Yanked from oblivion and reassembled, part by part, like a giant jigsaw puzzle…
Its entire DNA was reconstructed, likely with guidance from greasy old factory manuals and parts catalogs. Dents were knocked out, ding by ding…
Then the restorer doubtless mocked up the reconstituted body-to-be, making double-sure everything would fit. Only then would she or he reassemble it, panel by panel, bolt by bolt.
Next you had to sweat the interior. Steering wheel, stick shift, pedal covers, upholstery, ashtrays, carpeting, door locks and handles—everything had to be painstakingly jiggered back in place until it could,have been placed in a ‘50s showroom, an extinct beast re-hatched, hand-fed and raised to maturity.
The exterior had to be re-chromed, re-primed, re-painted, re-polished…
And the outrageously modded engine work dropped in.
Genuinely stupefied, I asked “WHAT WAS HENRY J.? This is amazing!” To my eyes, this forgotten marque is among the most beautiful autos American factories produced in the early 1950s…
An onlooker grinned and said, “People said it looked awful. Nobody bought it.” And so I shot my photos. Hope you enjoy this little trip to automotive Jurassic Park.
