Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: porsche1914 on January 04, 2011, 01:36:28 PM
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http://img831.imageshack.us/i/007kpb.jpg/
(http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/4504/007kpb.jpg)
4404 trim Code from my Henry J, restoration guide indicates Hickory brown Volta and Burma Vinyl.
Is this volta the same material as listed in the Manufacturer's Fund resource?
The preceding picture is what I believe is the original door panel, is this correct?
Can anyone provide a photograph of an original 4404 trim code door panel?
Thank you in advance for any help.
Don Holt
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Looks like this J was a victim of the same thing many others were - it's had the upholstery replaced from another year/model. The panel shown is from a 1952 Henry J, with '53 Henry J handle eschucions (rubber, the '51/'52s were plastic) I don't recall the trim code but that pattern is shown in one of the '52 HJ brochures. The '51 Js always had all-alligator/vinyl panels, some pleated, some had chrome strips but the ones that were combination such as this, were not used until the 1952 Corsairs were introduced. The '52 door panels had the vinyl on top, sloping down toward the front as shown, and the '53s had the vinyl on the bottom sloping up at the rear as in this photo -
(https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3d709b3127ccef46d698d5f2c00000060O01SatmLdmyB7efAA/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00203070160520130928150818790.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/)
Because the Henry J was so sparsely optioned, and used the same body / panels all years, you often find them restored/rebuilt using a mix-match of parts from other models. The fact that many are made into hotrods also makes lots of options/parts available to restorers and they add things the car didn't originally have.
I currently have a '52 Henry J Vagabond that was originally a four cylinder model. The fellow who restored it before I got it added the all vinyl door panels and rear seat side panels from a deluxe. I left them on it as they look much better and do look correct but they don't match the trim code. These things don't make them bad cars but I do not like to mis-represent them either.
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When I got home I pulled out that '52 HJ brochure. It's the larger version on this one:
(http://home.comcast.net/~ljfid/52Jbrochureextlo.jpg)
And an upholstery view:
(https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a4ce30b3127ccef70317e9535600000030O01SatmLdmyB7efAA/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00203070160520141011232230091.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/)
The pictures are artist renderings but you can see the pattern matches what you have.
Unfortunately, the brochure does not mention what trim code this is.
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I have another question on interiors. As Fid pointed out I have a '52 door panel in my '51 so it looks as though when my J was redone many years ago there were parts from a '52 used in the interior.Does anyone know if the rear seats were different in '52 with a trunk from a model without a trunk? My '51 has no trunk and the back of the rear seat will not close down far enough to clip in the hooks. Could the model without a fold down rear seat have a taller(thicker) rear seat or was this an error when the rear seat was reuphlolstered?
Thanks for any input any of you may have.
Don Holt #10019
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Don,
I have a fold down backseat for my Henry J. It measures 2" thick.
Mark
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Mark,
Thanks for the reply, my fold down seat back is also 2" thick, it's the seat itself that seems to sit to high, it sits on the floor just right but will not allow the fold down back to go down low enough.
Don
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The rear seats in the fold-down models are definitely different than those with the stationary rear seat. The stationary ones are taller and thicker.
The fold down version looks like this -
(http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b8cf22b3127ccec5d258ceece100000060O01SatmLdmyB7efAA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/)
Whereas the stationary looks like this -
(http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a1dc24b3127ccefc1e6b3c6be200000030O01SatmLdmyB7efAA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/)
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This is the reason why HJ's have different trim numbers for the same upholstery type; one for fold down rear seat, one for fixed.
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Many Thanks to all for the information, I'm sure others have found many of the same problems I have been finding,seems like just when you are ready to really get going something new pops up. Now I will need to look for a rear seat bottom for a non-trunk model. Any suggestions in this area would be appreciated, perhaps I should check with Larry Barker.
Thanks again to all.
Don Holt
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I have a 51 Henry J that has a trunk lid and a fold down seat. At the present time it is no than a body shell that I bought from Rudy Phillips but it has the remains of the fold down seat hardware still attached to the body. I did not get any seats with the car when I purchased it.
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Thanks for the reply. I have the fold down parts OK, and I have a nice rear bench seat in black vinyl, however it is for a trunk model without the fold down rear seat and it is taller(thicker) than the one for the fold down rear seat.
Don