Tailgate, Visor and Hood

After installing and aligning the tailgate, I felt I needed to put a few more things back on the car to boost the feeling that I was really moving forward in the restoration. The oak strips you see on the tailgate are exact reproductions, hand-cut, hand-sanded and hand-varnished (actually, I varnished them with a brush!). My brother Jerry (Sabin) utlized a complete used set from a Vagabond as templates in order to produce the new set for the Traveler. Oak slides were standard in all Vagabond models, and optional for the Traveler. The entire rear floor of the car that you can see in this picture was replaced due to severe rust-through. I had picked up a '49 Deluxe a few years back for parts, and although most of the car was in pretty bad shape, it did have an excellent trunk area. The sheet metal floor was cut out using my handy Sawz-All. I utilized the new floor as a template to mark the floor in the Traveler, and then cut that one out with the Sawz-All also. Because the Traveler has extra braces under the rear to support the tailgate hinge, I had to fabricate new bracing for the floor being installed. Once the bracing was welded in place, I cut the outer edge off the floor that I had just removed from the Traveler (the part above the rear splashpan), and used it as a template to drill the 4 holes required for the tailgate hinge bolts. After all the work I went through in welding in the brace supports, I somehow managed to get two of the holes for the hinge about 1/4" off-center from where they needed to be. Luckily, a larger hole still accommodated the hinge bolt assemblies, and was hidden by the hinge itself. Whew!

Installing a windshield in a K/F product is NOT a one-person job! I enlisted the help of both of my sons for this step in the restoration. Although I started with an excellent NOS windshield gasket, the flexing, pounding and prying required to install the windshield cracked the rubber in a couple of places. With 3 people working on it, the job took a little more than half an hour. Hindsight is always 20/20, and after we had it installed, I wished that I had invested the money in a new neoprene windshield gasket that one of the K/F vendors has had reproduced. Oh well, the front windows are NOT coming out again unless one of them gets broken, and then at that time I will get a new gasket. I figured that seeing the windshield was finally in, may as well hang the sunvisor and get that out of my way. I wasn't really happy about the way that I had previously installed it, and when I had the car apart, I filled in the previous installation holes in the door frames. I drilled new holes, and the mounting brackets now clear the tops of both doors nicely. At this point, I also installed a new right-hand hood hinge, as the old one had a broken rivet in it. I would have liked to have installed a new left one, too, but I could not locate one. The new hinge I installed has caused me some grief, as it rubs the side of the cowl, and no amount of adjusting or bending has alleviated the situation. I will eventually find a solution to this problem. This picture gives a nice shot of the engine compartment without the fenders being in the way, huh?

Previous experience in putting hoods on '49 Kaisers has taught me that like windshields, it's not a one-person job. Installing the hood is one heck of a lot easier without the fenders on, though. The only time I previously had the hood off the car - just after I bought it and was working on the engine and wiring - I managed to dent the tops of both fenders trying to get it back on. Not this time 'round! The shaggy-headed "dude" to the left is my son Doug, and the one with his back to you is my oldest, Richard. The hood installation took around half an hour - the same amount of time it took to get the windshield in. It was quite frustrating trying to get the bolts in and the hood lined up properly in relation to the cowl. However, patience (and a few cans of beer) persevered. In the very left side of this picture you can see the side of Richard's '49 Kaiser Academy Blue Sedan. He had just installed a rebuilt transmission in it the day I decided to get the hood on the Traveler. His car is in desperate need of a total restoration, and that will be the project I undertake next, AFTER I'm done with "The Manhattan Project" - a frame-off restoration of my '54 Kaiser Manhattan that is currently underway and expected to be completed in late 2001. The window and hood installation, along with help welding the floor braces are the only times during the restoration that I needed assistance from anyone. Richard did volunteer, however, to help me with taking out and replacing the transmission mount bolts when I pulled/replaced the engine/transmission. He's quite a bit more agile than I am, and his help was greatly appreciated.