In an attempt to remain competitive, Kaiser-Frazer’s experimental engine department at Willow Run, led by engineer Dave Potter, a Continental transplant, developed a 288 CID overhead-valve V8. Kaiser-Frazer was quickly falling behind. (This basic engine powered everything from boats to forklifts.) Sporting 100 hp at 3600 rpm and eventually tweaked to 115 hp in standard form, the engine was already old-fashioned, though it was good enough for the car-hungry shoppers of 1947.īut by 1949, new overhead-valve, high-compression V8s were introduced by Oldsmobile and Cadillac, and Chrysler and Studebaker would soon follow with their own advanced V8s for 1951. When the Kaiser-Frazer brand was launched before an eager public in 1947, the entire line of Kaiser and Frazer autos were all powered by the same 226 CID six, a rugged flathead that was largely based on the venerable Continental Red Seal powerplant. Think you’ve seen everything in American V8s? Here’s one that never saw the light of day: the 1951 Kaiser-Frazer 288.
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