Kaiser Dragon

The Kaiser Dragon was an upscale four-door sedan built by Kaiser Motors for the 1953 model year, positioned above the Manhattan in the second-generation Kaiser range designed by Howard "Dutch" Darrin. The Dragon name had first appeared in 1951 as a trim option, when Kaiser offered a vinyl upholstery nicknamed dragon skin on its Deluxe models, and in 1953 it became a model of its own. It was introduced on 31 October 1952 with special grass-patterned Bambu vinyl and Laguna cloth trim, a padded roof, a long list of standard equipment including Hydramatic transmission and power steering, and gold-plated trim. The car cost more than a Cadillac Series 62 yet used a 226 cubic inch six-cylinder engine, and 1,277 Dragons were sold in a year when the small independent automakers struggled against the Big Three.