My New Ride..1951 Kaiser "Traveler"..Definetly NOT a Mopar!!

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cosgig

cosgig

MoBro Inc.
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Howdy all, cosgig here. I went to a graduation party for the son of an old friend of mine last night and while out behind the barn checking on "nature", I noticed a vehicle under a car cover. Now, I know my buddy is not a car guy so I had to ask what he was doing with a car in his fleet of stuff, and he informed me that it was a 1951 Kaiser"Traveler", the first hatchback. When asked where he would come across such a thing, he informed me that it was given to him by Bob Lutz, the former head of Chrysler and GM. It was a running, driving example of rare 50's iron and Bob had sent it off for a full 100 point resto. Unfortunately, the shop he had do the work closed up, took his money and disappeared, and took a few of the parts with them. Bob decided to cut his losses and gave it to my buddy.

When I asked my buddy what he was going to do with the car, he matter of factly said that he was giving it to me!!! So, now I guess I am the proud owner of a 1951 Kaiser!!! I didn't have my camera with me, and it was getting dark out, (hence the trip to see the nature) so any pictures will have to wait until I pick it up. What I did get to see of it though were the boxes and bins full of restored parts, a lot of rare and probably unobtainable stuff!!

Now, I know this isn't a Mopar, and I am probably shooting in the dark here, but does anybody know anything about this car?? There is scarce little info on the web, although I did browse a little and actually saw a couple examples. It is being given to me with the suggestion that I not just scrap it, and so I will be looking to sell the entire package and split whatever $$ it brings with my buddy. It was suggested and concluded that if I can't sell the entire lot that I should sell the parts and get what I can for them, which may be easier than selling the entire car. Oh, if only it was a Henry"J", but I am told this is a very rare car, and the body is in incredible shape.

So, anybody out there in FABO land know anything about this thing?? Ask your grand dads and uncles if they can provide any info, and if you'd like to buy the entire package, by all means message me!! Thanks all, you guys ROCK!!! Geof
 
Good lord is this thing radioactive?

picchures. We MUST have piccures!!!

Kaiser Wilhelm II

kaiser_wilhelm_ii.jpg


Kaiser Soze

Kaiser-soze.jpg


Kaiser neglected

1951KaiserRecovery-a.jpg


Kaiser wrecked

m35a2_surplus.jpg


Kaiser hyped

16802-kaiser.jpg


Kaiser blasphemy

KaiserValveCovers.jpg
 
That truely is a rare, odd car.

I have a similiar story. I used to know an old man who had a 1951 Kaiser Frazer 4 door Deluxe in a small hay barn behind his house.... all four hubcaps were in a stack under the front bumper, it had 43,000 miles on it, and paint was covered with about 1" literally of dust and hay.....I cleaned off an area around the driver door and opened the door and got inside...the interior was Prestine...with lots of chrome and decor...the seat covers were like French Love Seat material and in great condition.

He had all the Sales literature, the Title, and Registration, and the original Keys.

He wanted me to find a new owner for it and offered to split the money with me....but no one was interested and it sat there till he passed away, and I have not heard a thing about that Estate since.

There is a short read on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser-Frazer

or some good details here:
http://oldcarandtruckpictures.com/Kaiser/


Weird, True, freaky.....kinda like the Tv series.

I have no intrest in K-F oddities....but good luck.
 
Ohhhhhhh how cool is that??? Gotta get pictures Geof -- you know we're dying here.

And I'm dying laughing at 67's rendition of Kaisers -- that was great. :-D
 
Well, my trailer is out on loan to my Mom's husband right now, but as soon as it gets back I'm going to set up a time to go get it. I'm sure it's gonna take some doing to get it all loaded up, I'm picturing about 6,000 lbs. of steel (and wood). This should be interesting!! I'll keep y'all posted!!

Thanks Del for the Kaiser tutorial!! I hope I can find this thing a good home!! And thanks Prine for the story too, although I'll bet that one found a home after all too!! Geof
 
Congratulations Geof, I need to do some research now :cheers:
 
Dang man!! Very rare indeed :blob:
 

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When I was a kid, had a neighbor who loved those cars. Had a Henry J, and a couple of Kaiser Frazers sitting behind his barn and drove a Kaiser Frazer. Have a friend who loves the Kaiser Darrin, but don't know much about them. There is one for sale near me though, if it is still there.
 
Keisers are cool.
I have a 1951 Henrey J. 134 flat head 4 super sonic in my 48 willys.
The little flat head pulls good zero decked, .080 over, head milled, I was able to raise the compression up to 8.4 from 6.8.
The motor runs real good, but the rod to stroke ratio limits safe rpm's to about 3200.
 
The original L6-226 engine was a Continental design, an evolution of the "Red Seal" series. Also used in Willys wagons and pickups, Graham-Paige cars, Divco trucks, early Checker cabs, Clark forklifts, Century boats (under Grey Marine label), a lot of pumps, generators, compressors and other equipment throughout the 40's and 50's.

They were tough, smooth, torquey if not especially powerful engines. However they did not tolerate high RPM especially well. They were designed to operate at 2600 RPM which they would do for a long time, but they got fragile really quick if operated above that. Not really the fault of a poor design, rather people expecting the engine to do something it was never designed to do.

If this Kaiser has an overdrive, it will be reasonably useful on the highway, if not, 50-55 will be tops. The transmission should be a Borg Warner T86 derivative, so overdrive versions should be easy to locate if need be.
 
I know that the motor was "lost" when the car was returned to Bob, and is MIA now. The trans was in with the supply of parts, with a big enough housing to be an overdrive. I am not sure what I'm going to find under the car cover, how disassembled it is and at what stage the restoration was when it had to be retreived. i guess I'll find out in a couple days!!! Geof
 
My favorite kaiser
 

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As a long ancestor of Jeep, I don't know that you could say it isn't a Mopar...
 
Yes Sir, cool car indeed! My good friend has two Kaiser Travelers and two Frazer Travelers.You do know that these are three door cars.I can get info from him, cars are 2miles away from me.
 
Have you ever been down to the cruise nights they have in Jackson? 4th Friday of the month I think.

There is a guy who comes pretty regularly who has multiple Kaisers, might be worth meeting up with him.

Another possiblity is checking out the car museum in Ypsilanti, since they built them at Willow Run.
 
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