Why the 1949-1950 Kaiser Traveler has a fake left rear door.

"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv) 01/28/2020 at 18:53 • Filed to: oddimotive, Quirks and Features

21

27

The Kaiser Traveler is a very interesting and unique car. It has some unusual features that were pretty revolutionary at the time. The most significant of which is the fact that it is the grandfather of all hatchbacks:

The Kaiser Traveler’s unusual combination of a hatchback-style trunk and a station wagon-style tailgate was unlike anything else on the market at the time, and made the car quite versatile (especially when you folded the rear seat down, which gave you a flat floor and about 83 cubic feet of cargo space). However, it also resulted in the car’s weirdest feature: The left rear door is 100% fake. The one on the right works just as you would expect it to, but no matter how much you pull on the left rear door handle, it will not open. It was welded shut from the factory.

Why is this? Well, first of all, the Traveler was initially based on a regular Kaiser, but in order to incorporate the bizarre trunk, they had to make extreme modifications to the car’s structure so that it would be strong enough. When they finally got the mechanism to work, they ran into a problem. They had designed it so that the floor of the cargo area would be flat, increasing practicality. However, this left no room for a full-size spare tire. They didn’t want to just put the tire in the trunk, because that would eat up valuable cargo space and partially defeat the purpose of making the trunk that way in the first place. So what did they do? They put the spare tire in the left rear door. You can see it clearly here:

This made using that door extremely impractical, so they welded it shut and called it good. Even with the bizarre fake door, consumers liked the car for its unconventional practicality, and it sold fairly well for the first couple years. In 1951, they redesigned the car in such a way that they were able to put the spare tire somewhere else, giving you four functional doors. Oddly enough, though, this version of the car didn’t sell nearly as well.

Still, it’s a very interesting car, and it bravely sacrificed the use of its left rear door so it could pave the way for the modern hatchback.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:01

0

So, I gotta ask... Why wasn’t this car more popular with The Mob?

facw > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:03

2

That’s a lot of luggage for a pair of golfers. I guess it probably had a front bench, so maybe you fit a third person up there, but hauling all those suitcases seems not so practical when you can’t fit people to go with them.

Jim Spanfeller > facw 01/28/2020 at 19:07

0

It actually has a second bench seat in the back that can fold down. In most of the photos in this post, it is folded down to show the full amount of possible cargo space, but if you wanted to seat more people, you could.

Jim Spanfeller > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 01/28/2020 at 19:09

2

Probably because they kept trying to open the fake door ;)

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:11

2

It is a cool design feature.  I love automotive historical trivia like that...

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:11

1

You are on a roll lately with your posts!

So this is sort of like the proto Veloster, though I doubt the designers of any of those had any premonition of the other. They probably cho se to make the body a symm etrical for manufacturing purposes rather than maintaining conventional styling, which explains why the door was a separate piece welded on.

Chariotoflove > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:12

4

I need this so I can pick up my daughter’s friends and tell them to hop in the back while I giggle.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 01/28/2020 at 19:21

1

Thanks! And yeah, the Veloster did come to mind. I think the reason they went with a fake door rather than just making the car asymmetrical is that Kaiser was a relatively small company and the cost of designing the T raveler was already pretty expensive, so they decided to reuse the existing door panel rather than design more unique components. I do think it’s funny, though, that the fake door still has a door handle. I t must’ve confused so many people back in the day :)  

RallyWrench > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:24

1

How cool is this?!? Now I know what I want for a family camper, I’m sure this is what my better half has in mind.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:24

1

Seems like you could e li minate the handle and save 2 cents on the dollar, but that’s just my two cents.

Jim Spanfeller > Chariotoflove 01/28/2020 at 19:28

1

Lol. They don’t pop up for sale super often, but I did find one for pretty cheap...

https://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=236383&country=us

facw > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:30

1

Yeah, I get that, it’s just that it is folded down to fit all that crap, which is more crap than the people who fit in the front should need.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 01/28/2020 at 19:32

1

I wonder if maybe they left it there so that people wouldn’t think Kaiser was selling new cars with missing door handles ? Of course, I like to imagine someone made sure the handle stayed just to mess with people ;)

Jim Spanfeller > facw 01/28/2020 at 19:37

2

To be fair, one of the target audiences they marketed this car to was traveling salesmen, for whom  the massive cargo area would be a huge selling point.

Chariotoflove > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:39

1

Very cool, although hardly r eady to drive.

ranwhenparked > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:41

1

This all comes down to the fact that Kaiser-Frazer simply couldn’t afford to do any new sheet metal at all. They needed a wagon, couldn’t tool for one, so they cut open the back of their sedan for wagon-like practicality. They needed to block one back door, couldn’t tool for a new quarter panel, so just left the door there and welded it shut.

Mother is the necessity of invention, and the smaller companies were always great at it. American Motors was building different sized cars on the same platform and sharing body panels across model ranges at a time when GM was still building a completely  different V8 for every single brand.

Jim Spanfeller > RallyWrench 01/28/2020 at 19:43

0

Do it! Here’s a really nice one: https://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=236383&country=us Or a cheaper one if you’re not afraid of doing a bit of restoration... https://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=236383&country=us  Though they’re later ones, so the doors aren’t welded shut.

Jim Spanfeller > Chariotoflove 01/28/2020 at 19:46

1

There’s also this one, which is in very good condition, though a bit pricier... https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/kaiser/traveler/1114155.html

Chariotoflove > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 19:47

1

A Hemmings car?  Yeah, pricey comes with the name.  Still, probably worth the $14K in that condition.

404 - User No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 20:26

2

WilliamsSW > Jim Spanfeller 01/28/2020 at 21:55

1

So, if you have a flat, you have to crawl in, drag the tire up and out? That would suck - and flats were more common in the age of bias ply tires too.

ranwhenparked > ranwhenparked 01/28/2020 at 22:53

0

*think I got some words mixed around there

Jim Spanfeller > WilliamsSW 01/28/2020 at 22:55

0

It seems like it might be easier without the seat folded down.... T he later updated ones from 1951-1953 were able to make space underneath the floor in the back for a slightly more convenient spare tire location, which allowed the left rear door to open as well, but honestly I think I like the earlier ones a bit more simply because of the “weird cool” factor.

Nauraushaun > Jim Spanfeller 01/29/2020 at 17:58

0

Seems “ambitious but generally rubbish”. I wonder how many people bought the car based on misleading ads like above, only to find the car had less doors than expected.

Jim Spanfeller > Nauraushaun 01/29/2020 at 21:06

0

Actually, the above advertisement is for the 1951-53 model, which did have four functional doors. I t was only the 1949-50 model that had a fake left rear door. And from what I’ve read, it seems that the car also had a reputation for being extremely durable and reliable, so many people were willing to forgive the fake door. 

Nauraushaun > Jim Spanfeller 01/29/2020 at 21:44

0

Interesting and good on them, but I still feel like it’s a rather taxing design flaw

Jim Spanfeller > Nauraushaun 01/29/2020 at 23:16

0

You also gotta understand, of course, that Kaiser didn’t have a lot of money at the time, and the cost of the Traveler’s development had already gotten pretty high. By the time they got to that door, they had used up almost the entire budget, so they had to compromise by welding it shut rather than creating an entirely new, unique component specifically for that purpose. It’s not a perfect solution (as compromises rarely are), but they did the best they could with what they had, and it worked out alright for them.