The Kaiser was a larger car, having a wheelbase of 123.5 inches (3137 mm) versus the 6/90's 113.5 inches (2883 mm). It was designed around 1945, being the first American production car with flow-through slab-sided fenders. Palmer's design was developed about five years later, so he had been able to evaluate many flow-through American production designs and Italian coachbuilt styles.
In essence, the Kaiser was heavy-looking and its lines were unrefined, whereas the Wolseley was more sleek, more attractive. Its smaller size was greatly helpful, too.
That said, there were similarities, as can be seen in the images in the Gallery below
The overall design can be characterized as "rounded," in spite of the flat fender sides.
The Wolseley's radiator grille is tall, traditional, unlike the Kaiser's horizontal grille and rounded hood prow.
The Wolseley's greenhouse is noticeably lower than the Kaiser's, its roofline is flatter, and the C-pillar is much thinner.
Here the fenderline and beltline coincide, but being a lower car than the Kaiser, the sides don't seem as bulky. The chrome strip on the front side and another on the beltline add to visual length.
Here is a Riley Pathfinder, sharing the Wolseley's body. It has smaller backlight and wider C-pillar. That, plus the lack of a fender chrome strip, makes it even more similar to the Kaiser. I noted this similarity in a link above.
Similarity factors: Their fender shapes are simple and similar. Plus the limited and absent (for Kaiser and Riley) side ornamentation and large wheel openings. Finally, their side proportions (lengths of hood, greenhouse and trunk) are similar.
Yes, the Kaiser roofline is too bulky for no real headroom reason in the C pillar area. And the rear door/window could have been extended back a couple of inches - it's even inches ahead of the wheel well. The Frazier Manhattan versions have some more chromey bits on the drip rail and rocker panel which help a little. It's odd that they didn't brighten any of them up with some kind of long chromey lines somewhere.
ReplyDeleteObviously it's likely that the whole Kaiser project might have lasted a lot longer if they had built the OHV V8 they were going to do, or gotten one from somewhere instead of pouring money into the wrongheaded Henry J, a small spartan car that cost about as much as one of the Big 3 cars. The J was even a fastback right when they had gone out of style. There was one that parked on my childhood street. I thought the little fins were kind of silly.
But checking a lot of Kaiser photos did solve one childhood mystery. I once got a ride in car with push button interior door openers. Turns out it had to be this generation of Kaiser/Frazier, which I did not remember at all. That feature was dropped in the next version.