This rare one-year-only Kaiser model features a folding rear seat to provide a flat load-carrying floor, and a rear hatch and tailgate for picnicking or camping, making it part car, part pickup truck, and part camper. Thanks to Jeff for finding this fascinating 1951 Kaiser Deluxe Traveler 2 Door Utility located outside Joliet, Illinois and posted here on craigslist Chicago, Illinois with an asking price of $6000. Note how the top-hinged license-plate bracket displays the plate with tail-gate up or down (thanks to autoweek.com for some details).
Kaizers were known for their function, but this handsome 1951 redesign attracted buyers too. This top-shelf Deluxe model gained additional trim and doo-dads not found on lesser models. According to the seller this car alone, among those in the National Kaiser Frazer Registry, wore Caribbean Coral paint with a Cardinal Red interior.
Kaiser’s “Anatomic Design” makes your life easier with a pistol-grip hand-brake and two-spoke steering wheel. Power comes from the well-respected Continental inline six-cylinder engine. In a refreshing departure from many listings, this seller knows the car well, and includes details, good and bad, about its background and condition. Read more about these interesting cars at allpar.com.
Years ago I could throw dozens of sheets of plywood in the bed of my 1985 Ford F250 pickup, along with a bunch of eight-foot 2x4s, and close the tail-gate. If you’re owned or borrowed a pickup truck anytime after about 1990, you may have noticed how maybe about one in 200 trucks on the road can do that today. I’d wager this Kaiser can out-carry most pickups sold in the last 20 years. This one’s plywood-carrying days may be over, but its clever features and well-engineered utility will cause many double-takes at the local car show. What do you think of this innovative 1950s Transformer?
It’s very unique for sure!
I like it😎
Ya gotta love Howard Darrin’s ‘Sweetheart Dip’ windshield.
It’s an unusual car worthy of preservation. Add a factory McCulloch supercharger setup for more go!
What a neat car, especially for a company that was only about five years old when it was made. Very handsome and with a very clever gimmick! This is one I wish I could take home with me.
I like that overhanging dash too, and the chrome shifter knob and suicide spinner…
“Necker knob” sounds a whooooole lot better than “suicide spinner.”
Recently sold this ’51 (not a Traveler) for $1500 more than the asking price of this one. Frame on restored in and out to a high level.
Classic Pic there, loaded with info.
Can someone tell us about those chrome headlight covers on the feature car?
The chrome headlight half cover was a 50’s owner add on. They were not standard but popular after market equipment.
Imagine deliberately masking off half of your lame sealed-beam headlights that way! As if they’re not bad enough to start with…
Jay Leno should jump on this…. very rare, and worthy of saving no matter if the plan is to restore, or making it more modern….
why do some of the commenters want another collector /person to buy a certain vehicle?….what makes one think that is necessary to be stated!
Agreed Blindmarc. Jump on this and do whatever it takes to get it back to its
old self. $6000. is too high. Try it at $4000. all cash right now and see what the
Seller does. You are looking at minimum $35,000. number for restoration.
There is a beautifully finished one that shows up at the Pittsburg Shenley park show .
If only Kaiser saw fit to put proper length doors on their 2 door models, this car would look a lot more balanced. Too bad they were short on resources to accomplish such a thing.
As it is, it looks like a 4 door that had the rear door handles removed and the door outline filled in.
Still a cool car though.
The chrome headlight half cover was a 50’s owner add on. They were not standard but popular after market equipment.
A v8 would have done wonders for sales also.
The Kaiser two door models used unique extra long doors, different from the 4 door. They are the proper length. This is what every manufacturer does.
Odd, but I really like it. As RoKo stated, the 2 door version sure doesn’t look balanced, but I still like it.
This car has a sister, a Vagabond, sitting in the weeds in an old junk yard north of Tampa.
Wait..Fred, are you saying that you restored a 51 Kaiser, and sold it for 7500?
Very cool! I like a lot. Also I remember reading that the spare tire was carried inside beside the left rear “un”-door.
That was before the 51 redesign.
The Traveler was not a one year only. See How Stuff Works.
Hi Vince H – I should have been more clear. The *two-door* Traveler is ’51 only, at least that’s what at least two sites I found stated. http://kfclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=9327.0
We own a 49 Traveller,have tried to get $ 2000.00
for it for about 2 years…no interest at all..?
It is a Ca. car..not running,some minor rust,but very
complete and solid..!Kaisers have a very small market,
and unless its a “dragon”or a “Darrin”aren’t worth a lot when done.
A 48″plywood will not fit between wheel wells..measures 45”?,i Think?
designers didn’t think about that then..Lol..,
although it could have been done with some minor changes!
They are really neat cars though..,and should go up in value…eventually.
I am going to list this on B/F and repost it on craigslist Toledo
again this spring,We have several old cars that will have
to go to new homes soon…!
Iam going to put it on B/F this spring,and re-post it to Toledo
Craigs list.We have several old cars that will be for sale,
as my dad and I just don’t have Time or money,
to do them all anymore.
Iam going to list this on B/F ,and re-post it
at Craigs list Toledo this spring,we have several
old cars that we hope to send to good homes!
Iam going to post it,on Barn finds,and re-post it
on Craigslist Toledo this spring.We have several
nice,old cars that we hope to send to good homes.
Love the compass and the ball on the steering wheel!
Really cool car! Hey Madmatt, can you provide some other pictures of your Kaiser please? I don’t remember exactly what a1949 looks like. I believe that I like the older non-modern look better. I may be interested.
I don’t understand the comment about the plywood hauling on newer “full size” trucks. A 49″ minimum between the rear wheel wells is a standard on GM 1500,2500 and 3500 series pickups. (some are actually wider) I am confident that Dodge Rams and Ford F series are the same way. Competitors would be jumping all over the competition if the plywood could not be laid down in the bed. Now if you are talking about mid or small pick-ups. That is why they have cutouts in the inner walls to place cross-boards (can you say 2X4s? I knew you could!) in the cutouts so that you can place a 48″ wide load like plywood. Then slide your 2X4s underneath. You still need to carefully monitor load carrying capacity on Mid, and 1/2 ton trucks
Most modern trucks have short beds.
They have short beds because of the long cabs.
Short bed trucks are for posers. There, I’ve said it. I see so many shiny trucks that no poser would go “off road” with, or these goofy hillbillies with huge tires on their trucks that would never be practical to work out of. They have small dicks, so they are compensating. Us real guys in the trades drive longbed trucks that make sense as trade vehicles. Maybe us real guys are a thing of the past.
These are really beautiful cars. A member of the Kaiser club here in north Texas has one. The metal ridges you see on the floor and tailgate, were originally had varnished wood strips on them.
Henry Kaiser’s Liberty ships looked better than these things!
my grandpa sold Kaisers and Frasier’s and when he died we got his Frasier the one thing I remember about this 4 dr beast was the back seat folded down to enter the trunk something the big boys never did until 20 years later to bad cars like Studebaker Packard American Motors let alone Tucker were put out of business by the big three mostly and what if they had survived? Imagine what we could be driving today
That sure is a neat rig!
I love the pinstriping and comments section.
It’s a shame that the wiring has been trashed, although it probably needed replacing for safety anyway, right?
‘Years ago I could throw dozens of sheets of plywood in the bed of my 1985 Ford F250 pickup, along with a bunch of eight-foot 2x4s, and close the tail-gate.
if you’re owned or borrowed a pickup truck anytime after about 1990, you may have noticed how maybe about one in 200 trucks on the road can do that today. I’d wager this Kaiser can out-carry most pickups sold in the last 20 years.”
Despite the soccer-mom reputation, my Dodge Caravan, [2015] currently sits in the driveway with 3 sheets of 3/4″ plywood in the back, with the hatch closed. Just sayin.
Now if they would only bring back the AWD.
All that being said, This Kaiser is waaaay cooler.
Looks like it was on it’s way to ratrod-om. Hope someone restores it
So is it a one year only? Somebody stated they had a ‘49
The 2 door Travelers were 1951 only. Here’s my 51.
WOW! Beautiful car; have been to many car shows, but have never seen one of these. Congratulations!
Great looking car and a great color too. Lucky Dog. I’ve never got to see one in person, I will keep looking.
I would love to find a 2 door model. But wouldn’t know where to look. I know they only made less than 400 so I guess it’s going to be pretty different finding one. Yours is really nice. If you ever get tired of yours and want to sell give me a call. I might be interested.
There has not been a Traveler for sale for many months. I would consider selling mine as I have moved from So Cal where you have a choice of many shows to go to on any weekend, even during the winter, to Oregon where the car sits about 6 months of the year (although it has been fortunate enough to appear on Discovery channel Sticker Shock and will be on an upcoming episode of My Classic Car with Dennis Gage). I am considering selling it to someone who is in an area where it will get shown more.
In the late 50s my sister and husband had a 1951 Kaiser, don’t remember the model, but it continually had mechanical problems. Kept it a year or so and traded it for a 1955 Plymouth.
I don’t remember ever seeing one when new.
59-60 El Camino rear license plates also rotated down when the tailgate was lowered.
The hinged taillite piece is good for decapitating racoons..
I would love to take this baby (and mine) to an old drive-in cinema, point it’s arse at the screen, and get up to some funny business.
Be prepared to face the old time law in that case ( :
Uncle Allen had a Traveler or Vagabond four door as his work vehicle. He was a handyman of sorts but couldn’t afford two vehicles, and besides, Aunt Chrissy couldn’t drive. On weekends, the back seat went up and, presto-change, the family sedan re-emerged. He also had a 52 Kaiser, but I don’t think it was a Traveler. He ran that one until he traded for a used 62 or 63 Oldsmobile, so it went a long way. He always was OCD about maintenance and religiously had the oil changed and chassis lubed, which obviously added to longevity. How OCD say you? One summer, on the way to camp, about 50 miles, the odometer came up on a change interval. He pulled into the next service station and had the service done, about halfway through the relatively short trip.
How long did his marriage last?
we wouldn’t be driving Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Mercurys, Edsels, or Plymouths