The 1951 - 1953 Kaiser Traveler was the inspiration of entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser – who , it was said , averaged about 100 estimate an minute and about one of them was good . The in effect single , however , were worth pausing over . During World War II , one of these was Kaiser ’s " cookie cutlery " yield seam of Liberty and Victory ship , which bust the U - gravy boat threat by sheer numbers ; after the war , another estimation emerged as the Kaiser Traveler : the first hatchback door .
Classic Cars Image Gallery
Improbable as it seems , the story really is reliable . Henry Kaiser conceived the 1951 - 1953 Kaiser Traveler by tracing the outlines of its dual - chess opening hatches with his finger in the dust on a sedan in the Kaiser garage in Oakland . At that detail , the estimate was simplistic : cut out the full deck and rear windowpane area , hinge half of it to lift up and half to fall flat down , allow them meet about halfway on the pack of cards , and presto : a new kind of usefulness car .
It was n’t quite so easy ; 200 changes had to be made to the basic sedan before theKaiserTraveler could be built . It ask stronger outflow and shock to deal the increase payload , novel floor pan wiring , a method to expose the license plate , and reenforcement " all over hell " ( agree to engineer Ralph Isbrandt ) to supervene upon misplace stiffness .
The detail execution on the Kaiser Traveler was ingenious . Harvey Anscheutz , Kaiser - Frazer ’s chief of consistence development , spend three weeks with the law of 48 states on his desk , prepare a fire up permission plateful holder that would flop down when the pack of cards was get down without violating any posture or visibility law .
A self-aggrandizing , tetraiodothyronine - regulate hold was devised to alleviate the operation of the hatches on the Kaiser Traveler , and a strong piano hinge fortify the lower hachure . When exposed , this member was suspend by strong chains , bag in vinyl to prevent rale . Anscheutz also make a fold rearward seat by slant the cushion forward against the front seat and lowering the backrest to extend the cargo platform to its seven - foot length . The seat folding method is still used in wagons today .
Some aspects were improvised , however : on the 1949 - 1950 fashion model , which miss a sub - floor sparetirecompartment , the left rearward room access were weld keep out and the spare bolted to the privileged panel . ( To confuse thing they dummy up a non - operable outside door handle , which must have bilk many a passenger . ) But this trouble was hands down cured on the handsomely restyled 1951 Kaiser Travelers .
To see how Kaiser further updated its models on the 1951 - 1953 Kaiser Traveler , keep reading .
For more information on cars, see:
Continued
The 1951 , 1952 , 1953 Kaiser Traveler was offered in both the Special and Deluxe serial for 1951 , with two and four threshold . sale of two - threshold versions were minimal , and after a handful of ex-1951s were reserialed and sold off as 1952 " Virginian Travelers , " Kaiser built only four - door modelling .
These four - room access Kaiser Travelers continued through 1953 , almost all in the dispirited - goal series ; more luxuriously trimmed 1952 - 1953 " Manhattan Travelers " were seemingly offered , and at least one example has been found . Though the pre-1951 models had sold in ripe numbers , these later Travelers did not appeal , peradventure because the new body limit their capacity – only a few thousand were betray between 1951 and 1953 .
compare to the workaday station wagon , which still lean to be a boxy , truck - like vehicle made largely of wood in the late forties , the Kaiser Traveler was a revelation – and probably did more to vulgarize the genteel , all - steel beach wagon than most people understand .
General Motors and Ford buy Kaiser Travelers and tore them aside , to see if their obvious advantage were compromise by any geomorphological shortcuts . " They were middling good , " one GM engineer tell . Much afterward , of course of study , the Traveler estimation would lead to the modern hatchback , though not in quite the same agency .
One swelled trouble that Kaiser - Frazer never licked was the Navy SEAL isolate the hatches from the rest of the body – and from each other . Seal and golosh engineering was not nearly so advanced then as now , and Kaiser Traveler hatches leaked incessantly .
Another , minor donation of the Traveler was its vinyl upholstery , pleated and embossed on the 1951 - 1953 Kaiser Traveler Deluxe modelling and the 1953 Manhattan . Working with the L.E. Carpenter Company of New Jersey , K - F midland designer Carleton Spencer uprise the unique , gruelling - duty upholstery , make by low - pressure refrigerated embossing .
The smooth vinyl radical of the 1951 - 1953 Kaiser Traveler was heated and fed into a car with refrigerate plates in the dice design . The die then " kissed " the vinyl and immediately caused the aim to set through heat carry-over . The stuff was called " Dragon " and " Dinosaur " vinyl radical , Spencer said , " so no one would mistake it for real alligator or real lounge lizard . "
Keep take to see the stipulation of the 1951 - 1953 Kaiser Traveler .
1951, 1952, 1953 Kaiser Traveler Specifications
The 1951 , 1952 , 1953 Kaiser Traveler preface a turn of innovations , most notably design features that would eventually lead to the modern hatchback . control out the 1951 - 1953 Kaiser Traveler specification below .
Specifications
Engine : sidevalve I-6 , 226.2 cid ( 3.31 × 4.38 ) 1951 - 52 115 bhp 1953 118 bhp
Transmission : Three amphetamine manual ; overdrive and Hydra - Matic optional
Suspension , front : self-governing coil springs , tube shocks
Suspension , rearward : live axle , folio springiness , tube shocks
Pteridium aquilinum : front / rear membranophone
Wheelbase ( in.):118.5
weight unit ( lbs):3,210 - 3,370
Top speed ( mph):90
0 - 60 mph ( sec):15.0 - 16.0
