When Sears Sold Cars: The Strange Tale of the Kaiser Henry J

 With all of the corporate bean-counting, market predictions, and sterilization that occurs within the automotive industry today, it is sometimes easy to forget how weird and convoluted things could quickly become "back then". No other car exemplifies this volatile complexity more aptly than the Kaiser-Frazer Henry J.

 
Conceived by the indomitable Henry J. Kaiser as a cheap and compact alternative to other American offerings, the curvaceous Henry J was first presented for sale in September 1950, after an earlier press reveal in Chicago. The car was priced at an unusually low $1300, due to the car being developed at the behest of a government loan. In order to turn a profit at this price point, the Henry J was built with a “Spartan” mindset, eschewing many simple features that were standard on its contemporaries. The seats were composed of tightly woven paper strands, the dash was a simple painted metal affair, it featured no glove compartments, and even neglected to include a trunk lid! Power (or lack thereof) came from a wheezy 68 HP inline-4 and a still woefully-inadequate 80 HP inline-6. Despite the relatively progressive styling and competitive price, the Henry J was not a showroom star. To alleviate some of his sales issues, Henry Kaiser turned to Sears, Roebuck and Co., and proposed to sell a rebadged Henry J under the already-established Sears automotive accessory line, “Allstate”.

While the Allstate was indeed a thinly-disguised Henry J, a few minor cosmetic changes stood out when the two nearly identical cars were compared. For choosing an Allstate over a Henry J, the buyer got: the engine painted a lovely Sears-blue, an interior done up in an exclusive plaid scheme for the headliner and seats (I love me some tartan!), and best of all, a Tucker–influenced front clip, penned straight from Alex Tremulis, the man who designed the legendary Tucker Torpedo.  All this splendor was sold along with pre-installed Sears-brand spark plugs, battery, and bulbs. Fancy!


Pictured: Pure, unadulterated Highland luxury

Shockingly, a plaid interior was not enough to trick people into thinking it was a different car. Sales stagnated, and the Allstate was canned after only two years with just over 2,500 cars produced.  All in, the Henry J and its associated brothers sold a total of 131,702 cars in a three-year span. This may seem like a substantial amount, but for comparison, the sales leader for 1953 model year was Chevrolet, with 1,346,475 cars sold. That was only one year of sales!

 However, the Allstate diversion was not the strangest of the Henry J story. In yet another “interesting” sales venture, Kaiser struck a deal with Mitsubishi to produce his prized Henry J in Kawasaki, Japan. Marketing his little sedan toward Americans stationed in the area, Kaiser-Frazer became the first American corporation to set up shop in post-war Japan. Following this, Kaiser turned his sights on Israel. He managed to have his Henry J manufactured in an Israeli factory that built also built Mack trucks.

Dedication of Kaiser-Frazer in Japan

 So, let’s take a step back. We have an American businessman with an oh-so-German last name, building funky little American cars in Japan and Israel, all while selling some through Sears-Roebuck department stores under a different name.

You can’t make this stuff up.  

2014 Camaro Z/28: The Bad is Back

Photo credit: Autoblog.com

Like many of my fellow enthusiasts, my automotive preferences lie with low-weight, high-power performance cars. This sector is primarily filled with stripped-out Porsches, Ferraris, BMWs and Audis, which are more often-than-not unobtainable to the common working man. This disturbing trend of “less weight means more money” was not always the case, though. In the late 1960’s, America found itself embroiled within an internal motorsport battle-royale. The SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) developed a racing series called the “Trans-Am Series” that featured production-based race cars, which participated in either the Under 2.0 Liter or the Over 2.0 Liter class. European manufacturers, such as Alfa Romeo and Porsche, competed alongside the best America had to offer, with race-offerings from nearly every corporate division.

Grid from the Golden Era of Trans-Am racing

Ford developed the Mustang Boss 302, while sister company Mercury offered the Cougar XR7. Chevrolet masterminded the almighty Z/28, and the S-Code designation for the Plymouth Barracuda was made specifically for the Trans-Am series. These cars were piloted by some of the biggest racing names ever to grace the tarmac, drivers such as Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, and Swede Savage. However, my absolute favorite of the legendary Trans-Am drivers has to be Mark Donohue and his Penske/Sunoco Camaro Z/28.  

No other classic racecar has left quite the same impression on me than the royal-blue-on-yellow Sunoco Camaro. With Donohue at the helm, the Sunoco Camaro snagged the first place in the ’68 and ’69 Trans-Am series, thus cementing the Z/28 into racing history. The Trans-Am battle was not just relegated to the track, however. Trans-Am fever spilled over onto the streets of America as homologation specials roared from stoplight to stoplight. While the Boss Mustang badge was discontinued in the mid ‘70s, the Z/28 proved to have staying power. The Z/28 badge was carried on from ’68 through ’74, reintroduced in ’77, and continued all the way up until the final Camaro year in 2002. With the demise of the Camaro, it meant the demise of the Z/28, and the end to a road-racing legacy. Sure, some of the Z/28 models in the ‘70s and ‘80s were less-than-inspiring, but the badge was always so damn mean. The death of both the Camaro and the Z/28 legacy was a huge blow for the masses of Camaro fans worldwide.

However, I’m happy to report the Z/28 has returned to the world of the living. The badge is back. The ‘mean’ is back.

The bad is back.

Photo credit: Autoblog.com 

At the 2013 NYC Auto show, Chevrolet revealed one of the most hardcore vehicles it has ever produced. The 2014 Camaro Z/28 sports a 300 lb. weight reduction, thanks in part to thinner glass, a diet-heavy alacantara-swathed interior, and new lightweight wheels. Cog-swappers, rejoice; The Z/28 is a manual-only muscle car. The Camaro receives a heavily reworked chassis, carbon-ceramic brakes, and a sexy front-splitter/undertray system. Lets go back to the previous statement; Carbon-ceramic brakes….on a Camaro! What a world we live in…..

It also is fitted with a new engine, and oh my goodness, what an engine it is.

I have not been looking forward to the eventual and inevitable death of the C6 Z06 Corvette. The discontinuation of the Z06 would mean the discontinuation of the LS7, which in my eyes, is one of the greatest American V8s produced in the last decade. GM must have noticed my tearful depression, and amazingly, the 7.0L smallblock has been given a lifeline with the Z/28. Oh yes, America has a 427 Camaro once again. Do I smell a factory Yenko package on the horizon? I sure hope so. And for those not convinced, here is what you have to look forward to:

Lets recap. A lightened, manual-only 500 HP 427 Camaro with active-aero, Recaro seats, and carbon-ceramic brakes. Oh my. If that does not get your heart racing, please visit your doctor, because that’s the greatest list of options ever to grace an American muscle car, ever. If its not already apparent, I’m just a bit excited.

 These statistics are all well and good, but how does the Z/28 stack up to against its competition?

Well, the inadequate resurrection of the Camaro ZL1 nameplate has the Shelby GT500 covered, and the parts-bin special 1LE Camaro faces the Mustang GT Track Pack. The obvious choice would be to compare the Z/28 to the new Boss 302, but Ford dashed the hopes of fans everywhere with the news of no Boss for the 2014 model year. That being said, lets do a little math and logic to see if the Z/28 can come out on top.

In a comparison between the 2012 Camaro ZL1 and the quite ridiculous 2013 Shelby GT500, the GT500 is bested around a track setting by roughly one half-second. Then, according to Chevrolet themselves, the ZL1 is whipped by the Z/28 on an unnamed track by over a mind-boggling three seconds per-lap. Enter Boss, stage left; the ZL1 trounces a Boss 302 Laguna Seca by about two seconds in this professional MotorTrend comparison. Don’t even bother with the Dodge Challenger SRT8 392, as I highly doubt the too-heavy cruiser could even best a Mustang GT around a track. Also withheld are the Cadillac CTS-V and Corvette due to a higher price point and the fact that the Corvette is not a muscle car.  So, without any real world tests, drag strip rumbles, or diagnostics, we can unofficially say that the Z/28 is the fastest muscle car around a track setting. You can keep your 660 HP quarter-mile missiles, Shelby. I want this Camaro GT3 RS.

Photo credit: Autoblog.com

The return of the Z/28, Boss, Stingray, and ZL1 within a two year span indicates much for the future of American muscle. Maybe we will see a return of the Chevelle, 442, CobraJet, and Mach 1. Maybe a Boss 429?

How about we bring back Pontiac, first.