Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => Henry J & Allstate Forum => Topic started by: Fid on March 09, 2020, 08:55:51 PM
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When I sold my green '52 HJ Vagabond last Oct I said the only way I'd buy another one is if I found an Allstate or an early Aloha green '51 for sale. Turns out there was one of each within driving distance from me. I bought Ben's Allstate from Duluth, MN this week. It's an early '52, six cylinder with overdrive tag matching car. Only thing missing are the hubcaps/wheel covers. Anyone have any idea where I might find those? Anyway, it needs to be put together and there's a lot more to do than I had anticipated so it looks like it will be awhile before it sees the road but when it does, it will be exceptional! I'll keep everyone posted.
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Looks great Fid. Looking forward to seeing it come together.
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Congratulations, it looks like a nice one and it has all the best features. I ended up buying a second Allstate just to be able to find some of the emblems and hub caps, they are very hard to find. If you are clever you can flatten the center section of the Henry J wheel cover and eliminate the Henry J emblems and they will look just like the Allstate. Good luck with it.
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With this gorgeous March weather we're having I've had plenty of time to work on it and today I finally got the Allstate to the point where I was ready to take it on its maiden voyage. I drove it around the block twice. Seems to run well but needs a lot of adjustments - clutch pedal free play, shift linkage, brakes etc. Despite the fact that I oiled the cable well the speedometer was flipping around a bit but steadied as I took the second time around the block. Still have to put all the trim back on it but first, tomorrow, I'm going to fix the fuel gauge so I know what I have for gasoline when I do run it. Much good to be said about it but still many challenges and adjustments. Need to check the trans/OD lube, front end needs a lube, OD doesn't work but that should be easy. I really like color - that makes 3 blue KF products I own.
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Very nice car! I like the color as well.
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Made a lot of progress on the Allstate this weekend. Got the wipers installed and working, some script on it, the hood orament, got the hood adjusted properly so it closes and latches. Still got some trim to install but I'm done for the day. It's starting to look like a car would've bought!
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Maybe you should sell the Blue J, so you can concentrate on the ALLSTEP.
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HA. I miss the blue - I'll be getting it out and bringing it home within the next week or so. I look forward to seeing them together.
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All those who think Fid should sell the blue 53 so he can concentrate on his new project, please suggest to him to do so!
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Very very nice, hope to see your progress
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Today I got the overdrive working. That's a huge improvement. The wires were shot on this car and Bob McBride is not doing harnesses anymore so I had to make my own. Copied one of his. Works great. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get the hand brake working and install some more trim. Slow but sure!
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Got the "mustache trim" on the Allstate today. It's coming together slowly but surely. Looking forward to driving it... if I ever have any place to go again.
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My Allstate #39 has no emblem on the glove box door and no holes in it either. I guess it never had one.
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Look what I found. I downloaded in March ,2018.I do not remember anything about it.
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That is the one I have. He posted those pictures a couple of years ago. I'm still making progress on it.
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The first month and part of the second month used the 1951/1952 Vagabond HJ bodies. These cars would (at least on paper) not have the glove box door. They would also have the tail lights mounted on the rear deck like a 1951 Henry J. Turn signals would also be 1951 Henry J wiring.
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From one of the photos it looks like he had hub caps and wheel covers on the car. I wonder who still has those?
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The wheel covers and hubcaps came with the car. Unfortunately, the wheel covers are '51 Kaiser and the hubcaps are Henry J. Those are the only things I'm missing on this car - Allstate wheel trim. I installed some very nice Henry J caps on it but I'd sure like to find some Allstate caps. This one is an early one made from the Henry J Vagabond bodies but it does have a glove box which surprised me too. From what I can tell, it's original to the car. The tags match everything else. The tail lights are unique to this car. I'm hope Sears used them in other apps as I'd like to find spares.
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What is your serial number. Mine is fairly early with body number 37 and serial number 39 built with no trunk but with glove compartment. Four cyl. with overdrive.
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This one is serial number 304. It's a six with overdrive. I thought I read somewhere, hand book or one of the KF books, that all Allstates had a glove box. Could be true as I never saw one that didn't but as Jack points out, because they were built on '52 Vagabond bodies you would think the early ones didn't. This one does.
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According the factory's production counts, your car came off the line in January 1952 and I would guess it was sometime in the last half of January rather than the start of the month. The first 96 6-cylinder Allstates were produced in December 1951 and 253 more came off the line in January for a total of 349 for the first 2 months. In fact, more Allstates (1952 or 1953) were built in January 1952 than any other month in the production history of the car.
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Thanks for the info Jack! That's good to know. Yesterday I got it all back together. There's still a lot of little things it needs but it is now completely reassembled. I took the car for it's first excursion outside the neighborhood this morning and got some pictures. Here you go.
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Good Job Looks Great. Keep Up the Good Work.
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You will have more trophies coming. Its beautiful!
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Looks like you are practicing safe distancing......... . . . . . .
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More work on the Allstate engine today. Waiting for flywheel bolts - should be here Saturday. Getting anxious
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So now the engine is out! Just a bit of detailing?
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Engine is back in it... open wide...
It'll be a day or two before I get around to getting it all back together and fire it up.
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Did you have any problems with manifold studs?
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Did you have any problems with manifold studs?
None, which really surprised me.
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Over 50% of the times I have removed a manifold,I sheared off a stud.When it was the rearmost one and the engine in the car,you got troubles!
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I found another interesting issue with the Allstate today! I kept having such a hard time getting the distributor cap to snap on... I thought it was a bit odd that the car has an Autolite starter and Autolite generator but a Delco-Remy distributor. Turns out it has an "Delcolite" distributor! It would be easy to call the person who did this all kinds of names etc. but as someone who's worked on these cars since the 1970s I would call the person "creative." Fact is, there was a time, when there was no internet or mass communication or even much of a national market place so restorers had to find ways to keep these cars on the road. What was done with this one is it has a Delco-Remy distributor but someone changed the snaps/fasteners to the Autolite type (which are much shorter) and therefore they could install an Autolite cap on it!
That's exactly what was done to this car which explains why I have never been able to get the timing right! Needless to say, I'm going to fix it and put it back correctly. I hope this improves the performance!
I remember those days when you had to do what you had to do and this project is a great example and stark reminder of how things were. It would be easy to complain and call names etc. regarding this modification but the fact is, if someone had not done it, this car likely would not have survived as long as it has.
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Just when you think you’ve seen it all!
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I'm happy to report the engine is back in it and it is up and running. I have some tweaks yet but have not had time to get to them yet. I'm happy to have it running again!