"J" at 2400# with the 6 cly* vs not the small 4cly { Red Seal Cont. Jeep 4 } 6 cly was a bit of a hotrod already. I got a $75 ,used 1950 "J" 4cly,no trunk or glove box with broken tranny ,in 1960. A buddy going into Navy ,gave me his Olds 88 n tranny ,from the rod I had been helping him with! The "J" engine bay was pretty big,so could fit most V8s n tranny hump fair too. I stuffed V8, Olds Rocket 88 into my own "J". I already had built my 28A hotrod,an "J" was my #2 car* ,didn't take long before I started custom work on it. Custom work went pretty fast,as I was working part time at Body Shop after school n sat. By the time I was done=It was a show winner,full custom an in Car Craft mag. So ya,I went another way,not to the drags with "J".
Henry J, my favorite car when I was a kid. I too, always wanted one. My uncle Stan Noble drove the 6 cylinder stock car “J” when they were new. That was a car that was way ahead of its time.
I like to think I'd be willing to put up with the headaches of a trunkless model to have one just for the novelty. I bet that would wear off quickly in real life, though. Gawd, I love racey Henry Js. -rick
Another car in this genre but rarely seen is the Willys Aero, I would see one while on my paper route when I was a kid, it was parked in a driveway some distance from the street, always thought it resembled a Henry J, one day it was moved closer to the street and a guy was working on it, I don't recall any other features about it though. I had been indoctrinated fairly early on from seeing Henry J drag cars in my pals' older brothers' hot rod magazines so when I spotted the pie crust slicks sticking out of the wheel openings it really impressed me as I had never seen a race car in person. Here's a neat one.
Joey, I was indoctrinated at young age too, more like 8 or 9. My folks owned a small bakery in an older part of town with the store front directly on the street. People would walk down the sidewalk and “window shop”. About three doors down was a corner gas station and parked in the front corner was their altered Henry J with fender well headers, straight axle and the best part I thought was the replacement orange windows with plexiglass. I also build several model kits styled after actual drag cars we watched at Edgewater Drag strip on Saturday nights.
The Jalopy Journal
