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<\/a>The \u201953 Kaiser styling is pure Howard \u201cDutch\u201d Darrin, with its low belt line dip at the rear door, and low, hooded and padded dash. Coaxing Darrin to design their new line was a real coup for Kaiser Frazer. Dutch Darrin got his start in Paris designing custom bodies for the likes of Minerva and Duesenberg. Later, he moved to Southern California and started Darrin of Hollywood, where he built his beautiful Packard Darrin roadsters for movie stars and playboys. Darrin\u2019s custom creations were so successful that the Packard sales brochures even included them.<\/p>\nJust sitting in a Kaiser was a revelation for me. I grew up around\u2014and in\u2014early \u201950s cars and I remember all too well the rather conservatively styled, stolid, heavy vehicles of that day. Most circa-1953 autos had frumpy bodies, smallish windows, thick posts and chromey, Wurlitzer-juke-box-looking dashes.<\/p>\n
The \u201953 Kaiser is different. Its instruments are clustered nicely in one, easy-to-read round unit. Its dash is padded for safety and hooded to prevent glare. Its windows and windshield are huge, and its A and B pillars are narrow and discreet, making for great visibility and eliminating blind spots. The interior room of the car is ample in every way, and sumptuously appointed.<\/p>\n
I make sure the column-mounted shift lever is in neutral and twist the key. The 226-cu.in. Continental six starts almost instantly, and after a brief moment settles into a nearly silent purr. If you haven’t experienced the smooth solitude of an old side-valve six for a while, you have probably forgotten just how vibration-free and quiet they are.<\/p>\n Jelinek\u2019s Traveler is equipped with the optional Hydramatic transmission purchased from General Motors, which was not unique. Other independents such as Hudson, Nash, Willys and even Lincoln also sported Hydramatics at the time. This was due to the high cost of developing proprietary automatics of their own.<\/p>\n I am surprised at how light the steering is. Ditto the brakes. Jelinek\u2019s Traveler has power steering but not power brakes, though it doesn\u2019t need them. Granted, drum brakes can fade when overheated, but if they are properly engineered, they are fine for normal use. Of course, they weren\u2019t made to contend with a ditzy kid jumping in front of you suddenly and braking while texting on a cell phone.<\/p>\n In 1953, Ford\u2019s famous flathead V8 only made 100 horsepower, and the company\u2019s little six only pumped out 95. Plymouth\u2019s flathead-six developed a sedate 97 horsepower. And Chevrolet\u2019s 235-cu.in. Blue Flame six\u2014offered in combination with their Powerglide transmission\u2014 made 105 horsepower, but their standard 216 generated a mere 92 ponies.<\/p>\n We cruise out into the mid-\u201950s suburb of Garden Grove, California, and I am taken aback at how well the Kaiser handles, rides and stops. Its interior is very comfortable and roomy, as well. The car somehow feels lighter and more responsive than any of the low-priced three with which the Kaiser was intended to compete. That\u2019s probably because Kaiser used an extremely light 200-pound frame and a rather rigid body that sat low on its chassis, though the Traveler\u2019s chassis is somewhat heavier in order to carry loads.<\/p>\n Back then, Kaiser boasted that its 1953 Deluxe was America\u2019s first Safety First car thanks to its padded dash, pop-out windshield and heavily padded seats. (Many contemporary cars had the windshield installed from inside the car, and as a result it would tend to shatter in, onto the passengers, in a crash.) Sadly, however, safety didn\u2019t sell Kaisers, nor did it help the contemporary Tucker or even Ford in the late \u201950s.<\/p>\n Kaiser introduced the Traveler, as well as the Frazer Vagabond, which was an upscale version of the Kaiser, in the 1949 model year as a stylish alternative to the ever-popular station wagons of the time. It was industrial-colossus-turned-automaker Henry J Kaiser’s own idea, and it was a good one. The Traveler looked like the rest of Kaiser\u2019s offerings, but its back seat folded flat, creating a large, well appointed cargo area with lovely natural oak runners to protect the paint<\/p>\n Even the spare tire is recessed below the trunk floor and is accessed through a hatch. The fuel tank is specially contoured and positioned in the driver\u2019s side rear quarter panel to allow for this. Kaiser referred to their Traveler as a utility vehicle, and I remember as a kid seeing an ad in Popular Mechanics touting a canvas after-market tent-like assembly that attached over the upraised hatch of the Traveler that allowed for comfortable camping.<\/p>\n Phil was a mechanic for many years, and eventually became an auto shop teacher, so he knew very well that Kaiser\u2019s careful engineering, though not unique or cutting edge, involved a very good combination of components. Kaiser\u2019s engine was solid and dependable, the Hydramatic transmission had been around for a decade by that time, and its Dana rear end was excellent.<\/p>\n On the road, with the rear seat folded down so the trunk and rear passenger compartment are one common space, there is a bit more road noise, and there are some spring rattles, much like what one hears with a conventional station wagon. But you can haul home a heap of building materials, or enough garden mulch to do the extensive lawns of a \u201950s era ranch house, in the cargo compartment behind the front seat.<\/p>\n So what killed Kaiser? It certainly wasn\u2019t because they made bad cars\u2014and contrary to popular belief\u2014I don\u2019t think it was primarily because they never offered a V8, although they had developed a modern 288-cu.in. overhead valve prototype that they chose not to use.<\/p>\n Kaiser\u2019s biggest problem was that it was the new kid on the block and had a lot to prove. Just making a car that was as good as, or even a bit better than, any of the low-priced three wasn\u2019t enough. There was still the need for a massive marketing arm to get the word out, and that needed to include a dealership network that came close to equaling that of the other major players. And, of course, most well-established, experienced dealers were not going to gamble on switching to an untried product from a new manufacturer with somewhat tenuous connections to the industry.<\/p>\n To begin with, the company was under-financed. Although Joseph Frazer, a veteran of top management at Chrysler, Willys and Graham Paige, and Henry Kaiser\u2019s partner in the venture, had long experience in the auto industry and had been a leading light at Chrysler, even he\u00a0didn\u2019t realize the immense amount of capital that would be required to sustain their new company.<\/p>\n Frazer did know the industry though, and surmised that the company needed to cut back production in 1949, as the market was becoming sated. Unfortunately, Henry would have none of it. As a result, dealers wound up with a surplus of last year\u2019s models, and the partners parted ways, after which the Frazer marque was dropped in 1951, even though it sold reasonably well as the result of a restyle in 1950.<\/p>\n He reasoned quite correctly, early in the war, that there would be a big demand for new automobiles when hostilities ended, and he wanted to get in on the profits. Though he didn\u2019t know much about cars they had always captivated him, and he was brilliant at industrial management.<\/p>\n Kaiser wanted to build a car for the average returning G.I. Joe, to compete with the low-priced three. He also had some visionary ideas that he thought were good and he wanted to try them out. At that point, in 1945, he and Joseph Frazer became partners and started Kaiser Frazer, with Frazer as president and Kaiser as general manager.<\/p>\n At first, both Kaiser and Frazer, its upscale companion make, sold well because there was tremendous pent up demand for cars, and they were the first all-new ones; unlike the warmed over pre-war models of the big three. As a result Kaiser-Frazer did very well in 1947 and \u201948, making a healthy profit and putting them ninth in sales in the industry ahead of all the other independents.<\/p>\n After that, a stock underwriting double-cross by a trusted underwriter put them deeper into the hole, with Kaiser having to bail out the company himself. Another mistake was Kaiser\u2019s new compact offering that came out in 1950, dubbed the Henry J.\u00a0 It was a small car intended to compete with Rambler, but it was not nearly as\u00a0refined and well thought out. It was a nice looking little car, but at first it had no trunk lid, no openable rear windows, and was generally cheap and spartan, even though it sold for within a few dollars of the Rambler and the Studebaker Champion.<\/p>\n<\/a>The Kaiser\u2019s hood and fenders are low and seem to slope away so you can actually see where the passenger-side front fender is, unlike the Harley Earl-influenced GM designs of the era. This Traveler\u2019s interior is of sumptuous port wine-hued, simulated dinosaur skin vinyl, but you also could have had ersatz trout scales, or even a fine bamboo pattern if you wanted. Such exotic interior d\u00e9cor was unique to the Kaisers of the time, and actually looked very rich.<\/p>\n<\/a>In this early version, Park consists of a pawl in the reverse gear that holds the car stationary when the engine is not running, but you start the engine with the lever in neutral. I pull the car into Drive-Four, or high range, and we ooze smoothly away from the curb.<\/p>\n<\/a>The engine accelerates smoothly, though the throttle response is less than exciting by modern standards. That is not to say that the car is particularly slow when compared with the other low-priced offerings of its day. It\u2019s not. The Hydramatic shifts up through its gears smoothly and concisely and we are soon cruising effortlessly.<\/p>\n<\/a>By contrast, Kaiser’s Continental 226-cu.in. engine put out 118 horsepower thanks to its two-barrel carburetor, dual-plane intake manifold, and free-flowing exhaust system, all developed at the request of Joe Frazer, Henry J. Kaiser\u2019s partner. Later, a Paxton supercharger was added that made the car quite quick for a family sedan. Jelinek\u2019s Kaiser would have been a nice performer at the time, and was capable of 23 miles per gallon on the highway, as well.<\/p>\n<\/a>Our Traveler gets its share of stares and grins as we cruise along. Phil Jelinek\u2019s example is particularly nicely restored and a treat to behold. The car is finished in factory Peacock Blue and the sweetheart windshield and rear glass\u2014 reminiscent of Darrin\u2019s Packard 120 roadster creations of 10 years before\u2014are a unique touch. There is also a low, discreet stainless strip that ties the vehicle together in one long, continuous line, making the car seem longer than it really is.<\/p>\n<\/a>The trunk lid and back window open separately to form one large opening, with the trunk lid folding back and down and the back window assembly folding up. In fact, Kaiser\u2019s Traveler was arguably America\u2019s first hatchback. With the back seat in its normal position it is a typical family sedan, but with the seat folded down you have room for 82-cubic-feet of whatever you might want to haul. The Traveler came initially in two and four-door versions for added convenience, though the two-door was dropped in 1953.<\/p>\n<\/a>In any case, there was ample room to drop the tailgate, throw down an air mattress and stretch out for a good night\u2019s sleep in a Traveler. In fact, it was Phil Jelinek\u2019s memories of camping with his family, in his father\u2019s Traveler as a kid, that prompted him to buy one for himself in later years. Actually, he liked the Kaiser brand and styling so much that he had previously purchased a Kaiser Darrin, which was America\u2019s first fiberglass sports car.<\/p>\n<\/a>Kaiser also used aircraft-type, direct-acting shock absorbers, which were much easier to replace when required, and it had a Hotchkiss open driveline, which was simple and dependable. Also it was equipped with conventional independent suspension and leaf springs in the rear. In short, everything was well thought out,\u00a0 of good quality and long-lived. As a result, mechanical parts are still pretty easy to obtain even today.<\/p>\n<\/a>Consider that Chevrolet and Plymouth stuck with sixes until 1955, and Kaiser was as good as gone in the U.S. by that time. Also, Ford\u2019s popular flathead V8\u2014though it could be tuned to produce more power using abundantly available aftermarket speed equipment\u2014in its stock form was no hot rod either.<\/p>\n<\/a>All this, plus the steel and other shortages shortly after World War II, and the fact that Kaiser didn\u2019t have the economy of scale or the purchasing power and pull of the Big Three meant that the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation couldn\u2019t afford to make any mistakes if it was to succeed over the long haul, and unfortunately it made a couple.<\/p>\n<\/a>Henry J. Kaiser had begun his career as a road construction contractor in the teens, and helped build Boulder Dam and other major projects in the western part of the United States during the depression. Then in World War II he established shipyards that were turning out Liberty ships at the rate of one a week! On top of that, Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Permanente (the first HMO by the way) were all part of his empire by then. He was a tireless visionary who had already made millions before getting into the automobile business.<\/p>\n<\/a>Kaiser had previously owned a front-wheel-drive Cord and concluded that was the way his new car should be engineered, and he also wanted torsion bar suspension. Prototypes were built and displayed along with the more conventional Frazer in New York in 1946, but the front-drive Kaiser K85 proved far from satisfactory in testing. Steering was heavy, the drive gears were noisy and shifting was problem-prone. In the end, Kaiser settled for a conventional rear-wheel-drive design to put into production.<\/p>\n<\/a>However, as we said before, by 1949 Joe Frazer knew that the company\u2019s original styling was starting to become dated by contrast with Detroit\u2019s new offerings, so he wanted to back off production and retrench in anticipation of lower sales, but Henry wouldn\u2019t hear of it. And then, just as Frazer predicted, the company produced many more cars than they could sell that year and it hurt them.<\/p>\n