Does anyone know how many Sears Allstate cars exist today?

[nick8086]

I found this on line tonight - What does Henry J stand for:

 

HENRYs. The acronym stands for High Earner, Not Rich Yet.

 

 

[marcapra]

I think the Henry J stands for Henry J. Kaiser.  In all of my years of old car watching, I've only seen two Henry Js, or Allstates.  One was junked in a guy's back yard who had lots of non-running old cars in San Diego in the 1980s.  The only other time was while driving on I-15 in Temecula, where I live, I saw a Henry J or Allstate cruising north in the fast lane!  

[Billy Kingsley]

Definitely Henry J. Kaiser. 

 

I've only ever seen one Henry J and unfortunately it was not stock. At least it wasn't a gasser. I've never seen an Allstate version. 

[8E45E]

8 hours ago, Bryan G said:

Thought: suppose they'd waited 10 years to try their hand at the car business. By then Sears was anchoring more and more shopping malls nationwide. They could have offered rebadged Larks...

Sears did give away 10 Avantis with Allstate tires in 1964.

 

https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum/your-studebaker-forum/general-studebaker-specific-discussion/1915751-sears-avanti-giveaways

 

https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum/your-studebaker-forum/general-studebaker-specific-discussion/1917995-avanti-build-sheet-question

[Bryan G]

I was giving this some thought. Sears, Roebuck & Company was on top of the world in the sixties. Imagine this: what if they BOUGHT Studebaker? 

1. Sears was, I suppose, the largest seller of lawn mowers and other power equipment in America. The purchase would have given them Onan engines & Gravely. 
2. All those new shopping mall locations had plenty of parking, room in the corner of the sales floor for a showroom, and an auto center that would lend itself to being a full-fledged service department.
3. In more rural areas the traditional independent dealers could handle sales & service.
4. The Lark & Studebaker trucks were a good fit for the practical kind of people who shopped at Sears.
5. The retailer operated one of the largest delivery fleets in the USA, plus their TV & appliance service fleets. Many trucking companies obtained GMC or IH franchises since they bought so many trucks, thus cutting out the middleman. Tenneco bought J.I. Case because they bought so much construction equipment. Sears could have produced its own fleet. 

Folks could stop by Sears, pick out the car, finance it through Sears, insure it through Sears (Allstate), service it there...of course, they were also a pioneer at importing things from Japan. The cars might have all been rebadged Datsuns soon. They tried their hand at manufacturing their own goods from time to time but never stuck with it. And we all know what happened to the company since those glory days. But I do think it makes a good "what if?"

[Bloo]

It is an interesting thing to think about, but somewhat complicated by the fact that Studebaker didn't go bankrupt as far as I know. They had diversified into other things, and no longer considered car manufacturing profitable. In the following years they were caught up in an endless string of corporate acquisitions and mergers, making it kind of hard to tell where they went. If I am not mistaken they finally ceased to exist in the mid 90s.

[Frank DuVal]

1 hour ago, Bloo said:

It is an interesting thing to think about, but somewhat complicated by the fact that Studebaker didn't go bankrupt as far as I know. They had diversified into other things, and no longer considered car manufacturing profitable. In the following years they were caught up in an endless string of corporate acquisitions and mergers, making it kind of hard to tell where they went. If I am not mistaken they finally ceased to exist in the mid 90s.

Yep, and a similar story with the Graham brothers, they just stopped car production, did not go out of business.

[Crusty Trucker]

 

Here are two pictures of early model Henry J's (1951). The The tail lights were small and round, not on the rear fender tips.

 

 

For 1952-1954,  the tail lights were moved to fin tips and either back-up lamps or block-off plates were used where the earlier

tail lights were located, per these photos:

 

     

 

 

The 1953 Sears Allstate was reviewed by(Hemming's) Special Interest Autos #155, Sept. 1998, author Arch Brown, reprint, 2013. The example in the article has an opening (optional) trunk lid.

 

 

Here is the website:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2013/09/01/sia-flashback-1953-allstate-henry-j-in-drag

 

 

 

 

[rocketraider]

Think for a minute and try to envision a market where old Henry J had targeted the same "upscale compact" market Nash did, had spiffed up his namesake car to compete in such a market, hadn't had to contend with Korean Police Action materiel shortages, and hadn't got caught in Big Three sales wars.

 

His little "sawed-off Cadillac" might have done well for itself!

[8E45E]

6 hours ago, rocketraider said:

Think for a minute and try to envision a market where old Henry J had targeted the same "upscale compact" market Nash did, had spiffed up his namesake car to compete in such a market, hadn't had to contend with Korean Police Action materiel shortages, and hadn't got caught in Big Three sales wars.

He would have had to offer more than one body style.  Besides the two door sedan, a upscale hardtop and convertible would have rounded off the lineup.  And on the sedan, more comforts, including rear windows that lowered and less spartan interiors, along with two-tone exteriors would also give the impression of being more upscale.

 

Craig

[knee55]

The number of Allstates produced is 2,363. 

[Duck Flower]

I have Sears Allstate tires on my Chevy

[Walt G]

When they were new I remember a Henry J here in the west end of the village I reside in Floral Park, NY . I used to see it everyday parked on / near the last few blocks of Crocus Avenue as I walked to elementary school. It wasn't long before one door had a big dent in it that the owner never had repaired. I thought it was neat because 1) had an odd name 2) was the only one in town 3) even then I liked "orphan" makes of cars and history as to who made it. Never knew of any Kaiser-Fraser dealership in the area at all . Packard , yes.Also Plymouth, and DeSoto.

[SC38dls]

Our neighbor had a Henry J that the dad drove forever. Great looking car until his son got hold of it and changed it into a drag car and crashed it on a quarter mile run one Saturday. This was in the early 60’s a lot of them became strip hot rods. 

dave s 

[JACK M]

47 minutes ago, SC38dls said:

This was in the early 60’s a lot of them became strip hot rods. 

Yup, a high school buddy put a 312 in one.

[31nash880]

Right up there with a 350 in a vega.

[TAKerry]

There was a very nice Allstate for sale listed in the not mine section awhile ago. I recall it being in MD, maybe DC area.

[Jubilee]

In 1956 or 57 I won a Henry J in a poker game. I was still in high school.

Think it went in the pot for $45-$50. ( A ‘49-51 Ford was $100-$125)
The next day, the guys dad got a hold of my dad and nulled the deal.

The guys dad owned the Conoco station and gave me two-three free tanks of gas, worth $6-$9.

Thanks forum for the memory jolt.

[TAKerry]

I have read through and following this thread, I am not sure it has been answered but Where did one buy an Allstate car? 

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

20 minutes ago, TAKerry said:

I have read through and following this thread, I am not sure it has been answered but Where did one buy an Allstate car? 

 

 Sears & Roebuck.

 

  Ben

[Frank DuVal]

Inside the main store!

[TAKerry]

I assume you could put it on your Sears charge card! 

[8E45E]

17 minutes ago, Frank DuVal said:

Inside the main store!

And only in the southern states, as it was only being test marketed by Sears.  Sales of the Allstate never did get high enough to expand the sales area to cover the rest of the United States and Canada.

 

Craig

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

I seem to remember they were in the catalogue, too.

 

  Ben

[Jim Skelly]

10 hours ago, Ben Bruce aka First Born said:

 

 Sears & Roebuck.

 

  Ben

presumably Simpson Sears in Canada; (scratch that thought based on what Craig mentioned above)

Edited October 25, 2022 by Jim Skelly (see edit history)

[JACK M]

22 hours ago, 8E45E said:

And only in the southern states, as it was only being test marketed by Sears.  Sales of the Allstate never did get high enough to expand the sales area to cover the rest of the United States and Canada.

On 3/6/2022 at 10:25 AM, JACK M said:

I don't remember if it was Tacoma or Seattle Sears store as I would have been about four years old and we had family in both cities.

But there was an Allstate car right beside an escalator that I also recall enjoying . So the car would come into view as one rode the down escalator.

 

I wish I could remember what I had for breakfast.

 

[Roscoe]

One of the guys semi local to me that I see at the petit jean swap meet every year has an Allstate he pulled out of a junk yard recently. It's rough, but I actually considered buying it for a split second, before sanity kicked me in the rear. Well, I called it Sanity. I also call "it"- " Honey" "sweetheart" and "Just one more old car..." 🤣

[8E45E]

1 hour ago, JACK M said:

I don't remember if it was Tacoma or Seattle Sears store as I would have been about four years old and we had family in both cities.

But there was an Allstate car right beside an escalator that I also recall enjoying . So the car would come into view as one rode the down escalator.

I got my information from a Popular Science new car buyers guide. 

 

I can see Sears putting an Allstate in the department stores in the major cities to whet potential buyer's appetites, perhaps rotating one between stores.  I wonder if the Pimpsons-Queers stores in Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver ever got one for temporary display.

 

Craig

[JACK M]

Could have been a temp one off display.

It wasn't like they had a line up of them. LOL

Seattle had a pretty large store if I recall.

I also remember that they sold chocolate first display inside the front door. My mom hated that.