A new Allstate question.

[Gordie]

In looking at Jim Betts great Henry J and Allstate guidelines I started comparing pictures of my Allstate.  In looking at my dash picture I realize that I don't have an emblem on my glove box door and the car is low miles with original paint on the dash and no holes drilled in the door for an emblem.  Is it possible that the early cars did not get one?  My body number is 37 and serial #A2301000039.  I wonder if this was an issue for the Henry J's as well?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

No, it was not but when production of Allstates started in the fall of 1951 there were some spot shortages that were never caught up with in the field. Your car, Gordie, is the 39th 1952 Allstate 4 cylinder produced.  Check your current version of KFOCI HANDBOOK to see the month/year it came off the production line (Version 5.0).

[Fid]

That would make sense that it was not an issue with the Henry J as even the '51 and early '52 (Vagabond) Js which did not have a glove box still has the dash emblem so those were available when the glovebox was added. The Allstate may not have had emblems available yet. I'm not sure if that's what Jack was alluding to or not. But I doubt that was ever the case with the Henry J.

[h-e-n-r-y-j]

The Allstate scooter used the same emblem as the Allstate dash emblem.  There is a scooter parts dealer in San Diego that sells the emblems.

[Gordie]

The Allstate scooter used the same emblem as the Allstate dash emblem.  There is a scooter parts dealer in San Diego that sells the emblems.

Thanks,  the emblems are similar but not the same as they don't have any pins for inserting in the holes.  They are on line and come either painted black or unpainted.  All three of the Allstate emblems are a different size.  The  scooter emblems are 4 inches long.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

If you go to a swap meet or KFOCI function check the NOS Kaiser-Frazer boxes for the part number.  If the number starts out with a "400" it is an Allstate Specific part.  Check the 1953 Allstate Accessories information on KFOCI HANDBOOK.  There is a copy in the Allstate section of the K-F Service Bulletin listing all the Allstate-Specific parts lists; anything else needed (especially mechanical parts) is HJ.

[h-e-n-r-y-j]

Wrong Gordie.  I purchased several of the Allstate scooter emblems in the 1990's and they were a direct fit on my HJ dash.  I even removed my HJ dash emblem and installed the Allstate emblem to test fit them.  They had three mounting pins although one was a bit shorter than the rest.  I ended up selling several to the Manu Fund when I pulled out of the hobby.  All of the ones I purchased and later sold were cast aluminum with a decent shine.  Perhaps things have changed.....its been nearly twenty years.

[h-e-n-r-y-j]

forty five seconds of research......

[h-e-n-r-y-j]

Here is the one I would use.  It looks great and has no mounting pins therefore no drilling of your glove box lid required.  Jus use a little double-sided tape to mount.  Beautiful.  Judges be damned!

[Gordie]

Thanks,  those are the four inch ones and are on line for $28.00.  They do look great.  Since my early car never had one I will leave the glove box dash area emblem off of the car but this one will look fine on the front where it is missing and I will keep looking for one of the aluminum reproductions with the pins.

[Corsairdeluxe]

I think Dave Antram was pursuing Repro ALLSTATE emblems. You might give him a shout.

[HJ-ETEX]

Hey Gordie, You may recall my Allstate is slightly earlier than yours, the 4th 4 cylinder Allstate. My car does NOT have a trunk and I just checked the emblems and it still has a the glove box and hood script. 

[Gordie]

My car does not have a trunk either but has an emblem on the rear so I don't understand why it never had an emblem on the dash.  Strange things happen on the assembly line.  My '51 Kaiser was walked down the assembly line by its Kaiser-Frazer employee buyer.  When I bought it his brother told me that he did not want the Darrin emblem installed on the rear of the car.  The car has original paint and you can see the dimples in the paint where  the holes for the emblem are painted over and there are no holes,  just dimples in the paint.  I found the emblem under the back seat years later but will never install it.  It would probably get a deduction in judging but I will leave it as it is.  My G.P. Frazer has a Kaiser Frazer heater installed but no defroster.  All of the info I have found on original heaters talk about Heaters and defrosters being sold together.  Defroster kits were sold separately as I have a n.o.s. one still in the box.  There is a chrome plug in the hole where the defroster switch is supposed to be mounted on the top of the dash.  That is another part that won't be installed by me for this car.  I'm sure that many of you have similar stories.  I guess if it was easy it wouldn't be as much fun! These cars keep us guessing.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

This is why documentation is so important.  No matter what make of car you have, there could be "deviations" from the originally specified production car.  I know of a few hundred Ford Ranger pick-ups made around the end of the 1990's that have brake parts purchased from the ACE Hardware store in Columbia MO because the line ran out and, without thinking, planning sent someone out to buy what was needed to keep the line going.  Because the "fix" was not approved by engineering in Dearborn several people lost their jobs at Columbia and the Plant Manager was ordered to go back through the Ford Q1 quality system process all over again; the third-party ISO Registrar came down to the plant, took their certification plaque off the wall and took down their ISO Pennant because of the breach.

PS:  Since nobody knew for certain which assemblies the parts went on, well......that was back then.