Slow Start

In Manhattan last week, Automaker Joseph Washington Frazer proudly displayed two shiny new cars. One, in which Joe rode down to the City Hall himself, was the $1,600 Frazer. The other was the slightly cheaper Kaiser Special. Both of them, said Joe Frazer proudly, had been built "on the production line" in the Kaiser-Frazer Corp.'s Willow Run plant. New York was impressed.

But not Detroit. In Willow Run there were only 50 chassis in various stages of construction on the two production lines. Feeder lines for parts were not yet in operation. Cars were still being pushed down the assembly line by hand. In fact, by ordinary production-line standards, the cars were being handmade. In the light of this, Joe Frazer's prediction that K-F would make 2,500 cars in August seemed highly optimistic. Nevertheless, none could say that Joe and Henry, with plenty of help from son Edgar Kaiser, weren't doing their darnedest to make cars.

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