser was ready. While most manufacturers were introducing 1942 models as “new” 1946 models, Kaiser came out with all-new 1947 models, beating some big names to the punch, such as Mercury, Studebaker, Nash, Hudson, and even Chrysler. This seller has four 1951 Kaiser Specials, plus a shed full of parts, listed here as a Barn Finds Auction!

This car is a two-door sedan, but the first photo shows a four-door sedan. The seller has two of each included in this sale, two with two doors and two with four doors. Some are more restoration-ready than others, but for a person with enough space, it’s always nice to have extra parts cars while working on a restoration. They also have several totes of new old stock parts and a shed full of used parts.

There’s a hint of the famous “Darrin Dip” on the rear window, but the windshield shows the talent of what Kaiser hoped would be their savior: Howard “Dutch” Darrin. With a warehouse full of money from a fresh government loan and Dutch Darrin at the drawing board, the 1951 Kaisers were fantastic and somewhat modern compared to a lot of what other companies were bringing out that year, at least styling-wise.

You have four interiors to work with here to mix and match to restore one or more cars as you see fit. There were only around 14,000 two-door sedans built for the 1951 model year, and they’re rare to see today. You can see that, as almost always, parts of these cars look rock-solid and appear as if bringing them back to life would be relatively simple. But almost everything needs to have work inside and out, so any restoration or restomod wouldn’t be for the faint of heart.

Kaisers didn’t come with V8 engines as most other manufacturers offered in this era, and this one doesn’t have what the company considered the next best thing: a McCulloch supercharger. This is a Continental 226-cu.in. L-head inline-six, which would have had 115 horsepower and 190 lb-ft of torque. It sends power through a manual with column shift and the seller says that one of the two-door cars runs and he’s driven it, and it has new brakes and brake lines. For any fans of Kaiser’s famous Darrin-designed cars, here’s your opportunity to get four of them!