What kind of automobile is a Henry?

[Naphtali]

During the opening credits of "The Professionals" (1966), starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, an automobile collects Marvin to bring him to the tycoon, Ralph Bellamy. The story takes place between about 1917 and 1921. The car has the word "Henry" as ascending diagonal script on the front radiator grill.

What is the brand and model of the automobile?

 

[Sefton]

I believe it's a FORD, as in Henry Ford.
(EDIT):OOPS! I should have Googled. BT seems to have found it.

 

[pipe23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_J

I think this is the auto in question, named after Henry J. Kaiser.

 

[BellyTank]

The "Henry J" was from 1950.
We're looking for something from the late 1910s.

http://hackleylibrary.cdmhost.com/c...OROOT=/p4015coll26&CISOPTR=10&CISOBOX=1&REC=6

http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cach...y+Motor+Car+Company"&hl=sv&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=se

Henry Motor Car Company, 1910-1912.
Apparently, no examples of the Henry survive today.

Google, in just seconds!

B
T

 

[Naphtali]

I had thought it was some Ford Model "T" variant because it appears to have a horizontally split windshield. But a neighbor has a Model "T", and they don't look that much alike. Since the vehicle, I believe, is supposed to belong to the tycoon, it is unlikely it is not a better quality, more nearly current model. Everything else about the tycoon reeks of quality and opulance.

 

[BellyTank]

Did you have a look at the photo, here:

http://hackleylibrary.cdmhost.com/cd...ISOBOX=1&REC=6

Does it strike any resemblance to the movie car?
Probably a lot of cars of that era had a horizontally split windscreen and resembled the Ford.

B
T

 

[Naphtali]

Did you have a look at the photo, here:

http://hackleylibrary.cdmhost.com/cd...ISOBOX=1&REC=6

Does it strike any resemblance to the movie car?
Probably a lot of cars of that era had a horizontally split windscreen and resembled the Ford.

B
T

The link is non-functional.

 

[BellyTank]

http://hackleylibrary.cdmhost.com/c...OROOT=/p4015coll26&CISOPTR=10&CISOBOX=1&REC=6


Try again.
Works for me...


B
T

 

[St.Ignatz]

Try "All Car Makes of the World".

 

[Naphtali]

http://hackleylibrary.cdmhost.com/c...OROOT=/p4015coll26&CISOPTR=10&CISOBOX=1&REC=6

Try again.
Works for me...

BT

The link functions. Unfortunately, the only views I have in the motion picture are front and front-quartering. The views in your link are from the rear.

 

[BellyTank]

OK.
I can't find another image of this car- apparently, no examples exist today.
I am, however, fairly certain that the movie car must be a 1910-1912 Henry.
I have not seen the film- only basing my findings on what you have said.


B
T

 

[Naphtali]

OK.
I can't find another image of this car- apparently, no examples exist today.
I am, however, fairly certain that the movie car must be a 1910-1912 Henry.
I have not seen the film- only basing my findings on what you have said.

BT

My thoughts are that such a scarce automobile as you tentatively identify probably would not have been used. What do you think?

More information. When the driver jumps from the automobile, he "accidentally" squeezes a bulb horn affixed where the outside mirror would have been. The engine sputters for several seconds. Then a weary, dusty Lee Marvin says: Yeah, me too, Lizzy.

You haven't seen "The Professionals?"

If you enjoy thriller-caper movies with best-quality cinematography, acting, and dialogue, plus Hitchcockian-style humor, you have a treat in store. When Dave Levitt and I saw the movie in 1966 at the Paramount Theater in mid-town St. Louis, we stayed to watch it twice. This is the only movie I've stayed at the theater to see again.

 

[David Conwill]

Henrys were made here in Muskegon. The factory still stands. I've never seen one outside of old photographs (which, of course, are all on my other computer). I'll have to rent this film.

They were mainly sold back east. I didn't think any existed any longer.

-Dave

PS BT's link is to the Hackley Library here in Muskegon.

 

[up196]

1915 Ford Model T Runabout

It is a Ford Model T; I don't know why it has "Henry" on the radiator. The movie car is a left-hand drive car and all Henrys were right-hand drive, so that pretty much rules Henry out as far as the make.

Anyway, Model Ts underwent many style changes over their production run from 1908 to 1927 while remaining basically the same mechanically. This is why your neighbor's Model T may look different from the one in the movie. They were affectionately known as "Tin Lizzies," just as Lee Marvin's character refers to it in the film.

I did some research in George Dammann's book 90 YEARS OF FORD and came up with the following:

It's a two-seat car with the top lowered, termed by Ford a "Runabout" in the model line

The Model T was made a brass radiator, which the movie car has, until 1917, when the radiator was changed to painted black metal. So it's a pre-1917 car.

They had a flat firewall immediately behind the hood through 1914. The design was changed for the 1915 model year to incorporate a curved cowl between the hood and windshield, as is shown on the movie car. This makes it a post-1914 car.

The 1915 Model T had brass trim on the lights and horn, as does the movie car. This was not continued in the 1916 model year, thus narrowing it down to a 1915 model.

The horn that the driver accidentally blew is not a bulb horn, but rather is a hand-operated Klaxon horn that replaced the bulb horn in mid 1915, only to be replaced itself by an electric-driven horn by the end of the 1915 season.

While wooden spoke wheels would have been standard, the movie car appears to be equipped with a set of optional Buffalo wire wheels.

Here are two similar cars, belonging to Wally and Francis Morella (with the top up) and and Bob Edwards (with the hand-operated Klaxon visible), as pictured on the website of the Santa Clara Valley Model T Ford Club. There are more 1915 Fords, as well as pictures of model Ts from the other years, on the Club's website www.scvmtfc.org.

 

[Naphtali]

It is a Ford Model T; I don't know why it has "Henry" on the radiator. The movie car is a left-hand drive car and all Henrys were right-hand drive, so that pretty much rules Henry out as far as the make. . . .

Many thanks for the information. The "Henry" in the motion picture appears to have the lower portion of the split wind screen only. The Model Ts of your graphics and my neighbor's have upper and lower portions. My neighbor's T has a sort've convertible top. Were the "Henry" to have one also, it would appear to be very difficult to assemble on the automobile shown in the motion picture. Note the wind screen is no higher than its passengers' clavicles.

 

[Atticus Finch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_J

I think this is the auto in question, named after Henry J. Kaiser.

I guess this dates me, but my parents had a Henry J. when I was a child. Even though it had a small, four-cylinder motor, the car's rear end was very light and if you let the clutch out quickly, the rear tires would spin. For several months after Dad brought the Henry J. home, Mom drove it around Beaufort unintentionally sqalling the tires at every stoplight. Dad (ever the engineer) finally put two burlap sacks of beach sand in the trunk to help solve the problem.

Dang, I hadn't thought about that car in years!

AF

 

[up196]

The "Henry" in the motion picture appears to have the lower portion of the split wind screen only. The Model Ts of your graphics and my neighbor's have upper and lower portions. My neighbor's T has a sort've convertible top. Were the "Henry" to have one also, it would appear to be very difficult to assemble on the automobile shown in the motion picture. Note the wind screen is no higher than its passengers' clavicles.

The upper portion of trhe windshield folds down into the car 90 degrees, against the back of the lower portion. If you look closely, especially when Marvin's character is getting out of the car, you can see the folded-down upper windshield frame. It's parallel to the top of the firewall, about the height of the top of the cowl lamps and the sides are behind the sides of the lower frame.

The truck at the train station has its windshield folded down too.

The movie car has a top, it is folded down behind the seat area. That type of top did not need to attach to the windshield for support. It could be put up whether the windshield was up or down as shown in this picture of a Model T touring car (pre 1915 with the flat firewall, though) from Michigan History Magazine. The top is up but the upper windshield is folded down:

And now for some langiappe:

The other car shown during the credits when the guy comes to pick up Lee Marvin's character is a Dodge.

 

[Naphtali]

The upper portion of trhe windshield folds down into the car 90 degrees, against the back of the lower portion. If you look closely, especially when Marvin's character is getting out of the car, you can see the folded-down upper windshield frame. It's parallel to the top of the firewall, about the height of the top of the cowl lamps and the sides are behind the sides of the lower frame.

The truck at the train station has its windshield folded down too.

The movie car has a top, it is folded down behind the seat area. That type of top did not need to attach to the windshield for support. It could be put up whether the windshield was up or down as shown in this picture of a Model T touring car (pre 1915 with the flat firewall, though) from Michigan History Magazine. The top is up but the upper windshield is folded down:

And now for some langiappe:

The other car shown during the credits when the guy comes to pick up Lee Marvin's character is a Dodge.

You are better than extra strength Maalox.

 

[ron521]

There are a couple of other identifying characteristics common to Model T's, but not many other cars of that era.

If you can see the front or rear suspension, all Model T's had a transverse leaf spring which reached across the axle from left to right. This was almost never seen on other cars, as it gave a pretty stiff, jolting ride compared to the separate elliptical spring for each wheel common to most other cars. On a Model T, the transverse front spring is clearly visible right under the radiator.

The other thing is, does the car have a hand crank? If it does, it is almost certainly a T. Before the invention of the electric starter, every car had a hand crank, but after the electric starter was introduced in 1912, cranks very quickly became a removeable accessory stored in the toolbox for emergency use only.

However, Ford was among the very last to offer the electric starter, even as optional equipment, so T's retained permanently mounted cranks until the end of production in 1927. Even those T's with the optional (at extra cost) electric starter, from 1919 onward, STILL had a hand crank permanently attached.

So a car from the mid-to-late teens, with transverse springs and a hand crank is most likely to be a T.
Few other cars would have had either one by that time, and very, very, few would have had both.