The 1951 Kaiser DeLuxe

The Kaiser Motor Company was one of the car companies that rose in the wake of World War II. After being denied new cars through the ration-years of the war, the public eagerly snapped up new automobiles and independent brands flourished. Eventually the big three out-competed Kaiser and four years after this ad aired in Life Magazine the company would cease production in the US. It would hold out until the 60s in Argentina under the name Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA) but eventually even its offshore plants would close their doors. Kaiser is best known for producing Willy and Jeep, though it eventually sold the Jeep line to American Motors (AMC).

What does this have to do with August? Well, nothing if you discount the fact I got the ad from the August issue of a magazine. I did like the shape of the Kaiser DeLuxe sedan with its widow-peaked windshield that looks like it’s waiting for Disney to install a pair of googley eyes. I also liked “Triumph of Anatomic Design”, a phrase so labored that the ad execs had to add an asterisk just to make sure you knew the thing didn’t have a spleen. Today we’d call that ergonomic, but back in the early 50s they went with straight up anatomy.