In post-war America, there were
alternatives to the Big Three when purchasing a new U.S.-made automobile. Among
the manufacturers was Kaiser, which had a short history from 1951 to 1954 (with
production continuing for another year in South America). Company president
Henry J. Kaiser made his money early on in construction, the ship building for
the war effort, then opened Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel, and then created
what would become the Kaiser Permanente hospital system.
In his spare time, Kaiser himself had
partnered with Joseph Frazer to run auto manufacturer Graham-Paige in the
post-war era, and the two soon formed Kaiser-Frazer in 1947. Frazer left the
company in 1951 and his name disappeared the next year, just before Kaiser
bought Willys-Overland.
The Henry J automobile was sold from 1951
to 1954, and a few survive today, though many folks remember seeing them
converted to race cars (they weighed less than 2,300 pounds in stock
configuration) and campaigned in the '60s-era Gasser Wars.
But it wasn't hanging out at the drags as a
teenager that convinced 65-year-old Larry Henderson to search out and build a
really cool hot rod. Vance Gehlbach can take the blame for that. In 2003
Gehlbach, a buddy of Larry's since high school, sent him a photo of a '56 Chevy
he had just bought, and that's all it took for Larry. He wanted a car, too, and
started thinking about a '32 Ford three-window and, a couple of years later,
progressed to a Henry J.
Larry was able to find one on eBay in 2004
and brought it to his home in Carlsbad, California. After having been to a few
Good guys shows in the SoCal region, he had become aware of Super Rides, a hot
rod shop based in Escondido and owned by Jordan Quintal. Quintal scoped out the
ride, and gave Larry the bad news that it was junk, so Larry sold the engine
and basically scrapped the car.
Looking around the Internet Larry found
another H-J that was at an estate sale in Illinois. It was a driver and after
the deal was made, it was on its way. Quintal checked this one out, too, and
after it was blasted, they found minimal rust and no evidence of any major
collisions - good news!
A red ZZ4 350 is topped with aluminum heads
and Mooneyes valve covers, and fed by a Barry Grant Six Shooter carb system
under an air cleaner fabbed by Super Rides. Street & Performance supplied
the water pump, alternator, compressor, and brackets along with their
serpentine belt system, and Super Rides also smoothed out the firewall and
created custom inner fender panels.
A
red ZZ4 350 is topped with aluminum heads and Mooneyes valve covers.
The 6061 billet aluminum fan shroud from
Billet City holds the fan behind the Ron Davis radiator.
The
6061 billet aluminum fan shroud
The nose is unique on a Henry J, but even
more pronounced after Super Rides added the laid-back Mercedes headlights,
fabbed the grille, and removed the nosepiece from the hood.
Seating in the H-J is split by a waterfall
console created out of steel by Super Rides. Gabe Lopez stitched up the Dreamer
Lipstick Red leather for the car, covering the custom rear seats as well as the
front buckets, which uses a base from Glide Engineering.
Seating
in the H-J is split by a waterfall console created out of steel by Super Rides.
The dash was fabbed by Super Rides, which
also added a lower dash panel to house the controls for the Vintage Air Gen II
air-conditioning unit. The steering wheel is a custom 15-inch unit from EVOD,
made to emulate a '59 Chevy wheel (complete with horn ring).
The
dash was fabbed by Super Rides.
Up close, you can see the air vents look
like a venturi out of a large Italian carburetor. A Kenwood flip-up head unit
controls the CD, DVD, iPod, satellite radio, and navigation requirements for
the car's owner.
Up
close, you can see the air vents look like a venturi out of a large Italian
carburetor.
Super Rides built the car from the inside
out, starting with the fabrication of a custom 2x4-inch chassis on the stock
wheelbase of 100 inches. Out back a Currie 9-inch (3.70:1) links to a custom
four-bar setup from Super Rides, and in the front a twin A-arm design uses
2-inch-drop spindles. Each corner has RideTech airbags as well as Wilwood
drilled and slotted rotors gripped by four-piston calipers. One-off EVOD wheels
(17x7 and 18x10) were made and are wrapped in BF Goodrich g-Force radial rubber
(205/45-17 and 225/45-18) for maximum gription.
To get a better idea on what to do to the
body's exterior and give the car its own identity, Larry contacted automotive
illustrator Eric Brockmeyer and gave him photos of what the car looked like in
its present state. Brockmeyer was able to put pen to paper and come up with
some good designs, including a layout for what the interior should look like.
Not a lot of folks remember what a Kaiser
Henry J looks like in stock form, but it doesn't look like Larry's finished car
at all. Adding the laid-back headlights with integral turn signals (from a
late-model Mercedes) is the most obvious body mod, but nearly every other
aspect of the car was touched by Super Rides, too, from the front to rear.
The grille is custom-made, as was the
insert bar, which was shaped from solid aluminum and then chromed by Azteca
Plating and Polishing of Escondido (who did all of the car's chrome work). The
front bumper is a modified unit from a '68 Camaro, and the nosepiece on the
front of the hood was removed and filled. Inner fenders were made, too, along
with a radiator support and hood hinges, and the firewall was smoothed out.
