Another '51 Frazer on ebay - a Vagabond

[Fid]

Nice looking car. The rocker trim is not original and it has a 1949 Frazer Manhattan steering wheel, which was a common replacement used when the '51 wheels crumbled. It would probably make a good car for someone.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1951-FRAZER-VAGABOND-3-DOOR-UTILITY-SEDAN-/230685589858?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item35b5eec162

Now that all the pictures have finally loaded, it does show a lot of rust under it and some patch work (around the rear tire wells in the back and spare tire well). It's hard to tell how severe it really is.

[pnw_oldmags]

Never saw a "F" Key before!  Very Cool!!

[Terry T]

What's it worth??

[pnw_oldmags]

No idea.

[joefrazer]

What...the key or the car? The former...about 20 bucks...the latter, probably about 5-7 grand.

[Roadmaster49]

I really appreciate these auctions with high resolution photos. Those are better then some books. I learn a lot from the photos.

1. Back seats in Vagabonds/Travelers was shorter then regular KF sedans?

2. Does the leather interior (seats) look original?  Was that normal?

3. How is the spare tire affixed in that space assigned to it?

I really like Travellers/Vagabonds.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Ok, let's see what I can come up with.

1.  The entire rear seat assembly is different dimentionally in the Vagabond than in the sedan.  Compare it with a 1949-50 Traveler as they were the rear seats used in the Frazer Vagabond. 

2.  Leather and vinyl upholstery as offered in the 1949-50 Kaiser Vagabond was offered in the 1951 Frazer Vagabond as an option.  Colors were Blue, Brown, Red and Black depending on car color.  The option of leather cost $164.15 retail including Federal Tax.

3.  There is a fixture on the inside left rear door that the tire bolts on and should have a vinyl tire cover going with it.  While some people have worked on getting the door open (and did), the door was tack welded shut at the factory (and put on in the locked position) and should stay closed.

New members will get a copy of the KFOCI HANDBOOK Verison 4.0 (it's a CD).  There is a section in there on the Vagabonds and translation of the information on the body tag.  A total of 2,951 were built, with 88 of those assembled at Long Beach CA.  The Long Beach cars will have an "A" on their door post serial number (see the handbook info on this) and were delivered to various K-F dealers in the Western USA.  Otherwise, Vagabonds were assembled at Willow Run.

Welcome to the club,

Jack Mueller, Club Historian

[joefrazer]

About the LR door on the early utility cars...I had a 49 Traveler that was junk so we decided to open the LR door. After removing all of the trim, we noticed that the factory had simply inserted two pieces of flat stock between the door and outer frame and then welded them in place. You could still see where the assembler pounded the stock in with a hammer. We simply cut thru the welds and the door swung open. It was on hinges but had no door latch, lock or striker. The window was held in place by the gasket, same for the vent. There was no door sill plate although the rocker was drilled to accept one. The outer handle was the same as other units except that the spring was removed and a large U shaped bracket was inserted to keep the handle from moving. Really a very simple and cheap solution to mounting the spare.
Speaking of the spare, instead of window guts, there was a large caged nut installed in the middle of the inner door that took the bolt that held the tire in place. So, to set a utility door up took 6 additional pieces, 2 pieces of flate stock and one each for the gaskets, tire mount and door handle.