WHOA! Don't take any tags off you car, at least not just yet.
First off, there are a total of 4 tags on any Henry J. The door post serial number shows the actual car serial number. The engine tag shows what today would be referred to as the car's VIN number in many states (some states were using the door post serial number for titles). On the firewall by the driver side hood spring are two more tags. The smaller tag is the body serial number. That larger tag is more or less the "builders bible" for what went into the car, etc, on the production line. It wouild be used as a checking copy for final inspection to make sure the car was properly equipped. Don't scrap any of the plates; the numbers are NOT supposed to match as a rule. if you have a question about this, give me a call and I'll go through it with you.
Normally, Henry J's of all years left the factory without heater/defroster; the exceptions were those cars being delivered to retaail purchasers at Willow Cottage or some fleet sales. The units would be installed either by the dealership or the dealership would have his (or her) territory distributor install it. Cars would be equipped with knock-outs in the dashboard or cover plates that would come off for controls, access for hoses or other needed items. Your picture clearly shows the cover plate for the passenger side ventilator run in place (the round metal plate on the firewall about half way down from the top). Oh yes, ventilators for driver and/or passenger side (there were two separate part numbers for the kit, one for each side). There were 3 different heater types offered by Kaiser-Frazer for the HJ. The most commonm is the one with a grey cube and a red & white "K" emnblem on it. A straight recurcluating heater (no defroster) was available and for a time, according to a memo from the factory, the old 1947-48 "Air Conditioner" (conditioned air like the Nash Weather-Eye unit) was also useable for a Henry J.
I would not be surprised to find out that the car originally was sold in the deep south. In the late 1960's I wan in Key West Florida and walked the new car inventory of the Ford Dealer in that city. None of the new fords had heater/defroster units in them and none were called out on the Moruney Stickers (the window sticler that first appeared on new, untitled, undriven new cars with the 1958 model year listing the factory installed options, freight charges and other information). If you wanted the option, the Ford dealer would install it at extra cost.
Jack Mueller
KFOCI Historian
