Kaiser

IIR the first year for the Henry J was 1950, but it could have been 1949. Anyone? I was at a car show this past weekend and saw several Henry Js made into various drag cars, usually Gassers.

Back in those days you could out run the cops, just ask any old NASCAR driver who learned to race by out running the cops with moonshine. Today, that is since about the 1960s, you cannot out run the radio. They will get you!!!!!

My Dad actually bought a Kaiser for our family car, back in the 40's.  I remember it had some cool features, such as big round pushbuttons to open the doors, instead of handles, on the inside.  It also had this wild red/blue/green plaid upholstery on the seats and door panels.  

He only hung onto it for a year or two, so I am imagining he didn't like it very much.  I was just a kid, so don't really know why.

Ceige, If you are looking in 1/24 or 1/25 your just out of luck.  The Revell Henry J is just about your only option and you would have to do the "Stock" Modifications.  If you could live with 1/43, there were some variations on the Kaiser done in that scale in the late 80's but I have been unable to find the issue of SAE where I read that.  You might do a search on the brands of Starter, Marsh and Brooklin models and find something you can use.  Best of luck.

The only kits I remember were fifties vintage. I know there was the Henry J.  Either the kit Mark mentioned above could be built as a stock, or else there was a seperate stock version kit.  Seems to me there was also a Darrin kit.

Thanks MarkDW

Thanks ranger.  

There's a 72 year old gentleman in my apartment building who had a 48 and he has told the story about out running the Police when he was a young man.  He stated that he loved that car because it never screeched a tire when going at a VERY high speed around a corner while as the Police would never attempt it for fear of crashing.  He loved that car but, when he went into the military his father sold it and he really wanted to keep it.  My guess is they were fairly poor.  Anyway, he's told that story a hundred times.  Early signs of dementia I believe.  I just wanted to make the model as close as I could from his memory, enclose it in a nice display case and give him a good memory.  Yes, please do check around your resources.  We BOTH would appreciate it. I'm 62 and would hope someone would do the same for me one day if my memory starts to fail.

Revell made a street rod version of a Henry J...should be out there on Ebay.

If my auto history serves me right the Kaiser-Fraizer was made between 1945? to 1954?. I think it was merged into Willey's. They were made at Willow Run (IIR) where Ford had built B-24 bombers during WWII. Again this is from memory. I have only seen a few of the real thing and have been a modeler for 50+ years and do not recall ever seeing a model of one of these cars, not even in die-cast. Look into the history of Jo-Han models and AMT as they did the models that were displayed at dealerships "back in the day" that is the 50s and 60s. Lindberg also did older cars in its early days. I'm a big fan of the post war 1940s autos, especially the "woodies" so I'll look through some of my resources.