<VV> hardtops--further educating the masses

[Alan and Clare Wesson]

Bill Stanley wrote:

> I'm writing this from my office and don't have access to my back issues of
> Collectible Automobile, etc. but my recollection is that the first such
> models debuted around '48 and were high end models such as Cadillacs.

Ahem! I took this from an ad in Hemmings, but the facts are correct:


The 1949-50 Kaiser Virginian and its descendant, the 1951 Frazer Manhattan
hardtop, were historically significant cars. The first true postwar attempt
at pillarless "hardtop convertible" styling, these vehicles beat the 1949
hardtop offerings from General motors to market by two months. The small
glass pillar between the windows did not retract, but the effect was truly a
convertible-like vehicle with all of the attributes of a closed sedan...


So you see - it was KF, not GM!!

Cheers

Alan