Will my old man was the very 1st dealer for Kiaser-Frazer in Montana in 1947!!!! I can't remember for sure the town we were living in then, but I think it was Belgrade, perhaps
Three Forks????(shrug?)
The old man knew his cars if he didn't know anything
else.
We generally drove the Frazer Manhatten, but after Frazer got out of the deal we drove Kiasers. The nice thing about the old man being a dealer is that we got to have a lot of new cars in a very short time.
Kiaser-Frazer had a very generous demonstrator plan or so the old man said.
And Kiaser-Frazer also had some of the most colorful automobiles on the market.
After Henry Ford and the war everyone hated black!!!!
Seems we had one Frazer in a real pretty 2 tone brown with sort of a maroon interior. I really learned to respect cars and never put my feet in or on the seats.\
And when I was that age I could tell you absolutely the correct name for any car on the road, the model, the engine tranny and anything else pertinent.
When the 60's came cars strated to looking all the same and it wasn't fun anymore. But I still recall the names of some famous old automobiles.
I have loved cars as long as I have loved knives!!!!
The last one I remember us having was a 1951 model Kiaser in a pretty blue. This was when all they had was the little Red Seal Continental straight flat head six
cylinders.
They weren't known for their power, but for their
dependability.
We pulled a 27 foot Elcar house trailer with the old mans huge mechanic tool boxes loaded in the living room over a huge, and high mountain pass!!!!
I will never forget that trip!!!!
It was the only time I ever recall seeing the old man scared or worried.
We were near the top of the pass and went around a huge inside horseshoe bend. It must have been 2-300 yards across the mountain there and at the end of this horseshoe bend there was a hairpin curve that went immediatelly to the right and was an uphill grade as
well.
I didn't know just how close we were to jumping that day and I don't believe my Mom knew either.
Looking to the rear all one could see was empty space, but we got around the curve and then had mountain behind us to stop against if we were forced too.
Then the little Kiaser just about quit. It started heating up and Mom & the old man both opened the front doors so that there would be a little less drag caused by the house trailer.
The old man literally screamed at me when I opened a back door to help, but I was hindering since the back doors were 'suicide doors' in that they opened backwards, the front of the door was towards the front of the car and was why they were called 'suicide doors.
When they were made on the front doors of cars you couldn't jump from the car because the door wouldn't let you past it.
We had some really interesting times on our journeys across and crisscross the good ol' US of A!!!
I still chuckle when I think about the door handles in the
inside.
I was only 7 years old and when in the back seat with an adult that hadn't riden in one before I knew how to get out and they didn't/couldn't find the door handle.
I got to tell/show them it was a pushbutton in the center of the door moulding.
And that always amazed them so much!!!!
You're right it was right after the war and people weren't used to much of anything new at all and especially new cars!!!! There was a buying frenzy in new cars that finally lead to the huge finned beauties(?) of the '50's!!!!
It was a wonderful time to be a kid!!!!
That's interesting about your dad and him not spanking you. Had it of been my old man he would have beat my ass something fierce and then ordered the new part and fixed it, but my ass would have been sore for literally weeks!!!!
) The cho is traditional cow's hoof (also genuine - animal particles still adhere to the edges, so it was really stamped by...never mind). This is NOT John's $7.50 tourista blade - it is now a $13.10 blade, which shows what he was willing to pay to get rid of it.
