1948 Chrysler Traveler

Sedan

6 - Cyl.

Unspecified

70682324

Gasoline

This auction is for a good original un-restored 1948 Chrysler Traveler sedan that has a considerable amount of rust in the lower parts of the body and the front fenders. This car is fancier than the typical Windsor and is more like the Royal. The Traveler is a high-end version of the Windsor featuring a wood luggage rack, special two-tone paint (Rossini Brown over Catalina Tan), red & tan two tone breathable “leatherette” upholstery, wood grained dash and window mouldings, lap robe holder on back of front seat and a fold-down arm rest at the center of the rear seat. Travelers are not rare but are quite scarce becasue only 4,182 were made between 1946 and 1948. The fancy interior and some extra exterior trim items combined with the Town & Country style wood and metal roof rack add a very distinctive touch to this special automobile. Rather than torture my potential customers and play around with an illusive reserve price, I have chosen to start this auction for what I believe is a very fair price for this car. That way the bidders know exactly what the price is and have time to prepare to bid what they can justify. The super nice original dark brown with tan roof Traveler shown in the last photo of this listing is not of this car but I included it so you could get a better idea of how nice these cars can look. If this car does not sell, please do not be afraid to contact me after the auction ends so we can try to work out some kind of a deal. Thanks a lot, Bob Woodburn – phone 406-799-1847 I found this unusual and very distinctive old post-war cruiser at a local estate sale here west of Bozeman, Montana about 2 weeks ago. It had been setting in a horse pasture for several years and it did not look very well with 4 flat tires and no hubcaps or trim rings on the wheels. This car came from a man in Nebraska City, Nebraska who owned it from 1983 to about 1990. He then gave it to his brother here in Montana who removed the drive shaft, rented a car dolly and towed it from Nebraska City to Bozeman Montana. Fortunately, the previous owner here in Bozeman removed the very special wood and chrome roof rack and stored the pieces in the back seat of this special car. The roof rack was in ten pieces inside the back seat area so I carefully washed them and did my best to assemble it on the roof as you see it here. There were originally 14 long wood strips that fastened to the top of the roof and protected the roof paint from being damaged from the luggage. Those thin strips are long gone. All of the wood on the rack is only usable for patterns but the 10 die-cast metal brackets are still very nice with very little pitting under the original chrome plating. I believe this roof rack is identical to the rack used on some of the 1947 and 1948 wood bodied Town & Country sedans. I think this ellegant roof rack does more than any other feature on this car to set it apart from other vehicles of this vintage. I fixed or replaced the 4 flat tires and hauled the car to my shop where I spent 2 days cleaning out and washing the interior. There is a rust hole large enough to stick one's fist through on the front right floor board so mice and other rodents spent some time in this car and left their evidence behind. I got at least 98% of the rodent mess out of the interior, trunk and engine compartment and washed the seats, windows, and window garnish mouldings, dash and other parts. I tried to turn the engine using the fan and it seems to be stuck so my next project on this gem is to remove the spark plugs and put some penetrating oil in the cylinders and see what happens. This car spend most of it's life in Nebraska and has a lot of rusted out spots in the front floors, trunk floor, door sills, driver's door, front fenders and the pan below and in front of the radiator. The hood is fine as is the trunk lid, rear fenders and 3 of the doors. I think this car needs to be made drivable and enjoyed pretty much as it is as a “survivor” rather than be restored. If someone wants to restore it, I believe the most practical way is to find a Windsor with a solid body to use as a donor car for this project. I have a friend who has one available but he has not priced it for me yet. This car is very complete and even has the original jack, handle/lug wrench and safety block for making the opposite rear tire secure when changing a spare tire. That is important on a Chrysler product like this that has the emergency or parking brake on the drive shaft rather than on both of the rear wheels. As I mentioned above, the drive shaft was removed to tow this car from Nebraska and it must have become lost because I could not find it anywhere during the auction. One of the wide stainless steel wheel trim rings is missing and I used one from one side for the photos of the opposite side. Two of the very fragile window cranks are on the car and the other two are in the glove box. None of the window cranks have the very fragile original “flipper” knobs on them but two of the knobs are in the glove box. If you are into this vintage of Chrysler, I am sure you are aware of this common problem with these unique window cranks. The upholstery in the rear seat is the original two tone breathable vinyl and is now somewhat hard but is still usable with one 3” tear on the bottom cushion. The front seat has been redone in a similar color combination of higher grade vinyl and is still very usable. The headliner is mostly intact but has a few mouse holes in it. The carpets are good in the rear seat area except for a spot just inside the left rear door. The front seat carpets are in poor shape and have pieces of carpet on top of them to cover the holes in the front floor. The gorgeous dash with the abundant amount of chrome is still very nice except for some of the gray plastic trim pieces and glove box door that have some cracks in them. The Nebraska title that came to Montana with the car in 1990 seems to have sprouted wings and flown away. I contacted the man in Nebraska who owned the car until 1990 when he gave it to his brother here in Montana, and he has agreed to go to the local Department of Motor Vehicles there and obtain a duplicate title for me. I called the Nebraska DMV this morning and the lady there told me that a duplicate title costs only $14 and can be printed while the car owner is waiting at their office. If that will not happen for some unknown reason, I will obtain a new title here in Montana but that takes about 3 months. I have obtained titles here in Montana for over thirty cars in the last 6 years and received a title for every car I made an application for. I buy and sell collector vehicles for part of my living and realize how important it is to have titles for vehicles I sell. I will add more information soon. Thanks again, Bob Woodburn – phone 406-799-1847 PLEASE NOTE I realize what it is like to buy something as complicated as a vehicle sight unseen so I have just finished adding 136 larger and much more detailed photos of this car to my photosite. The link below works some times so please try it and use the word vehicles for the password: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v642/toysanyone/1948%20Chrysler%20Traveler%20Sedan/ If the link above does not work for you for some reason, then please go to Photobucket.com and sign in as toysanyone and use the word vehicles for the password. A page will open with a list of over two hundred albums in chronological order on the right side of the page. Scroll down the list till you come to an album titled "1948 Chrysler Traveler Sedan" and click on that title. One of several pages of small thumbnail photos will open up. Click on any photo you see and it will enlarge to 47% of it's full size. Click on it again and it will enlarge to 100% of it's full size and fill your screen. Please be sure to look at all of the 5 pages of small thumbnail photos and click on them to enlarge them. One of the last photos is of a beautiful original 1948 Traveler like this one except it was painted in the reverse combination of dark brown with a tan roof. I have included that photo to show you how gorgeous thesse cars can be. Please email me or call me at 406-799-1847 if you have any questions or difficulty with this photos site and I will be happy to help you. Thanks again, Bob Woodburn - phone 406-799-1847 The after market left front bumper guard was on the car and the right front one was inside. I removed the left front guard and placed it in the trunk with the right front bumper guard. This car was really decked out for the time with the following interesting features or pieces of equipment: Fluid Drive - Semi-Automatic Transmission (three speed manual transmission with clutch & torque converter) Roof Rack - 10 chrome plated die-cast parts; wood sides, front & back; 14 narrow wood roof strips Spot Light - Casco Genuine Mopar Fog Lamps Front Bumper Guards - Van Auken Co. of Detroit Michigan - may be after market ? ? (in trunk) Motorola AM Push Button Radio - 5 preset buttons and original preset button instruction hang tag in glove box Heaters - dual fresh air units under both sides of dash blow air to windshields & along doors to back seat area Fancy two tone breatheable vinyl upholstery Fancy chrome trim on door panels Wood grain dash & window mouldings Left hand outside rear view mirror Turn Signals Lap robe rail on back of front seat Stainless steel trim rings with chrome plated hub caps Dual Horns Two-tone paint (I suspect many Travelers were either tan with brown roofs like this car or brown with tan roofs) Rear Seat Armrests - one on each side and a fold down arm rest in the center of the seat Spare wheel, spare wheel mounting hardware, jack, lug wrench & sheet metal wheel chock in trunk On Feb-08-12 at 09:10:38 PST, seller added the following information: Please Note: A very dedicated Chrysler enthusiast recently emailed me telling me more about how the transmission works on these cars. He wrote the following very helpful information: Hi, Its a 4 speed. Clutch the Shift lever in upper position: 1st gear, let up on the gas at 13mph and it electro / hydro shifts to 2nd get it up to 20 or 25 and Clutch it to 4th. Or Stopped, Clutch it to 1st get it to 13mph and Clutch it to 3rd (Lower position) and let get to 30 and let up on the gas and it goes to 4th. Only 3 gears are used at a time 1-2-4 or 1-3-4. There is a way to use all 4 but your feet look like they are playing a Hammond Organ. I'm 57 and have owned my two for 40 years. This shifting action seems a bit strange to us today but I drove a nice Town & Country sedan a few years ago with this same setup and it was fun to drive. One has to remember that Chrysler may not have had the time, talent or other resources at that time to develop it's own automatic transmission like GM had already done in the late 1930's. I suspect GM may have held some patents that made it difficult to circumvent and design an automatic transmission at that time. Ford introduced an automatic transmission as an option on the 1942 Lincoln but it was a flop and the cars were recalled and retrofitted with manual transmissions. Chrysler did introduce a 2 speed automatic in 1955 and it was known as the "Powerflite". I still have the pristine original low mile 1956 Plymouth Belvidere sedan that my Grandmother gave me in 1967 because she never drove it and it has the push button controlled Powerflite in it. Another friend stopped by a few days ago and mentioned that he had the perfect accessory for this car. He brought by his "Sea Breeze" window mounted swamp cooler so I installed it in the left rear window of this Chrysler. This is a perfect era accessory so I took 3 photos of the car with it installed as well as 3 photos of the cooler itself. I added these photos to the hundred plus photos of this car that are already on my Photobucket.com site mentioned above. Please go there and look at these photos if you appreciate these early attempts to reduce the temperature inside cars of this era. This cooler is not part of this auction but my friend will sell it for $200 if the winner of this car is interested in it. Problems related to the delivery of vehicles like this throughout this country and the rest of the world often prevent some collectors from bidding on cars like this and that is unfortunate for everyone involved. I have a friend that brokers collector vehicles and ships them all over the USA and the rest of the world too. He is a member of a shipping service and will coordinate the shipping of this car for you for a $50 fee if you like. I have free reasonably secure outdoor storage for this car for a few months if you are planning a trip to beautiful Montana later this spring. Indoor storage for as long as you like at a local mini-warehouse is available for $67 per month and there will be no carge to move it there for you. Thanks again, Bob Woodburn - phone 406-799-1847