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Some Henry J Trivia

The 1951 Henry J was introduced at a Chicago showing in February 1950 as the "Red Car", but was not officially on sale till Sept 28, 1950. The 1951 Henry J is often described as “Spartan.” This is an accurate description, at least for the earliest Henry Js.

The Henry J was manufactured using funding from a government loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corp. Part of the agreement was that the car would sell for $1300. To achieve this, features such as trunk lids and glove boxes were not included. Passenger side sun visors and twin horns were not included in the 4 cylinder models in order to meet the price of $1299 FOB.

No model designations were used on the 1951 models, however, the 6-cylinder version is referred to as the “Deluxe” in most KF literature.

The first 1951 Henry Js had no trunk lid. The trunk area was accessed by folding down the rear seat back. This made it difficult to load cargo or change a flat tire.

While trunk lids became part of an accessory group, glove boxes were not. Glove boxes were not available on the 1951 Henry J. According to the factory shop manual “The 1951 instrument panel is the same as the 1952 with the exception of the glove compartment which was not used. Instead, a pocket on the right cowl kick pad is provided for storing small items.” The Henry J parts book lists glove box components for 1952 –54 Corsair models only.

In February of 1951, the Henry J could be ordered with all alligator vinyl upholstery. The seats, door panels, kick pads and even the wind lacing was covered in alligator vinyl. In these models, the steering column and moulding around it, was painted to match the color of the car. The all vinyl upholstery came in at least 5 known colors – brown, gray, green, pink (or maroon) and red.
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