Here’s one we had to look up. The Henry J was a 50’s American economy car built by the Kaiser-Frazer corporation, named after its founder, and aimed at consumers who – at that point – could only afford a used vehicle.
Designed to use as few parts as possible, the Henry J succeeded in being cheap – costing just $1,300 in 1950 – but for good reason. A glovebox, armrests, ventilation, and even an opening trunk were omitted, with owners having to access their luggage by folding down the rear seats.
Unsurprisingly it was a sales flop, and when the car was relaunched under the Allstate brand to be (weirdly) sold by the Sears department store, it flopped for a second time.
One for a footnote in the American automotive history books then (which means we feel rather better about not knowing what the heck it was), but the Henry J did earn itself an interesting second life.
Small, light, and cheap, the Henry J became a favourite of 1960s drag racers, who threw away the 4-cylinder Jeep engine under the hood and fitted rather more exciting power-plants.
This superb Model Team example is based on a real Henry J ‘gasser’ drag racer, and comes from previous bloggee Tim Inman of Flickr. Opening doors (but not trunk, naturally), a detailed interior, and an enormous engine all feature, and there’s more to see of Tim’s ‘Janky J’ at his photostream.
Click the link above to flick through an early-’50s Sears catalogue to buy an economy car. Or just stop at the bra section like everyone else did…
