Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => Henry J & Allstate Forum => Topic started by: 51HJ on May 07, 2015, 01:19:56 PM
-
Can anyone tell me if and when Aloha Green paint #390 was discontinued on the early Henry J's and is there any documention on the dates. Thanks for your help.
-
It is hard to tell just when the color was discontinued as the only good source we have on this are the Confidential Bulletins that identified color & trim combinations dealers or distributors could order from the factory.
Carl Spencer picked the color because it was one people would notice; it stood out from the crowd. This was important at 1951 Introduction time because defense work done at Willys-Overland limited availability of the 4-cylinder engines in particular. Spencer wanted what could be built initially to be noticed with minimum connection to the idea people were seeing the same car at various places around town.
I know I am missing some Confidential Bulletins from the later part of the 1951 model year that would include availabilities for colors and trims (which would be a mix of colors for new production as well as finished cars in inventory). However, the equipment, color & trim listing from January 26, 1951 does not list Aloha Green as available at that point. Normally when a color was discontinued, there was no announcement from the factory; any dealer orders for a discontinued color, trim or item were just not accepted for production and fulfillment.
-
Aloha Green does not appear on the earliest paint chip pages for 1951 models from Acme or DuPont or Rodgerlite or an advanced bulletin from DuPont on 4/7/1950 but a supplemental bulletin from Ditzler on 9/28/50 announced that Arena Yellow and Aloha Green have been added to 1951 Kaiser-Frazer production colors. Another advanced bulletin showing Henry J two tone colors as of 1/1/1951 includes Aloha Green lower with either Garden Green poly or Chrystal Green upper colors. The Acme 1952 color chip page notes that Aloha Green is a late '51 color only and Aloha Green appears in all of the 1952 pages but does not appear on any of the 1953 or later pages. It appears that aloha Green would not be correct for early Henry J's at all and it apparently was used until the 1953 models came out.
-
KF service bulletins 319 (revised July 1952) and 377 (January 1952) do not list Aloha Green as an available color.
-
Just a guess - but I would assume that Aloha Green was discontinued in favor of Ceramic Green. My sorta early 5144 had Ceramic Green paint and was approx body number 9000. A quick search of the HJ Registry would provide more info.
-
If you use the registry as a guide, it shows the last Henry J' s serial number is 11872 and that would mean that car was built in the first part of November 1950
-
My aloha green (actually 2 tone) is the 9th earliest 6cyl in the registry, but it doesn't have the open column mount. SN# K 514 002230.
(http://i60.tinypic.com/x4mzj8.jpg)
-
Mine is #3. on the registry and I hope that I can have it finished by the end of the year. Since I had a heart attack one year ago , I've had to deal with many medical problems and am moving very slow. My '34 Ford coupe Street Rod ( all steel ) needs to be wired and it will be finished. Had it for 21 years
-
My very first car was a 1934 5 window coupe. I bought it for $75. Of course that was in 1955.
-
The color was originally supplied by Beckwith-Chandler and as of October 1950 Kaiser-Frazer's 3 main sources of paint (Ditzler-PPG, Du Pont & Acme White Lead) had yet to establish proper mixing formulas. 1951 Henry J's (many more 4 cylinder than 6 cylinder types) painted with Aloha Green also had a pint of the paint supplied in the car for dealer touch-up if required due to transit damage due to lack of availability.
The color showed as discontinued by late January 1951 which reflected not only cars in factory hands but availability for builds. It should be noted that a late November 1950 memo advised dealers that the entire scheduled output for December 1950 (total planned 1951 Kaiser and Henry J production) was already sold out between dealer, distributor and fleet orders. Best guess at this point is that the last Aloha Green HJ's, 4 or 6 were built in early December 1950.
-
mine is in the middle of the alohagreen cars
pictures someday when the 3 year old gets back to show me...lol
-
I'm still looking for that memo from November 1950 for all Kaiser cars produced showing the discontinued colors for orders in December 1950. Anyone have that?
-
If you find such a document please let me know. The only memo like that I know of says that December's production is sold out. The January order guide (that came out in late January) does not show the color of Aloha green as available & it does not show up for the balance of the model year.