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The Kaiser Darrin, also known as the Kaiser Darrin 161, was an American sports car designed by Howard "Dutch" Darrin and built by Kaiser Motors in 1954. Essentially a revamp of Kaiser's Henry J compact, the Kaiser Darrin was one of its designer's final achievements and was noted for being the first American car equipped with a fiberglass body and doors that slid on tracks into the front fender wells. The car was named both for Henry J. Kaiser, head of Kaiser Motors, and Darrin.

Only 435 Kaiser Darrins were built. After a freak snowstorm ruined 50 of the cars' bodies, Kaiser decided to terminate the program. Darrin bought those 50 bodies and had then transported to his shop in Santa Monica, California. After Kaiser had ceased production, Darrin completed a few of the cars himself in an attempt to generate interest. Six were retrofitted with Cadillac Eldorado V-8 engines, one of which was reportedly raced.

Introduction
Howard "Dutch" Darrin was a noted automobile body designer who had worked with Packard on some of the most attractive models build by that company in the 1940s. One of his trademarks was a sweeping fender line which descended gently along the side of the car until it reached a "dip" at the head of the rear fender.

Darrin and Kaiser
Darrin's relationship with Kaiser Motors was stormy, especially with the auto maker's head, Henry J. Kaiser. Darrin's designs were generally discarded for more conventional, less attractive designs. He resigned from the company in 1946 after its "orange juicers" had altered his design for the 1946 K-F sedan. He returned two years later to work on the 1951 Kaiser. When it chose a more staid design for its Henry J compact than the one he had provided, Darrin once again resigned.

The Henry J had been the company head's pet project. Its chassis, at 100 in, had been sectioned from Kaiser's 1951 sedan and, while conventional, had proved a sound design. Darrin felt that the car deserved better than the boxy design with which it had been outfitted and set out to prove it. Using his own funds and without notifying Kaiser, Darrin produced a two-seat roadster design. After he had completed a clay model of this design in the first half of 1952, Darrin contacted Bill Tritt, who had pioneered the use of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP, commonly known as fiberglass) in sports car bodies to have him produce a prototype. This body was shipped to Darrin's design shop in Santa Monica, California, and mated to a Henry J chassis.

Once the prototype was finished, Darrin invited Kaiser to see the car. Kaiser, predictably, became upset at the sight of it. He roared, "We are not in the business of selling sports cars," he chastised Darrin for proceeding with the project without his knowledge. Darrin answered that the car had not been built on company time and that he had funded it himself. "Furthermore," he added, "if you don't build the car under the Kaiser banner, I'll build it myself." At this point, Kaiser's wife, who had accompanied him to the shop, told her husband, "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I don't see why you aren't in the business of building sports cars. I don't think there will be many automobile companies that won't go into the sports car business after seeing this car." Those words changed Kaiser's mind. By the end of the viewing, he had not only embraced the building of the car but also green-lighted development of a four-door version. Months later, Kaiser showed his appreciation by having the new sports car named the Kaiser Darrin.

As it turned out, there was actually a rush in progress among American car manufacturers to produce a two-seat roadster that would rival British imports. Ford Motor Company was developing the initial version of its Thunderbird and General Motors was working on the Chevrolet Corvette. Darrin's work predated both these projects.

Design
Along with Darrin's trademark fender line, the Kaiser Darrin had entry doors that, instead of being hinged to open outward, slid on tracks into the front fender wells behind the front wheels. Fueled by Darrin's dislike for conventional doors, the designer had taken out a patent on the sliding auto door concept in 1946. The car was equipped with a three-position Landau top, which was also considered novel, and the design on the whole considered by industry critics and writers as beautifully proportioned. The only flaw was considered the car's front grille. High and shell-shaped, it looked as though the automobile "wanted to give you a kiss," as one writer commented.

Several changes were necessitated to put the car into production. Only one of these angered the designer but was deemed necessary—raising the headlights to regulation height. Other alterations included separate lids for the trunk and top well instead of the one-piece lid on the prototype, a one-piece windshield without a "sweetheart dip" in place of a split windshield, an amended interior and a dashboard display with the instruments clustered ahead of the steering wheel instead of spread across the panel. Interior features included color-keyed leather bucket seats and a carpeted floor.

The Kaiser Darrin was powered with the L-head six-cylinder engine from the Henry J. This engine, at 161 cubic inches (2.6 liters) and 90 horsepower with a single carburetor, was not supercharged or changed in any other way from the version produced by Kaiser for that car. With a three-speed manual transmission equipped with overdrive, the car's performance was unexceptional, even when compared with General Motors' Chevrolet Corvette, which in 1954 was considered mild mannered by industry critics. A modified engine with triple carburetors produced 125 bhp, which allowed the car to reach 95 mph.

Production
Tritt's company, Glasspar, was commissioned to produce bodies for the production model. However, Glasspar produced only a handful of these. The remaining 435 were produced in-house by Kaiser. While the prototype had been unveiled to the public at the Los Angeles Motorama in September 1952 (two months before General Motors debuted the Corvette) and dubbed "the sports car the world has been awaiting," production models did not reach showrooms until January 1954, after the Corvette had entered the market. The car, at $3668, was higher-priced than the Cadillac 62 or Lincoln Capri luxury cars but came equipped with tachometer, electric windshield wipers, tinted windshield, windwings and whitewall tires. Because of the car's price and lack of performance, sales were low.

By the end of 1954, Kaiser Motors' financial difficulties essentially ended the project. Another factor was a freak snowstorm that hit the Willys plant in Toledo, Ohio in the winter of 1953-54. (Kaiser had merged with Willys-Overland in 1953 to form Willys Motors Incorporated and had moved its production operations to the Willys plant.) Fifty fiberglass bodies had been stored in the yard and remained buried in snow for several months. When they were finally dug out, they were deemed too deteriorated to sell as new and Kaiser decided to have them scrapped. At this point, Darrin rebelled, demanding that the company not scrap his creation. To appease the designer, Kaiser offered him the bodies at a token price. Darrin bought them and had them shipped to Santa Monica.

Aftermath
Once Kaiser Motors had been bought by American Motor Company in 1955, Darrin toyed with the idea of producing the car himself. To generate interest and potential financial backing, he fitted several of the bodies he had bought from Kaiser with chassis and six of them with V-8 engines, rated at 305 bhp, used by General Motors for its Cadillac Eldorado. Darrin sold these cars as Kaiser-Darrin Specials at his showroom in Los Angeles at a price of $4350 each. One of these was reportedly bought and raced by driver Lance Reventlow. With its new engine, according to automotive author Martyn L. Schorr, the Special "combined the best attributes of a highly stylized sporty car with those of a hot rod."

Darrin also tried to interest the Studebaker-Packard Corporation in the four-door version suggested when he had unveiled the prototype Kaiser Darrin to Henry J. Kaiser. Studebaker-Packard, itself ailing financially, passed on the design.