Upstart post-war automaker Kaiser-Frazer did not have a V-8 or true hardtop coupe, as other Michigan automakers did. They responded by hiring Carlton Spencer, an editor for House Beautiful, as an in-house consultant who worked on developing new colors and materials for Kaiser and Frazer automobiles, including various special editions designed to draw customers into showrooms.

In 1951 the company introduced the Dragon, a new version of the Kaiser Deluxe sedan. It was produced for just four months and 1,622 cars, but what, exactly, constituted a Dragon depended upon when one bought it. The model was produced in three distinct, separate batches, each of which had distinctively different design features. Early cars, the so-called “First Batch,” were dubbed the Golden Dragon but could be had in any color, with the roof finished in a contrasting hue to the body and the interior in a special, synthetic alligator-textured vinyl, dubbed “Dragon skin.”

The Burdick Collection’s Dragon is equipped with the optional automatic transmission, AM radio, and dashboard clock. It has been refinished in its original color scheme, Ceramic Green and Cape Verde Green, but remains otherwise original and unrestored. The factory paint is still visible in the door jambs and unrestored engine compartment, and the interior “Dragon skin” is intact and in excellent condition; the original spare is still in the trunk. It is believed that the 11,726 original miles noted at cataloguing is the actual mileage since new – and that this may be the lowest-mileage surviving example of its kind.

Few American sedans of this era are as eye-catching, unique, and rare as a Kaiser Golden Dragon. It is even more rare to find one in such well-preserved condition, courtesy of the renowned collection of Richard L. Burdick.