The following response by Rudi Steiner of Homewood, Ill., (BHS 1961, BC 1967) clarifies the Iconclast column titled "Rudi, Don't tell the old man that Ford is dropping Mercurys." The information was given to Rudi by his father, Nelson Steiner (the old man) and Orrie Coats of Lima. Both are deceased.
Dear Fred: The '51 Kaiser was solid Ranger Grey and was painted at (Hitchocks). It was white on the top to make it two-tone. Kaisers didn't make a two-tone. I saw it done. No one else had one like it. The sun visor was taken from the '49 K and put on the the '51K .The Manhattan lights (interior lights) were transferred from car to car. The rear windshield wiper was only on the '51. He was thinking of getting a '54 but Clair Reiter got the blue and white '54 he wanted, so he bought Merc' instead. I guess he saw the demise of K-F.
~Ac^a'not^A"
You are right, Pop would be &%##. He would probably say something like: "If Henry Ford was still alive the American automobile industry wouldn't be in the mess it is in today." And then he would probably go off on some tangent about his Dodge with the Mitchiebitchee engine.
The Frazer Manhattan you mentioned was a 1946-47 it had a Graham-Paige Frazer nameplate with serial number 46. This car was a very early production model when the company was associated with another orphan automobile company Graham- Paige.
The motor was a manufactured by Continental, who made engines for farm implements. Pop always said it had a "hay baler" motor. The car was designed to be front-wheel drive but that innovation never happened. He traded a now-orphaned '41 Plymouth for the 47 Frazer. He kept a '41 Plymouth tire under the house at 201 N. Lawn until the basement was cleaned out, circa 2007. Owning a post-WWII car was a probably real status symbol. To be the first in Bluffton to own one would put you in a class by yourself.
After the '46-47 Frazer he bought the first post-war1949 Ford from Bixel Motor Sales. The Ford was received in 1948, but was a true 1949. He kept the Ford Deluxe for only six weeks and then traded it on a 1949 Kaiser because he said it "wasn't fast enough."
He couldn't out run the Putman County Sheriff officers because they had V-8 Ford's too. At this time he was a Fuller Brush salesman, covering Putnam County. Sheriff Cotterman, a friend of Pop, once told him to change his license plate because every deputy knew about the Kaiser with "M37N" plates, but they couldn't catch him with their Fords.
Art Hitchcock told Sheriff Cotterman to leave Pop alone because he was a good customer in Putnam County. After that he never had a problem with the sheriff again.
The '56 Mercury was a two-tone Landau blue and white Mercury Custom. I wasn't as fancy as Carl Smucker's 1955 4-door hardtop, but it was still a hot car.
An interesting side note to this whole orphan car thing is that Orrie Coats once told me he had the rights for a Tucker agency in Lima. Pop and Orrie where good friends. Pop was one of 50 people who put down $100 to get one of the first Tuckers. When the Tucker deal fell through Orrie gave Pop his $100 back and Pop went and bought the number 46 Frazer from Art Hitchcock.
I've often wondered what Frazer number 46 would be worth today. Was Pop Steiner dreamer, a visionary, a risk taker or a fool?
I wonder if he would have wanted a Hybrid, or the new Chevy Volt? I guess we'll never know.
