Henry J

The Henry J was an American compact car built by the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation at Willow Run, Michigan, and named after its chairman Henry J. Kaiser. Production began in July 1950, it was introduced to the public on 28 September 1950, and it was marketed until 1954. It was conceived as an inexpensive car for buyers who could only afford a used one, financed by a government loan that capped its base price at 1,300 dollars, so early cars were a plain two-door sedan without a trunk lid or glove box. Willys-Overland supplied the four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines. Sales fell every year despite the Corsair models, the Allstate version sold through Sears and a licensed Japanese version, and the car was overshadowed by the Big Three, but it is regarded as a pioneering American compact.