whitworth nut.
   Basis for the Excalibur was the Henry J, an ungainly compact - one of the first after World War II. The name stemmed from its creator. Henry J. Kaiser, the wartime shipbuilder turned automaker. Henry J engineering was at best conventional; its styling, as the late Tom McCahill said, resembled "a Cadillac that started smoking too young. Kaiser's sales manager. W.A. MacDonald, looked at the thing and shuddered: "How am I going to peddle this monstrosity? I just wonder if my salary's worth it."
   Long before the first Henry J was built, chassis engineer Ralph Is Brandt had shocked a boardroom full of Kaiser yes-men by voting to shelve the project. "I realize you have the right to throw me out of here," he told an open-mouthed Henry Kaiser, "but this idea is so ridiculous I couldn't attach my name to it." Isbrandt soon found himself working for Ford . . .
   Henry built his "shining dream car for America" anyway, because he'd used the design to promote a fat government loan for his ailing Kaiser-Frazer Corporation. But the Henry J drained funds that might have gone into a desperately needed V-8 for the larger K-F cars. This and similar gaffes eventually cost Kaiser his Willow Run, Michigan, automobile business. The Henry J was a sales disaster. After an initial spurt in 1951, sales rapidly dwindled. In its last year, 1954, only 1,123 units were sold.
   But a funny thing happened on the way to the graveyard. Enthusiasts, hot rodders, and backyard engineers discovered that the six-cylinder Henry J was quick. In standard tune - which meant only 80 horsepower from 161 cubic inches of long-stroke L-head - this little torpedo could leap from zero to 60 in 13 seconds, which was mind-boggling in 1951. A raft of customs and racing cars were duly built, most proving that a little knowledge about cars can be dangerous. But one professional used HJ underpinnings to construct a surprisingly successful sports car. His name was Brooks Stevens, and he called his car the Excalibur J.
   Stevens was one of the earliest practitioners of the automotive styling art after Harley Earl invented it in the late twenties. He'd met Henry Kaiser after World War II, and served K-F as
a design consultant, vainly proposing facelifts for the slab-sided cars Henry began churning out in 1946 - vainly, because management liked them the way they   were.   But,   for  1951,  the   company   came

Original design rendering by Stevens and Charles Cowdin Jr.

up with a striking new big car design, and corporate life signs revived long enough for Stevens to propose a Henry J-based roadster.
    "As a member of the SCCA," Stevens wrote Kaiser in early 1952, "I've always desired to contribute an American-built sports car within the reach of the medium-priced buyer. As an industrial designer, it is interesting to see what can be done with certain American components. My plan is to build three prototype      cars     using       Henry      J | 100-inch wheelbase |
 

chassis, modified in engine locations, suspension characteristics and steering, two Willys F-head engines of the lastest design with factory approved modifications, and one Alfa Romeo 1900cc engine with factory approved tuning. The bodies are to be built with a light-weight tubular structure and aluminum outer skin."
   The dohc Alfa-engined Excalibur, Stevens recalls, "was planned more as a control experiment than for possible production, to compare performance.

Brooks Stevens and his car, 1959.