My First Kaiser

This picture, taken in the mid-80's is of my Traveler with its original owner near Muskegon, MI. Although the car was pretty solid, it's quite evident that the rust is starting to gain hold on the lower hatch. This car, as it sets in this picture has **7,250** original miles on it.

This pictures shows the very nice original vinyl interior, still intact after 41 years. This car was stored inside (very badly) until the mid-1980's in Muskegon, MI, and then my brother purchased it and towed it to northern Michigan, where it sat outside for nearly 5 years. The chipmunks moved in after it was moved to northern Michigan, and had built a very large nest in the rear of the headliner. They did not chew a bit of the interior, but they did strip every single wire of its cloth/rubber insulation from bumper to bumper. After cleaning the car out, I estimate that there were more than 35 pounds of acorns and other assorted nuts stashed in the headliner, under the seats, under the dash, and in the fresh air intakes.

After purchasing the car from my brother, I drove it to my Mom & Dad's house (about an hour and a half trip for a 9 mile drive). It had a severely contaminated fuel tank, and upon dropping it, I cleaned out about 4 gallons of "goop" that had accumulated over the years of sitting without a gas cap on it. After the obligatory wheel cylinder and master cylinder rebuild, the car was running pretty nice, but being safe instead of sorry, I decided to flat-tow it down to southeastern Michigan where we were living at the time to finish my work on it. My Dad, in the picture, was pretty glad to get the car out of his garage, and the mess we created in one weekend was astounding. After a cosmetic makeover, the next year the car was taken back to northern Michigan and stored in my recently built pole barn while I went and played sailor in the Persian Gulf. The next pages I post will be the actual restoration process. Stay tuned!