An interesting car appeared at this week's KF convention. It was billed as a 1951 Henry J station wagon, but in reality is a 1952 Henry J Vagabond that was modified and turned into a wagon. It started life as a four cylinder car that has a later six cylinder swap. The owner was honest and said he had no idea whether it was a factory prototype or a later build and after several of us looked the car over carefully, we came to the conclusion that it is a later build...although very well done.
The car used Packard tail lights, 1953/54 Ford wagon tailgate hardware and some of its roofline that was well integrated into the Henry J body. The existing HJ folding rear seat was in place and the original HJ floor pan, in perfect condition, was used as well. The master cylinder was swapped for a later hanging pedal setup and the wheels were modern mags. Otherwise, it looked period correct aside from the 40 Ford bumper guards (and bumpers hiding under the HJ units). A sharp eye will note that HJ front bumpers, hung upside down, were used on both ends of the car.
Again, I do not think the car is a factory prototype, but to thicken the plot, the SPEC-FO entry on the trim tag has a "1" in place. Regardless, the owner is having fun driving the car and I encouraged him to continue to do so. It certainly drew a lot of attention from those attending the convention!
