'53 Henry J - my new toy
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Ain't that just the cutest thing you ever saw!
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Sixty years ago, 1959, I was five years old and spending the summer at my Grandma's house where I found a die-cast model in the attic. Grandma said my Dad had bought it about ten years before, right before he went to Japan in the Air Force. She said he had wanted to buy the real thing but settled for a model at that time. I didn't know what kind of car it was then but I knew I wanted one someday.
I've been keeping my eye open for one for years. It's rare to find a stock Henry J anymore. Most any Henry Js you see around anymore were hotrodded and raced as gassers at the 1/4 mile dragstrips back in the '60s and '70s.
I found this one in Elgin, IL. I bought it from a 78-year-old who needed some bucks for restoring his '49 Studebaker, I stole it for $9200! I am debating whether to keep it stock or not. I think a 6mge would be a good swap.
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Its so unusual to see one in stock condition that'd be a shame to modify it. The only ones I've ever seen were modified but in 30 years of going to car shows I've seen maybe three or four, always with a v8 engine and slicks. If you wanted to put a Toyota engine in one, you could probably start with one of those messed-o-rods as it would already have a heavy-duty driveline and you could sell the v8 to someone building another project.
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