Kaiser-Frazer began manufacturing vehicles soon after WWII. Henry Kaiser was an industrialist with money and financing; George Frazer was an automotive executive with Packard. Together they leveraged the post war demand and the automobile manufacturing industrys inability to rapidly re-enter commercial production by leasing a vacant plant from Ford and built over 100,000 cars in a year. Internal disputes, poor financials and fierce competition among the Big 3 would soon have an impact on Kaisers future as an automobile manufacturer. 1954 was the final year of production for the Kaiser, although a very small quantity of 1955 versions were marketed by dealers who had attached a 1955 hood ornament to their existing 1954 models on hand. This 1954 Kaiser Manhattan, one of 4,109 produced, retailed for $2,444 and was initially shipped as a supercharged engine.
