Henry J or Allstate feasibility study

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Hi,

Barbara and I have discussed the purchase of a 1951-54 Henry J or a 1952-53 Allstate to replace the 1952 Kaiser deLuxe we sold in March of 2009.  I am trying to get a feel for a price on one that is a nice condition 3 or very high 4 by the OLD CARS PRICE GUIDE standards.  It needs to have overdrive, working heater/defroster, vents and directionals at minimum.  While the car has to be mechanically sound (able to do road trips) paint and interior need not be factory correct for car as long as it looks period and decent.  Body needs to be solid as with the frame.  Four or 6 cylinder motor (6 preferred) with fold-down back seat and deck lid preferred.  In short, a nice driver presently located within 400 miles of the Cleveland OH area.

It's been several years since I've looked into restoration and maintenance costs of K-F products and realize that sticker shock may be in order. 

Anyone want to venture opinions? 

[Fid]

A decent stock Henry J commands a higher price nowadays than ever before which always surprises me when you consider what you're getting. They're good cars but options / accessories are often scarce and for as much as I like them, I have to admit they do not ride like a full size Kaiser or Frazer. All that being said, they are unique, fun to drive, easy to work on and mechanical parts are fairly easy to find.
What's one worth?  I get that question all the time and I really don't have a good answer for it other than "whatever someone who wants one is willing and able to pay..."
I saw a pretty decent four cylinder model sell on ebay a couple of years ago for $11,500. It was not completely original and it didn't have a lot of options if I remember correctly... I recall it did have a trunk lid.
There was one that sold at Barret-Jackson a couple of years ago, six cylinder without OD and it brought $30,000 or thereabouts! Clearly an outlier.  Alan Thomas got $13,500 for his '51 back in 2005 (sold on ebay). It was all decked out with factory accessories and had very nice original red dinosaur vinyl upholstery in it.

[AZ_HJ]

I saw the one that sold at Barret-Jackson a couple of years ago and it did not even come close to the quality of Alan Thomas Henry J. I assume the person who bought it was less than knowledgeable in regards to Henry J's.

Based on what I have seen a 3 to 4 would run between $8K and 14K.

I keep track mostly on the parts car and 'restorable' car pricing when it come to the Henry J.

[hollenway]

Ray Weber had a 53 ( I believe ) at Matamoras that he had just bought at auction, possibly the one that is mentioned here.......  It was a frame off car and was quite
nice, although the correct police had a few items to pick at when they judged it.  He paid
well over 30K for the car....... Yes.... you heard me right...... Over 30.......    So go figure....
the market has softened a bit since then...... but not all that much for nice cars. 

I bought a really nice 51 4 cyl Henry J about five years ago for $6500.   And honestly,
at the time I thought it was a fair price but no real bargain !!!!!   Looks like it wasn't such a
bad investment after all.   Good, solid unmolested cars are getting harder and harder to
find - and a lot of really nice cars have become street rods.  Several years ago at Hershey Jim Lape, Dave Antram and I talked with a fellow who rodded a 35,000 mile 53 with zero rust. 
We managed to get some of the gut pile from the carnage....... but it still was a sad end to
a very nice stock automobile.  He had a picture of the car and it looked to be a very
presentable Henry J before it underwent it's transformation........

My best to you Jack and Barbara,  as you begin your search !!!!!!!!