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During the Cold War, the U.S. funded
the Kaiser International Vehicle Investigation (IVI) program in an attempt to
design a low-cost vehicle that could be built in Third World countries. Several
body styles were designed, including a pickup, pickup panel and a van-like
troop carrier. Based on his redesign of an FC-series Jeep, it's not much of a
stretch to say that Brooks Stevens designed the Wide-Trac (above) for Kaiser.
Of
course, the FC facelift never happened and the Wide-Trac never went into
production. At least, not in such a form. In the 1950s over in Spain (which is
hardly a third-world country), 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.
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