Henry J Prototypes?

[Cortes121]

http://cgi.ebay.com/1951-Kaiser-Frazer-Henry-J-Factory-Photo-/330225368183?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ce2f73c77

This ebay sale claims to be listing a photograph of Henry J prototypes.

It it is true, what their story?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

This is correct.  I have a copy of the picture and it also appears in the old LAST ONSLAUGHT ON DETROIT.


Kaiser-Frazer Corporation tried to document everything done in the styling department, including pictures of styling clays.  A number of these photos have survived showing some prototypes, plant operations, etc.   I have about 20 profolio books full of photos accumulated over the years.  The collection even includes some Winston Link (the train photographer guy) originals.  My collection may be the biggest private collection of Link commercial photos (he was a commercial photographer by trade and took pics for K-F, Libby-Owens-Ford and a lot of other companies) in existance (luckily, his files were found and now reside in the Norfolk & Western museum at Roanoke VA).

Recently I have noticed that people are trying to scan the photos to make duplicates.  If your interest is just having a good photo (not with the factory stamp on the back) many of the ones I've seen are just fine.

If it has the correct stamps it may be worth the asking price;  if not, it should (in my opinion) go for less.

[darrin145]

Good morning! The photo on the ebay site does show the "stamp". It is being offered by Walt Miller, a gentleman who has bought and sold literature for decades. When I need an item related to any of the vehicles in the collection, I go see Walt, he is located about 2 1/2 miles from me. He usually has what I am looking for or knows where to find it. Two thumbs up! (look at his ebay feedback)

Gary (darrin 145)

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

I am familiar with Mr. Miller in NY state, in fact I just concluded a transaction with the store.  He's been in the business longer than I've been around old cars (about 40 years now).  As I said, if the photo is stamped to indicate it is original than the price asked is in line with what some of the stuff is going for.

If you are interested in prototype pictures, I would suggest you peruse the KFOCI HANDBOOK FOURTH EDITION.  I pulled a lot of prototype and show car photos for some of the illustrations in that document.

[ben-tex]

If anyone just wants access to many factory photos (in high resolution 300 dpi suitable for making full size prints) please check out my CD containing over 300 factory pics with comments. Many of these were loaned to me for scanning by Jack Mueller and others and many are from my own collection. Details at my website: http://www.kfnut.com/forsale/fpcd.html

[Cortes121]

I guess there is a whole realm of literature and photographs for these cars I had no idea about. 


So those stylings were done in house by a team of designers? Or was there one main designer working on the design of the Henry J above?

I quite like the look, I wish they would have gone forward with it.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Kaiser-Frazer's Styling Department had a Kaiser Studio that worked on Kaiser cars and a Frazer Studio which became the Henry J Studio after the 1951 model year Frazer buildout.  There ws also an Advanced Studio.  Each Studio was a team of designers, clay modelers, draftsmen, etc.  As the automotive picture began to fade the styling activities were combined and the number of resource people were cut and the remains shared. 

The Henry J got a lot of attention in 1950-1951.  Once production of the car as per the government mandates went into production, the stylists were free to expand on the platform because the cost constraints of the government were no longer applicable.  Dick Langworth had access to more of the styling clay photos, etc, than I do so I suggest you check out LAST ONSLAUGHT ON DETROIT (published 1975) for a range of photos.  Same for Kaiser, although I have a number of pictures showing work done by Brooks Stevens & Associates staf people on the Kaiser and Frazer cars.