Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Original Hatchback: 1951 Frazer Vagabond

Basically a start-up automaker following WWII, Kaiser-Frazer was one of the few American automakers to offer consumers a forward looking, modern portfolio of automobiles to usher in the new world. Bold, futuristic designs were their trademark. The fiberglass body and forward sliding doors of the Kaiser Darrin. The love-it-or-hate-it styling of the compact Henry J. The decadent supercharged Manhattan, the last four door convertible before the 1961 Lincoln Continental. The Vagabond- a surprisingly prescient family car that featured luxury and utility with its unique clam shell rear opening hatch.



This particular model has some floor rust , but unlike most of the cars we write about in this blog, these can probably be fixed pretty well. These cars have big tough frames with lots of places to weld to, so get out your wire welder. This one has the big straight 6 motor and the manual transmission with an original interior. Said to run well (and presumably drives too) this is a unique piece for the money.


We have seen these cars in person. It has just enough "Woody" flavor for our tastes with a great heavy precision of the clamshell operation.


1 comment:

  1. Just purchased this exact car for 600 dollars. Not bad shape, but been outside for a year or so. Looking forward to getting her back in shape this winter.

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