"1950 Custom Henry J" "Way Back Story" How a teenager built a full custom*back in 1960,on a low budget* ! I got a 10 year old used Henry J in 1960,@ $75,was not running do to a broken tranny. Being a teen at the time,and just started High School,plus having part time job at a Custom Body Shop for extra $ n learn stuff. This is a "Way Back Story" as I'm now 82 YO..long time from the teen I was,doing my "J". At first I was only going to clean up a little n fix the J tranny { Tranny $20 from junkyard},so I'd have a car with roll up windows n top. I got the "J" mainly as a rainy day car ,my 28A Roadster hotrod had no top. I though I was kind of cool, mix with teen probs.. Found out girls liked better a car,that did not blow there hair out. or get rained on= Inclosed car was needed for date nights.. The "J" was small total of 2400lbs ,n came with a 4 cly FH { same as a Army Jeep [ a slow pig ] }. With in a few weeks it was fixed n running along with new pullover seat covers from Western Auto. Only got to use it on two dates,before my buddy Bob,who I had been helping out on his hotrod Ply Coupe.,We were trying to put a Olds Rocket 88 in his. Bob got in a mess,I knew nothing about! ;Judge told him go in Navy or to jail ! Bob tells me.if I want the Olds Rocket 88 n tranny,he'll help get it to my house , before he ships out,, "YES" So just over a month,after owning the "J" ,I was stuffing the Rocket 88 n Hydramatic in the "J"= super big power jump!!!! That big Olds V8 n Hydro gave the "J" a lot rake> Front down,ass up,was the cool look thing anyway around town. The week after getting the big Olds running in the "J" with my homemade automad. floor shifter. At the body shop,,owner George ask me too clean out the back corner ! Of left over car parts from repairs. There was a 1955 Thunderbird folding top*,had been left behind ,after George had customized a 55 T-Bird for a guy.that looked like a very cool Cady Sportscar !! T-Bird owner had never come back for the folding top.. I asked if I could keep it " Yes"= I thought it was cool an in pretty nice shape,except for shop dirt. There was also a number of other dented or bent car parts that George had been keeping{ thinking he would work on then to use if needed ! >had never got around to too it / owners often wanted new parts used on the fix job. It gave me idea's of maybe making the "J" into something like a T-Bird or Vett;two seat kind of sporty flip top,custom car ! That started a hunt for any other parts that looked like could be used as custom stuff in the "J". I dragged home any junk that seemed good to try. Some just ended up being trashed again. My tape-measure showed me,T-bird folding top was same size,door window to door window as the "J". But after thinking about and then cutting the roof off the "J" { "J"s are fast back bodys },I know I need a all new front windshield and some thing to fill in the giant hole< the missing fast back made. My buddy Rob Bean,told me, from our talking about "J" customizing ,= about a junked in the woods near by ,53 Study coupe last week,only the engine was gone! So off we go,into the woods,and truned out the Study rear window was PERFECT,after putting the tape on it. It was = the very same size from side to side as the "J" door windows of the "J",plus being wraparound rear window that was tinted with very nice statinless trim all around it. Right there was my perfect front windsheild. Had to get the hold thing,with surrounding part of the steel body that was the frame work it set in. So Rob an I went back to get some tools. Trick was to remove Study rear window with out screwing it up. Marked a cut line on body about 6 inchs away on out side edge of rubber seal. Then with hammer an Chisel,cut the body all the way around and lefted the hold thing out. That way,I also had enough body metal to trim as needed an weld into the cut off base of the "J" front windsheild. For the top part,,I made a pattern to fit 55 T-bird Top,so it would clamp together> way it had on the T-bird. Test fit was done,before all the cutting,with top opened an Study rear window just laying on the top of "J" dash just behind the back of hood= Let me move it around,front to back=so T-bird top side window,back edge opening matched the same spot as the "J" door window { so door windows/ that I had not made yet out of Plexiglass/to run in "J" door track in rear of door,but had to made custom front track. The placement of things worked out very well. That left the fairly big hole from the removed fast back,that I had cut away about 6 inchs below the top of rear fenders { My "J" was the cheep-O model with no trunk openning at all,an no glovebox ether. In the clean out junk from the Body Shop,was damaged 60 Chevy Hood{ the outer rear corner were bent from hood flying open{ owner did not have it latched an drove,wind got it and flipped up, He had George put a brand new hood on owner almost new car. George let me have the bent hood,that I then gutted all the bracing out of an trimed the sides down to the hole size,with the Chevy hood now back ward an as rear trunk top for "J" . With gutted,there was just enough flex in the hood skin,to match the curve going down to were I could mate up with whate was left of lower part of "J" metal . Trimed and welded that,after matching the rear of hood/that is now front what made the body from 4inchs under the rear of T-bird folding top. { made lock down pins like Ford had on T-bird to hole rear of top to new rear of "J" cockpit { The ark of Back edge of Chevy hood was already a match to inside edge of base of T-bird top. The "J" Dash was never pretty,there was a 52 Desoto in the same woods,stripped out,but the dash was all there,tell I took it out gages ,metal an all. To put into the "J",I had a cut it some,so the 3 tunnel gages lined up with steering. Later to make it look good,I put a full patted dash cover. Only hard part was making some of the gages work 12V. I shorted the steering column so a 56 Lincoln deep dish steering wheel fit. The stock "J" bench seat was not very comfortable n not in good shape,even with the new covers. Looking in the junkyard for other stuff,I sew a crashed 55 Chevy Nomad,the front seat was nice Leather looking cream n OJ. I ask how much for the front seat { If you remove it $25,if have to $50} I removed it and took it home,even though Had not had my tape with me to check size{ This seat turn out to be too wide tell I removed all the outer edge trim;That made it pretty with the door open in the Nomad n the adjuster handel for front to back sticking out;;; With all that gone,the "J" Doors would just close on to the outer ends of seat padding,zero gap. But looked far with the new door pandels Cream n OJ that Newt made me. I made alum small polished flat panel for the outter ends of seat,just as trim for when door was open{ As all the Chevy ends would no longer fit. Storeage was by flipping the seat forward,and putting stuff in the hole were a trunk would been { As I did not even try to made a openning truck of anytype. I used two Starter motor solenoids to open doors,after removing outer door handels,used a button to kick door open hiding in side lip of fender. The rear were Chevy hood was smooth into part of base trunk metal,still look unfinshed,so I added medal to were the rear bumper would been,making a full rolled rear pan. Trashed the stock "J" rear bumper at that point,now with full roll. I ended up making 2 Nerf Bars,made from some type of Stainless Steel Boat Bracket I cut up into 2 "T" shapes n polished to look like chrome. Made Fold back Tag Box,that was to get to gas cap that bleanded into the rear roll. Stock "J" tail light holes are just right size for 1959 Cady Buttet tail lights,but to make those a bit custom,I cut about 1.25in. off the rear tips,an put the tip up inside the cut off bullet { Polished cut edge with toothPast }= Now looked like a JET ENGINE. The stock "J" fins have a dip near the back edge,that makes them look like Cady fenders. I liked 57 better,so I made metal fill in,too a straight line along top of fin that bended into the same shape as "J " frender. The Wheel wells of a stock "J" have a nice factory design flair pressed as indent around the openings. I got some polished stainless steel sheet left over from a Ketchen job Dad had done. With it and some cutting of wheel well edges,I made stainless interflairs ,Kind of sexy looking,with the colored lights up inside the fenders,hooked to the radio{ High tone,red,low tone Blue,flashed to the songs{ My Sister BF,was a zippy radio guy an made the light box for me. } The "J" Hood,I bull nosed * { Stock was a 1/2 hole into center,then gong } I used 6 added ,1956 Buick portholes, into hood close to center,facing to look like intake scoops for 3 x2. The Headlights,I tunneled 2.5 inch an welded blended the rings into the fenders,,adding Stone screens inside= with screen pattern that was very close to the 1958 Ford alum grill insert I resest in as a grill. As a Front bumper,I fixed a bent,to straight the end that was bent, 60 Corvair front bumper{ It was the very same size/wide as the "J"= the bumper "V" matched the hood "V " shape. So I made a bumper to grill pan { it was just black painted } With Fog Light behind grill. Wipers were a pair of 12V I had remove from another junk car,I don't remember what brand it was even. The paint after I had primered it,was done by George on a weekend free-B. Super nice of him. Was amazing OXBLOOD GOLD FLECK MAROON.he mixed him self . He didn't ask,just did it. I won first place full custom in many indoor shows 60 ,61 plus ,second place in a few,we often had 10 or more full customs pre show,around Fla. By /63 was in Car Craft Mag. Jan 63,coverage of a late 62 Dinner Key / Coconut Grove Fla. Show.
Thanks Moriarity I've always been good at scrounging,collecting anything that maybe handy n free. In early 50s it started with bike parts and then lawnmover engines, n so on ! Dragging home junk crap,to fix other junk ,tell there was things= working stuff. An good to trade with,for something. needed. My art work,friends and places I picked to work for an learn from*.Helped. Buy my own tools an some welding tanks n equipment,made it come together,plus I could help others,who also helped me. No internet ,but being in 3 car clubs at the same time,was the internet of the times !. Trading parts,work n ideas. Like we do here,but was face to face back then. Buy-the way ! ,The two style bumps molded by Chevy into the 60 Chevy hood.were super close to the very same style n size of those on side of the front an rear fenders of the "J" as made by the Kaiser Frazer Factory ,so that matched up really well n looked right at home. Thanks all HAMB'ers I still get mad,thinking about who ever took my "J" The mid pic,n matching pic,was me working at adding a 3/4 Cam to the Olds V8,so rad was next to come out! My Dad just giving advice,he total hated getting his hands dirty,but loved giving out advice,some times very good stuff too.! Even though he would not put hands on,tell I had any part,I wanted him to hold or move, had to be good to eat off of.! LOL! Dad could make anything out of wood in the hole world!!! DO IT WELL.[ Pic,is another of puting in new 3/4 cam in 61, it made Olds V8 sound better,really didn't need it,"J" was very lite, could smoke tires before an after about the same.. Hindsight tells me: I just junked my time n $ doing that 3/4 Cam ,seemed cool though at the time...
Well Gee Whiz zard What an account. I could see the pieces remodeled to make a cool 'envelope'. In the past when you've mentioned it I would try to imagine what/how it looked. Thanks for the info. OH and Yeah Jr. Hi was plastic kit models fer me. I still have rotten feelings about stolen parts. ( but wrecked, or let go of, whole running cars ) I had to tell myself that the hobby was to enjoy + not have ill will. Still at times growl about thievery. Never tho, had a whole project lost. Except that a SS Malibu'65 no longer was worth it after a raid from 'Midnight Auto' One time a new car, but so what, nothing that personal. Thank You Dana
Cool story Dana and nice job! There probably aren't many guys who can say their car was in car craft magazine!
Cool beans. Thanks for sharing the great story with us. Your story exemplifies one thing that is a lot different between customizing then and customizing now. Back then more often than not guys did go out and cut parts of bodies out of a donor car or cut up left over parts to use to customize their cars. Now they hand form the part to fit.
I left out some small details; I can fill in any one,if they ask on other things too ; The fender/wheel scoop stainless panels I added,were trimed on the outter edge with polished alum. formica edge trim. to give a finished look,were stainless is seen meeting the outter fender; it was also what held stainless in place,the back lip of edge trim is were screws to hold it in place ,were hiding under stainless , trim strip. Cut "V's" in to the bottom lip so it would make the nice bends. Rearview mirror was from the newest car at the junkyard,$5 ,a all stainless type that glued to the inside of windsheild.
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