robadr1 caught this Henry J, Kaiser’s ill-fated compact, on the streets, in British Columbia (I think). He didn’t properly take in all those badges on its front fender, which explains what’s underneath. Not quite stock, in case that wasn’t already obvious.
“Chevrolet”, “4.3”, “V6”, and “S10”; those are all you need to know that this Henry J sits on a Chevy S10 chassis. The purists might object, but if you’re going to drive a Henry J fairly regularly, some updating of its rather modest underpinnings doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. And it certainly does stand out in this sea of modern cars.
The Ford Maverick always reminded me of the Henry J; both have rather goofy fastbacks, and a bit of a simpleton vibe. Of course, the Maverick spun gold for Ford, while the Henry J was a coffin nail in Kaiser’s sad demise.
Frank Zappa’s autobiography talks about the Henry J that his family had. He said the back seat was nothing more than a piece of plywood with upholstery on top and was torturously uncomfortable.
A Henry J on an S10 chassis? I think that just broke my brain.
Well you have to do what you have to do and I like the flames made out of tile.
I wondered if those were supposed to be flames. Looks like a mustache on the front to me. I don’t like it, nor all the badges stuck on. Aside from all that tacked-on stuff, I’d say nice job.
This is the second Henry J on a S10 chassis I’ve seen. I saw this one about a year ago at a show in BC. It had a Blazer badge on the back. The rear had some “character” to it. The body was not perfect but it was functional. Belonged to an older couple.
That’s the same one. The license plate is the same!
indeed it is
The S-10 chassis, I don’t have a problem with.
The spew of badging and tile flames…like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
Interesting that you compare the Henry J to the Ford Maverick. I believe that Special Interest Autos tested the two against each other for an article published in the mid-1970s.
Hmmm; I didn’t read that magazine back then. But the number of similarities have always struck me, from the size, the prominent, high-set headlights, to the curvaceous body and fastback, as well as the, um, modest technical ambitions.
After poking around the internet, I found the comparison. It was made in 1974.
The magazine’s reviewer found that the Henry J offered superior fuel economy (up to 32 mpg with overdrive, as compared to a top figure of 21 mpg in the Maverick, which had a three-speed manual transmission and the 250 cid six), was roomier, had quicker steering and was quieter at speed.
The Maverick had better overall handling, offered better acceleration, and was better-built than the Henry J. Overall comfort for both driver and passengers was a draw between the two cars. (Both cars were two-door coupes.)
Interestingly, after adjusting for inflation over the years, and making allowances for mandated safety and emissions-control equipment, the magazine found that the Henry J Deluxe 6 would retail for $500 more than the Maverick.
I found it and read it: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/category/sia-flashback/page/36/
Interesting read. It points out the obvious improvements more modern inevitably had, like better basic construction quality, but the Maverick’s weaknesses showed what a modest and unambitious car it was.
“Simpleton vibe”
Paul, you have obviously come back from mini-vacation refreshed. Excellent choice of words.
Unfortunately I’m giving off a bit of simpleton vibe today myself….
Maybe the car but not necessarily the owner. I repeat what I wrote in an earlier post on the Henry J:
Henry Js (and the Allstate version sold through Sears) were not all that uncommon when I was growing up in the midwest in the 50-60s. Indeed, one of my grandfather’s best friends since childhood – a character straight out of American Pickers, bib overalls, chewing tobacco, and all – drove an old faded blue Henry J he bought new right on through the early 60’s, when rust overtook the body and it went to an eternal resting place beside the barn. The man had a J.D. degree and was loaded with money (he owned hundreds of acres of farmland) but was really cheap and tolerated lots of jokes about “Henry,” a car he claimed to be his favorite. I don’t think it was; truth is he didn’t give a damn about cars and preferred his 39 Ford truck or Farmall tractor over any car.
This gentleman gave my grandfather a hard time for wasting money by buying a new car every four or five years, most especially in 1958 when we arrived at the farm in a new, two-tone blue 58 Chevy Bel Air. Too damned big and flashy, he announced – who was my grandfather trying to impress? My grandfather, who himself was a very wise, tolerant, and compassionate man, later told me that while he respected his friend’s point of view, he also knew that the friend had no understanding of car guys like himself, my Dad, and eight-year old me – we wanted nice cars because WE liked and were impressed by them – the heck with what others thought.
Anyway, for me the Henry J brings back good memories of these two wonderful men.
Which means a 4×4 Henry J would not be that hard to do…
The 4×4 S10 is a couple inches wider and has different front suspension. It is possible but might not fit as nice.
Hmmm…. a Henry-J Syclone/Typhoon. Nobody would expect that!
Works for me. Why just repair old cars and spiff them up to look good. Upgrade them so they work better. Remember, anybody can restore an old car but it takes a real man (or woman) to cut one up and make something special. Those old drum brakes on the front made all of those cars an ordeal to stop, the old steering boxes with their Rube Goldberg linkages did not handle too well.
Actually , it’s far easier to make changes than it is to do Stock repairs .
I don’t give a rat’s patoot about those wretched Henry J’s so have at it .
-Nate
It depends on the changes vs stock repairs. I put rack & pinion into my 66 Dart GT as well as Mcpherson struts and the real improvement disc brakes. Those changes required a tubular front chassis and a lot of welding. My new car is a Plymouth TC-3 that I converted from FWD (dog) to RWD (peppy) It now has a nice 6.0 ltr V8, 5 speed manual transmission, and an 8 3/4 rear. That little upgrade required time and planning to build. It also required a lot of cardboard templates. I have put 50,000 miles on it and it still runs great. I also continue to improve it. AC still eludes me, but it is still in th planning department..
I would really like to see pictures of your TC-3! I always thought it was a great looking body style (until they starting blanking out the rear side windows!) I found a Dodge version for my sister’s first car (which she loved!).
Agreed–that car is crying out for a COAL post! Even if you don’t want to commit to the series, it’d be quite an interesting one-off.
There aren’t many Henry Js left these days. And maybe one out of every 100 left are stock. The last stock one I saw was in 1960 or 61.
I tired to buy one not long ago that was on a used car lot. It had a 302 with a 5 speed. the dealer said it was a classic and he saw one go at Barrett-Jackson for $90,000. He wouldn’t come off his $80,000 price. It disappeared a month ago. Maybe he god someone to pay the outrageous price.
K-F was built on a pile of government loans. By some accounts, when Henry Kaiser put his hand out to the RFC for a few more millions, the loan came with the stipulation that he both pursue more defense contracts, and produce a cheap, entry level car.
Dutch Darrin proposed a cut down version of the large Kaiser he had designed. Kaiser didn’t want to pay Darrin’s royalty, so went with a design that was being offered, cheaply, by another company. The original Henry J didn’t even have a trunk lid. The engines were from Willys. Ultimately, Kaiser bought Willys in the spring of 53, in a complex deal structured so that K-F’s years of losses could be used to offset Willys’ earnings.
The Henry J was also sold by Sears as the Allstate.
Kaiser had an interesting month in June 53. The Air Force cancelled all their contacts with K-F over charges of fraud and gross mismanagement. Sears cancelled the Allstate contract. And the autoworkers went on strike. In July the K-F board decided to vacate Willow Run. In August, the Hydramatic plant in Livonia burned to the ground. Edgar Kaiser called his contacts at Hydramatic offering factory space, which Hydramatic jumped at.
The cars in process at the time of the strike at Willow Run were finished up. The large sedan tooling was moved to the Willys plant in Toledo, where a few thousand were run off before the tooling was later shipped to Argentina.
The Henry J tooling was reportedly sold to a group in Israel, but, supposedly, all the tooling was lost in shipment.
Steve, I don’t know about the lost in shipment part of the story but these were assembled by Kaiser-Ilyn in Haifa and were curbside classics in the 60s when I was growing up in Israel. Way back then they were seen as old fashioned and undesireable even in car-starved Israel. However, they had the advantage of using the Jeep’s engine, of which we had loads (those were also assembled by Kaiser-Ilyn) so at least maintenance was easy and cheap. Most are gone now…
I think I read somewhere about Israel-made Henry Js being imported to Norway because of some trade deal or something. At the time, Norwegian car sales were still under war-time rationing and I think these Israel-made cars were exempted from this.
I think that’s true – quite a few Kaiser-Ilyn vehicles were exported because of many strange reasons. There wasalso a lot of barter going on back then as Israel did not have many foreign currency reserves; unless I am greatly mistaken, Israeli K-Fs were also exported to… France for Chausson buses or something similar.
Ad for the “new” 6 cyl. engine and both K-F models assembled in Haifa
K-F had several plants that assembled cars that were shipped K/D’d from Willow Run. Besides Haifa, iirc they had one in Amsterdam.
When Willow Run was sold to Hydramatic in fall 53, K-F finished up the cars they had in process. The tooling and equipment for the large sedans was shipped to the Willys plant in Toledo. From what I have seen, Henry J production ended at that time, so a 54 Henry J would have been built at Willow Run in late 53.
I can see how the operators of the plant in Haifa would be interested in acquiring the tooling to continue production, especially if it was available for little more than scrap value. As you know, the entire powertrain was a buyout, hence easily purchased for installation in Israeli produced bodies. Puzzles me though, how the tooling could “be lost” though, because we are talking about one big pile of crates. Something doesn’t sound right with that story.
The Haifa plant then turned to building Studebaker Larks.
Boats sink. Just ask Steamtown USA about the steam engine that went down with the ship from China.
Boats sink. Just ask Steamtown USA about the steam engine that went down with the ship from China.
If the ship sank, there would be a record. I read both the Langworth and Mueller books on K-F, and the fate of the tooling is a mystery. It’s as if there was a clerical error and that tooling is still sitting in rail cars on a siding somewhere between Ypsilanti and the east coast.
Steve
I’ll have to ask my Israeli contacts about that. By the way (and those are my two Cents only), they missed an even bigger opportunity when Studebaker decided to stop production – the prototypes and everything could also have been purchased for peanuts…
they missed an even bigger opportunity when Studebaker decided to stop production
According to some sources, what caused production to stop when it did was one of the trunk lid dies broke and Studebaker refused to pay for a replacement. Still, as you say, even with having a replacement die made, the tooling would probably have been cheaper to buy than any other big three cast off model. By that time though, wasn’t Israeli industry much more developed than it had been in the mid 50s?
Steve, I checked with my Kaiser-Ilyn expert and the story about the Henry J body dies is an urban legend. Ephraim Ilyn did not mention it in his autobiography and nobody ever heard about it. As for the Israeli motor industry, well not from Ilyn’s PoV. Israel back then was a very partisan place with a controlled economy and it was, shall we say it, difficult for those who were not closer to power. In those days the Labor party had absolute majority and Ilyn was connected with the predecessor of the Likud party, a very bad thing. His competitor, Shubinsky from Autocars (also in Haifa) was pretty close to Israel’s all powerful Finance Minister, Pinhas Sapir and managed to ensure Autocars got favorable treatment to Ilyn’s detriment, so that in 67 Kaiser-Ilyn got into difficulties. Workforce disputes also did not help. At that point Ilyn just had enough and the operation was wound up… Stupid, as Autocars had the inferior product and thus less chances on the international markets. I could go on but that will get me into politics which Paul does not allow here, so I’ll better stop here:)
“In August, the Hydramatic plant in Livonia burned to the ground. Edgar Kaiser called his contacts at Hydramatic offering factory space, which Hydramatic jumped at.”
“Wags said Edgar lit the match………” Langworth wrote that humorous bit, always makes me chuckle….!
A Henry J looking like a Maverick…..I now cannot unsee the similarities! 🙂
I thought I’d seen that little rat before…this photo was taken at an art car display in the Fremont district in Seattle on a rainy Father’s day in 2010.
I’m sure I made a model of a Henry J drag car in the late 60s.
I did too, I think it was Revell. it was a gasser with a straight front axle. I wish i still had some of my old models.
” Sleepers ” never go out of popularity with real Gear Heads =8-) .
As always , the comments here are great .
Not so much the actuality of these wretched , awful Automobiles .
-Nate
I love taking pictures – and then have Paul or other CC’ers tell me what I’ve seen :-).
I took the pic while I was on a ped crossing (yes, in Vancouver), so I didn’t have time to look very closely. When I got home I noticed all the badges but thought it was a joke – combined with the flaming I assumed it was the beginnings of an art car.
In one of my dad’s old Car Craft magazine was an article about a particular Henry J in Pomona, California back in the 1950s.. If you had a hot rod or souped-up car and this particular Henry J challenged you on the racetrack, nobody would blame you if you backed out.
This Henry J had a souped-up Cadillac engine shoehorned in the engine compartment. The only tipoff that something unnatural was lurking under the hood was twin tailpipes and rear 15″ slick tires. The car was left stock otherwise. The combination of a powerful engine in a light car made it a terror on the racetrack.
Seems it was popular back in those days to put the biggest and powerful engine possible in the most innocent looking package.
Here is an article comparing the Henry J and a Maverick.
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/05/25/sia-flashback-henry-j-vs-maverick/