Want to be sure of a parking spot in front of Joel Robuchon on Saturday night? The winning bidder of this gorgeous red Kaiser Darrin is almost guaranteed special treatment and admiring looks. The crown jewel of legendary designer Howard ?Dutch? Darrin, this little roadster trumps a new Ferrari, every time.
Collectors have finally realized that the Kaiser Darrin is not only the first fiberglass-bodied sports car to reach production ? beating Corvette to the marketplace by a month ? it?s also the last major design from Darrin?s drawing board and by far the most intriguing model built by Kaiser, Frazer or Willys in the 1950s.
A unique feature of the Kaiser Darrin were 'pocket doors' that slid into the front fenders. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson) The beautiful Red Sail roadster that will cross the block at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas (Lot #654) is 284 of 435 cars assembled, largely by hand, in the former Frazer factory in Jackson, Mich. According to the current owner, it was sold new in California and as a result has a black plate that goes with the car.
One of the most famous stylists of the 20th century, Dutch Darrin was born in New Jersey in 1897 and stayed in Paris after flying with the famous American Expeditionary Force during World War I. He was a bona fide member of Hemmingway?s Lost Generation, eventually teaming up with fellow American designer Thomas Hibbard. Hibbard & Darrin?s Paris showroom soon became well known when it came to custom bodywork on expensive chassis.
After Harley Earl convinced Hibbard to join GM Art and Colour in the early 1930s, Darrin formed a new partnership, Fernandez & Darrin, which turned out some of the most famous of all classic cars, including a landmark 1933 Duesenberg Convertible Victoria for Greta Garbo.
Lured to California by the lucrative Hollywood trade, Dutch set up Darrin of Paris on Sunset Boulevard in 1937. His custom-bodied Packards for actors Dick Powell and Clark Gable led to a position as Packard?s chief designer. Among other models, Darrin created the limited production 1940 Darrin-Packard convertible with his new trademark, a cut-down beltline featuring a distinctive notch near the rear of the doors. It?s still known as the ?Darrin Dip.?
The 2,200-pound roadster is powered by a 90-horsepower inline-6 from the Willys Aero sedan and a floor-shifted three-speed manual. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson After World War II, Liberty shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser and former Willys executive Joseph W. Frazer bought what was left of Graham-Paige to form Kaiser-Frazer. They hired Darrin as their designer, paying him a 75-cent royalty on every car sold.
Kaiser-Frazer started out with a bang in 1947, but by 1951, the underfunded company was not only struggling against ferocious competition from Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, but bean counter Kaiser and car guy Frazer were fighting over who was in charge. As usually happens in these auto-executive contests, the car guy lost.
In 1951, the timing was perfect for Kaiser-Frazer to cash in on a hot new trend as Americans were just discovering Jaguar, MG, Morgan and Triumph. The first Corvette was about to appear. This perfect timing also coincided with Costa Mesa boat builder Bill Tritt?s creation of a fiberglass body for a sports car specially built by his friend, Ken Brooks. After the Brooks Boxer made its debut at the Los Angeles Motorama, Tritt cleaned up the body mold and went into production with the first fiberglass sports car, the Glasspar G2.
What happened next was a no-brainer. There was Kaiser needing to attract attention and boost sales. There was Dutch Darrin, ready to draw something new and different. And now there was Glasspar, the only company in the world experienced in automotive fiberglass bodywork, just a half-hour down the highway from Darrin?s Santa Monica office. Everything converged into Darrin?s novel new design, a two-seater that shared a bit of the slab-sided styling of Glasspar?s G2, but was otherwise unlike anything seen before or since.
Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/vintage-kaiser-darrin-roadster-charms-at-barrett-jackson/
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