From the Archive: Model T hot rod

This is a Model T I saw in front of a radiator shop about six years ago.

It had a piece of steel welded in for a roof, a small block Chevy motor with an automatic transmission, the interior consisted of the steering wheel, some house carpet, and a bench seat from a small pickup truck, the seam from the (approximately) 4-inch chop is clearly visible. This hot rod was for sale, after seeing it sit for several months I contacted the owner and learned that he was asking ONLY $13,000. Somebody eventually did buy this Rustoleum-covered deathtrap, and the dope chopped Model A two-door sedan in the background. I hope they had some money left for seat belts.

From the Archive: Kaiser Traveler

I bought this 1949 Kaiser Traveler at an estate sale in Edgewood (east of Albuquerque) five years ago. It had been sitting for some time in a large yard with many other cool vehicles. I had planned to put a big block Ford V8 in this with and auto, repair all the serious rust and refresh the suspension while leaving the beautiful patina alone.

The tow truck driver was an automotive enthusiast and worked his butt off to get the Kaiser free of the mud and grass.

The Traveler was a higher trim-level of the Kaiser Special, and was only produced for two years (1949-50). These cars were unique for having many post-war advancements in construction before other automakers had them, and were quite luxurious at the time, they were also advertised as 'safety cars.' The Traveler and its big brother the Deluxe had hatchbacks with a tailgate, making it a great family camping car. Camping and picnic accessories were sold specifically for these cars.

Unfortunately, despite being innovative ad luxurious, the styling o Kaiser cars was already looking dated by 1950, and overproduction hurt the company badly. Despite purchasing Willys-Overland (and thus Jeep) and creating the phenomenal Kaiser Darrin, sales continued to slide and Kaiser eventually went out of business.

Due to a major disruption in my personal life I was unfortunately never able to make serious progress on the Kaiser, and had to sell it. Luckily, I  know the new owner (a hip rockabilly tattoo artist) is taking very good care of it.

UPDATE: I found some photos from after the Kaiser came home, and some detail shots.

From the Archive: Monster Engine

Several years ago I happened to see this flatbed pickup hauling an enormous V12 engine. I suspected at the time that this was a marine engine, for a speed boat or similar, but I really don't know. It's a short block (it doesn't have heads and may not have pistons or a crankshaft) which means it's being rebuilt. 

From the Archive: Gran Torino

Cool Ford Gran Torino, this lived near the Dodge Polara and I saw them around the same time period. It needs a little love, but still has 'muscle' written all over it.

From the Archive: Dodge Polara

This is a Dodge Polara coupe I saw in early 2008. I was instantly attracted to this car with its green paint, dark tinted windows, wedge-shaped taillights, and aggressive nose-down stance. The body style indicates that this car was made between 1970 and 1973, but the grill isn't like any I've been able to find.  This style was made for a relatively short period of time, making them mildly uncommon now. I think this is one those overlooked, almost classic vehicles that everybody would want if they knew it existed. I know I want one.

From the Archive: Mystery Car (Mystery Solved!)

This is from late 2007, I saw this car in a fenced business yard near my storage unit. It's clearly a 1940's design, with bold and beautiful curves all around, great bullet bumper features, and wrap-around windshields. It's also a custom (I believe) with a truck bed on the back. This could have been inspired by the car/truck hybrids of later years, or could be a VERY early factory version of the El Camino (production began in '59) or Ranchero (in '57) but I've never seen anything like it, before or since. I would speculate that the rear windshield is the stock one, with the entire window frame moved forward and welded to the B pillar. As I said, this was in 2007, the car has long since disappeared and I've always been too shy to ask about it.

Does anyone else have any clues or insights on this mystery machine?

Post Script: This is the first of what I'm going to call an 'Archive Series.' Until now all the cars featured on the blog have been spotted recently, within six weeks of posting, but I'm sitting on a huge cache from the last seven years or so, which will be making their way up. Many of these will be poor photos, and some I won't remember any details about, but hopefully some of our helpful readers can add their own history or opinions to augment my own. You can all look forward to even more cool stuff in the near future!

UPDATE!
Thanks to a helpful Pinterest follower this mystery car has been identified! A 1954 Cadillac-Superior Flower Car. A quick Google search turned up this image:

Soure

It's definitely the right car. It is not a custom after all, but nor is it a production Cadillac. Superior is a coach-building company, they began as a professional car building company, making school buses, ambulances and hearses. Superior would buy Cadillac's and turn them into whatever vehicle was on order,building the body n trim to suit. Apparently, in the early and middle half of the 20th century, on the East Coast it was popular and traditional to have a 'flower car' carrying all the flower arrangements for a funeral to be part of the funeral procession. These flower cars would have to have been as classy and dignified as the hearse they were following. So, its not quite a production or custom vehicle, it's in the same category as ambulances and hearses, but clearly with a style all its own.
Thanks to Andre Simpson for the tip!