This Kaiser is a very nice example of a very rare and innovative design. With exterior influences from renowned designer Howard “Dutch” Darrin, this model of car is widely regarded as the "grandfather of the modern hatchback."

Being one of only 1,829 four-door Travelers produced, it is powered by the standard 226-cid, 115-hp inline six-cylinder engine that is backed by its original column-mounted three-speed manual transmission with overdrive. The Traveler was frame-off restored in 1991 using a solid, rust-free car as the basis. The car has been used sparingly since. Along with cosmetics, the engine and all mechanical parts were completely rebuilt during this process.

The Kaiser has an attractive vee’d windshield and ornamentation. It also features a radio and dual spotlights. The color-keyed steel wheels with factory chrome hubcaps and wide whitewall tires help provide the correct period look.

Henry Kaiser is said to have conceived the 1951 Kaiser Traveler by tracing the outlines of its double-opening hatches with his finger in the dust on a sedan in the Kaiser garage in Oakland, California. The idea seemed simplistic; cut out the entire deck and rear window area, hinge half of it to lift up and the lower half to fold down. This would be a new kind of utility car.

As design and structure would require, 200 changes had to be made to the basic sedan before the Kaiser Traveler could be built. It required stronger springs and shocks to handle the increased cargo weight, new floor pan wiring, a method to display the license plate, and reinforcement "all over hell" (according to engineer Ralph Isbrandt) to replace lost stiffness.

The detail execution on the Kaiser Traveler was ingenious. Harvey Anscheutz, Kaiser-Frazer's head of body development, spent three weeks with the laws of 48 states on his desk, devising a lighted license plate holder that would flop down when the deck was lowered without violating any position or visibility laws.

A T-shaped handle was developed to ease the operation of the hatches on the car and a strong piano hinge strengthened the lower hatch. When open, this member was suspended by strong chains, bagged in vinyl to prevent rattles. Anscheutz also created a folding rear seat by tilting the cushion forward against the front seats and lowering the backrest to extend the cargo platform to its seven-foot length. This seat folding method is still used in station wagons today.