01
Origins
Dutch Darrin designed it against his employer's instincts, and the Kaiser Darrin of 1954 emerged as one of the strangest and prettiest American sports cars ever built: a fibreglass roadster whose doors did not swing but slid forward into the front wings, beneath a small pursed grille that Darrin called a 'kiss'. It reached production the same season as the Corvette, powered by a mild Willys 2.6-litre six that gave grace rather than pace. Kaiser's car business was collapsing around it, and only 435 were built before the end. Darrin himself bought dozens of leftover bodies and fitted Cadillac V8s, creating the fast car the original should have been. The survivors are cherished for the doors alone — an idea so charming that no one has ever dared copy it.
Kaiser Darrin rear · Ohnoitsjamie (talk · contribs) · CC BY-SA 3.0
