Dutch Darrin’s radical two-seater was a one-trick (one-year) Pony that beat the Corvette to market, and then fizzled.
Costing more than a Cadillac 62 or Lincoln Capri in 1954, a fully equipped Kaiser-Darrin with its pocket doors, three-speed overdrive, tach and other goodies, listed at $3,668. Powered by a 90-horsepower F-Head Hurricane Six, a Darrin delivered less performance than a new Corvette. However, back in the day, many were modified with centrifugal superchargers and free flow exhaust systems and they were among the quickest sports cars on the market. Sarasota Cafe Racer and Carlisle Events' Bill Miller, above, driving one of his two Darrins.
Because it was a low-volume car, Kaiser did not produce the Darrin’s fiberglass bodies. One of the early fiberglass boat and car body builders, Glasspar, was the supplier of Darrin bodies as well as those used on the Woodill Wildfire, an upscale kit car produced by Dodge dealer, Robert “Woody” Woodill.
Dutch Darrin penned the original fiberglass roadster for Kaiser in 1950-1951 and the prototype, badged DKF-161, was revealed in 1952. The production Darrin was not well received and sales were sluggish. They built 435 Kaiser-Darrins and Dutch Darrin ended up purchasing all the leftovers in 1955. He had a showroom in Los Angeles and he modified and sold the leftovers as 1955 Special models. They too were hard to sell.
The extremely rare 1955 Kaiser-Darrin Special combined the best attributes of a highly stylized sports car and a hot rod. He replaced their anemic 90-horsepower Willys Sixes with modified 230-plus-horsepower OHV Cadillac V8s. The Specials were priced at $4,350 and sold only by Darrin at his showroom. In 1955 the rare and potent 140-mph Kaiser-Darrin Special had an edge over the Ford T-Bird, new V8 Corvette and most imported sports cars.
Of the 435 Kaiser-Darrins produced, it is estimated that approximately 300 have survived (thanks to their fiberglass bodies).
Check out Mile Gulett’s blog about the Kaiser-Darrin,
http://mycarquest.blogspot.com/2011/07/1954-kaiser-darrin-first-usa-made.html
For more photos and information about America’s first production fiberglass sports car, please visit,http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z1723/Kaiser-Darrin.aspx