jimkf

The car apparently sold as the FB listing has been removed. Must have been a good deal!

I own a supercharged 54 Manhattan and the blower does make a difference. It's not a neck snapping performer by any means but the five pounds of boost it delivers when fully engaged does provide more than ample acceleration. The McCulloch VS57 supercharger is a pretty robust unit that only needs the Type A transmission fluid it uses as a lubricant to be maintained at the proper level to deliver a long life. There are parts available for them as well as rebuilding services. Having one on a 54 does add to the car's value, as does the stick O/D transmission versus the heavy Hydramatic. The only hard to find component is the fuel pump, which is unique to the 54-55 Kaiser. This particular example has had the seats and door panels redone in non-original vinyl - but in the correct pattern - and the carpet throughout isn't correct either, but who cares. The matte finish on the paint reminds me of the same treatment I gave my 1950 Kaiser Traveler. If the car is as solid as it looks and runs well, I'd say the asking price is not unreasonable.

Dad had one in black. Rusted in places you never thought it could, but did. Ate ballast resistors with alarming regularity - enough that he kept several spares in the car and could change them faster than the old man could change a tire in the Christmas Story. Still, it was different than anything else on the road in 1968 and we kids loved it. Sadly, it was traded in on a new Dodge Dart four door plain Jane sedan.

I once owned a 53 Willys Aero parts car that had a Rekord grille in it. Took me forever to figure out where it came from. The grille was worth more than the rest of the car...

This example would be a fairly early build in that it doesn't have the narrow lower body molding added to the Special model when buyers complained about the car looking too plain. The very earliest would have had black painted rather than chrome trimmed vent posts as well as flat faced rather than convex door surround trim. Both paint colors on this car are a touch off. The grey is closer to a 1947-48 color and the white's a bit too white. Perhaps both are the fault of today's base coat - clear coat paint...looks to shiny to me. Since this is a Special, I would be surprised to see a two-tone paint color called out on the trim tag - that was usually reserved for the DeLuxe model in 1951. And, the wheel color should match the lower body. Stuck valves on the 226 are easy to free up. I've had three or four stick from sitting and an application of some Marvel Mystery oil down the spark plug hole usually frees them up. Brake adjustment is done from the backing plate by turning cams that push the shoes outward. Easy to do and easy to forget until there's a lot of pedal travel. All that said, if the rest of the car looks as presentable as what's shown, I think the asking price is in the ballpark. It would be a better deal if it was overdrive equipped - not a difficult job once you have all of the necessary bits.

Given what Mopars of this era bring today, this example appears very well priced. Thank goodness it's just a bit too far away or it would be getting a closer look.

I'm local to the area and used to see this car at shows. It's a solid car that didn't seem to need much beyond a good detailing to be a nice driver. Four doors isn't everyone's cup of tea today but with one, you'll have plenty of room for the kids on an ice cream run!

Bump - $125 shipped to anywhere in the 48 states

I've had a couple of these and they're a much better car than you'd think. Given they're a unit body car and relatively light weight, the 161 six has plenty of power to move one along at freeway speeds, especially when overdrive equipped. I'm not so sure it's as original as purported...I think the cloth seat inserts have been replaced at some point in the past. The upside is that whatever you put in it, as long as it looks like it belongs, will fool most anyone at a show. If the car runs and drives I'd say the asking price is pretty close.

Post deleted by author. Apparently, someone thought it a good deal and stepped up to the plate.

I wonder how the seller knew of only four extant. An acquaintance used one of our Hershey spaces several years ago to sell one. If it is indeed that rare, I suppose I should have bought it!

This is a nice example. It's rare to see one with the original seat material intact. And, being a two door later series (true) 52 makes it all the more desirable. Good color combo as well. I have to wonder why the seller didn't try bump starting the car to prove that the starter is the issue. I'd be willing to bet it is, they are a known failure point. The bad starter not withstanding, a little elbow grease under the hood would go a long way toward validating the asking price.

I've owned several of these over the years, as well as Town Cars and Town Coupes, and the Mark IV is by far the best riding of the three. They're thirsty cars so the wallet gets a workout but who cares when you're rolling down the road. The only downside is the pot metal gearshift mechanism that's no match for the car's weight when parked downhill. Don't ask me how I found that out...

Where's Milburn Drysdale?!

This is an FC (Forward Control) 150, built on the Jeep chassis while it's longer mate, the FC 170 used the pickup chassis as its base. The 150 was so short and front end heavy that under hard braking it was found the rear wheels could lift off the ground. So, weights were added at the rear to stabilize it. Rust was an issue with these from new. Cab corners and floors are usually gone in examples left outside for any length of time. This one needs it all but at least the asking price is within reason.