1960 Kaiser Jeep Wide-Trac By Crown Coach Corporation
The Crown Coach Corporation was best known for its buses, but it also pursued some prototype work through the years. One of those prototypes, the Wide-Trac built for Kaiser Industries in 1960, featured an all-aluminum body.
The Wide-Trac was a design submitted as a result of Kaiser’s International Vehicle Investigation (IVI) program, which aimed to develop a low-cost vehicle for third-world countries.
The Wide-Trac never went into production, at least, not in such that form. In the 1950’s in Spain, the locomotive builder CAF started a subsidiary called VIASA (Vehiculos Industriales y Agricolas, S.A.) to license the design of the Jeep CJ-3B* from Kaiser-Willys and build it in VIASA's factory in Zaragoza. A decade later, VIASA introduced a small cab-forward van called the SV, available as a pickup (Cid), crew-cab pickup (Duplex), cargo van (Van, later Furgon) or nine-seat minibus (Caravan, later Toledo). A very basic design, powered by either a Perkins four-cylinder diesel or a Jeep Hurricane straight-six gasoline engine, it resembled nothing in Kaiser's stateside or South American Jeep lineups.
1960 Kaiser Jeep Wide-Trac 850 By Crown Coach Corporation
1960 Kaiser - Jeep SV Toledo
1975 VIASA Jeep Campeador - Rare Spanish Built FC
Man, total death trap in any head-on collision. Not sure I'd take one of those, not if there's an early 60's Ford F-100 available. Still, I see what they're trying to do - cab forward design gives much more cargo area in back.
ReplyDeleteThey were specifically designed for 3rd world countries so they would fit right in. More affordable and tougher, smaller size for smaller rougher roads. They were never meant to be brought to the US.
DeleteI would love to have one of the Wide-Trac 850's. I could use the crap out of it here on the property.
To do it all over again (sigh). I'd learn to machine my own parts and have a car without a computer in it.
ReplyDeleteIf you could do it all over again (sigh) I'd use every dime I made back in the day and buy all those non-computerized cars that I look at now and drool over. Put 'em in a climate controlled building and drive 'em in rotation.
DeleteI'd be proud to drive those! I like simple, utilitarian and sturdy!
ReplyDeleteYes sir. I'd love to have one. I could use it almost every day without having to fire up and move around the property in the RAM.
DeleteUgly? Yeah, ugly as hell. Do I want one? Hell yes!
ReplyDeleteLOL ... me too.
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