1952 Allstate with body number 230 1000037 found

[Gordie]

I was able to buy the Allstate that was recently on eBay and wondered if it may be the earliest Allstate known.  I was unable to open the Henry J and Allstate registry done by the club and wondered if there are lower numbers out there.  It is a four cylinder with overdrive and seems to be in good condition but I have not picked it up yet.  It was stored in a garage near Santa Barbara CA for about forty years but runs and yard drives.  It was apparently sold new in Santa Barbara.  I can see from the photos that I will need hubcaps and an upper radiator hose.  Are those items available anywhere?  Thanks

[pnw_oldmags]

Gordie,
Here is a link into the Registry.
http://circlekf.com/kfcars/a2304.htm
For your research

[Gordie]

Thanks, that worked great!

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Allstates were never sold new in California, that is per Sears Roebuck & Company.  The nearest Sears Auto Center licensed (by state governments) as a new car dealer was in Arizona.  Either the original owner went there to get it or the sale in CA is an "urban legend".

Radiator hoses would be the same as on a Henry J, in fact virtually everything under the hood is HJ other than the branding of parts (Sears branded items were used for spark plugs, etc).  The actual list of Allstate-specific parts is in a 1953 issue Kaiser-Frazer Service Bulletin.  Of course, the accessories would be Sears-branded as well.   

Anything with a single or double digit serial number in a K-F product is worth saving whenever possible.  And remember, just because it's in the KFOCI Registry doesn't mean much...many of the listings cover parts cars, vehicles that have been crushed out of junkyards and other lost machines.  Nobody bothered to indicate condition or plans for restoration for many, many years.

[joefrazer]

Attached is the list of parts peculiar to the Allstate. Not listed are those branded items, like Jack mentioned, that Sears sold...things like tires, voltage regulator and spark plugs.

[Aeroman]

I went on Harold's registry (see Jim's link above) and for the fun of it, I looked up the 1952 Manhattan Traveler and it shows Stanhope as the owner. I know Lee Stanhope passed away maybe a decade ago and I wonder where his car is now.

[pnw_oldmags]

I saw the car years ago.  It had been given to his Son in Law.  Not a member and it only came to one meet.  It was black as I recall.

[HJ-ETEX]

gordie: Close - My Allstate is body #132 with Sch 1 Item 5 on the Data Plate. John Hewlett had one with a close body number. Both his car and my car were 4 cyl/trunkless cars. However, I believe John had a 6 cyl car with a lower body number. Based on what I had seen on the 2 4cyl car numbers, I was thinking the 1st 25 cars were 6 cylinder cars. This would compare with the introduction of the HJ where all the initial cars were 6 cyl.

[HJ-ETEX]

And about Allstate wheel decorations... They were plain versions of the HJ hub cap & wheel cover. That is to say where the HJ would have been stamped, there isn't anything. I have recommended to Allstate owners that they get the HJ wheel cover and tap out the HJ in the center and then polish the recess.

[Terry T]

I have never seen a hubcap with HJ in the center.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

If you look carefully on this prototype for trim changes, you will see "Henry J" script in the center part of the cap.  Of course it did not make production.  Only the caps with the "K" in the center were used for production.  Allstates had a blank center.

[Gordie]

Thanks for the great information,  I really appreciate it.  The eBay seller had just gotten the car from the original owner's Grandson who now is in a rest home and he was the one who said the car was purchased new in Santa Barbara but perhaps the original purchase location has been lost to history but weren't the cars offered in the Sears catalog?  Who knows how Sears handled delivery's to new owners?  This too is a trunkless car and I will know more about it when I pick it up next week.  It is interesting that the '52 Allstate sales brochure illustrates the car with a trunk so I guess that they must have planned on trunks all along but it was several hundred cars later when the trunk models finally appeared.  I wonder if K-F unloaded their leftover trunkless bodies on Sears?  According to the registry this car is the lowest numbered 4 cylinder car in the registry but there are lower numbered six cylinder cars registered both in Allstate and Henry J.  I don't know if they still exist.  We all need to make an effort to bring the registry up to date as it is a wonderful tool that all of us can benefit from.

[pnw_oldmags]

I have purchased several 52 and 53 Sears Catalogs over the years hoping to see the Allstate advertised ... but so far no success.  I suspect that Sears had "Regional Catalogs" and the PNW versions did not contain the Allstate.  Has anyone ever seen the ALLSTATE in a Sears Catalog?  If so where were you at the time?

[joefrazer]

According to John Hewlett, an Allstate owner who worked for Sears, the cars were never offered thru the catalog. You had to visit select stores, almost all of which were located in the south and southwest, to order a car. Parts, on the other hand, could be purchased thru the catalog or at any Sears retail outlet.

[Corsairdeluxe]

1953 ALLSTATE 4 w o/d and full wheel covers. Unlike Henry J ALLSTATE had a 4 cyl deluxe and it came with full discs!