The 1952 - 1953 Allstate was an remaining car that is retrieve today ( if it ’s think of at all ) for being Sears , Roebuck & Company ’s misguided attempt at entering the motorcar market .
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Sears usually goes to peachy lengths to hide the origin of proprietary products – those built by some other famed company but wearing a Sears marque . But there was no disguising the blood line of the Allstate . It was , of trend , the Sears variant of Kaiser - Frazer ’s compendious Henry J.
Most people , however , get their first smell at it in the ubiquitous Sears catalogue , and many never in reality saw a real one . With a total yield outpouring of about 2,400 unit , Allstates were n’t exactly the most vernacular automobiles on the road .
Theodore V. Houser , a Sears executive who also owned some Kaiser - Frazer stock , had been ask Henry Kaiser to build Sears a auto since the west coast construction tycoon had entered the auto business in 1945 . ( This was not the first attack by Sears to produce car : a pretty fiddling high - wheeler had carry the Sears name back in 1912 . )
Houser and Kaiser had before get together when the latter ’s steel mills give rise pots and pans for Sears ' kitchenware section . intent rendering of early , slab - sided Kaiser - Frazer sedan chair with Allstate labels were complete , but nothing number of the idea until Kaiser - Frazer produce the Henry J , announced in former 1950 as a 1951 model .
The Henry J looked ideal to Sears because of its middle - social class , economy - given patronage , and Henry Kaiser accord to produce a version for Sears . This determination caused dismay within the Kaiser - Frazer dealer organization , which fret about competition from the giant section stock and catalog merchant .
Henry ’s Word Edgar , Kaiser - Frazer ’s president , was ship to mollify the dealer : Allstates would be produced in small quantities , he told them , and would be marketed mainly on a run basis in the southeast part of the state ( where Kaiser - Frazer ’s dealer internet was notably thin ) . The trader stay unconvinced . As things turned out , Edgar was right .
Go to the next page to scan about the Allstate ’s styling and sale success ( or lack thereof ) .
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Continued
To make the 1952 - 1953 Allstate for Sears , designer Alex Tremulis was asked to contrive a hardware shuffling to give it a dissimilar look from the Kaizer - Frazer framework that it was based on – the Henry J. This involved , as Tremulis recalled , mainly " a new case . I did a festinate - up remaking of the wicket , putting in two horizontals and a little triangular spell , made up a honey oil aeroplane - eccentric hood ornamentation that looked nice , and put on the Allstate logotype with a map of the U.S. Voilá , there it was ! "
Other distinguishing exterior detail were smooth hub caps or wheelcovers without the " K , " special door ringlet , standard decklid ( this was not received on all Henry Js ! ) . Under the hood the Willys - designed flathead engine were painted spicy with orange " Allstate " lettering .
Allstate deviate more from Henry J excogitation on the interior , which Houser had wanted to be of slightly higher lineament . Kaiser - Frazer ’s home passementerie specializer , Carleton Spencer , developed a colorful plaid Deluxe interior using a novel material : coat paper fibers soaked in vinyl – an impervious fabric that had proven its durability in none other than the transatlantic telephone cable television !
Spencer combined this wakeless - obligation material with quilted saran plastic . The musical theme was to save Allstate owner the cost of slipcover , which almost every new railroad car purchaser installed in those days . Of course you had to order the Deluxe to get this interior ; cheaper role model had more stark upholstery . Other unique interior lineament admit unvarnished ( no " K " ) horn button , standard glove box ( again , not always found in Henry Js ) , and special armrests and sunshine visors .
Everything automotive that Sears , Roebuck sold was naturally applied to the unexampled car : tires , tubes , battery , spark plugs , each with their generous Sears guarantee . The Allstate as a whole was guaranteed for 90 days or 4,000 miles by Kaiser - Frazer – " which was as long as anybody would need to guarantee one of the thing , " as one critic of the Henry J put it . That ’s being unfair , since the Allstate , like the Henry J , had a good help and haunt record .
If you’re able to observe a 1952 Sears catalog , you ’ll feel the Allstate on the back cover . It did n’t reappear in the 1953 catalogue because the project was already winding down . Technically uncommitted anywhere , the Allstate was delivered almost exclusively in Dixie ; if you lived , say , in Minnesota , you would have had a heavy clock time getting one .
Price was against it , too : the low you could pay was $ 1,395 , and in practice most sold for about $ 1,600 . At a time when a two - door Ford V-8 be $ 1,500 and a Chevrolet about $ 1,550 , the Allstate was up against very tough competition . Of the minuscule product , about three of every five cars were fours and the rest sixes .
To read the specifications of the 1952 - 1953 Allstate , go to the next page .
1952-1953 Allstate Specifications
The 1952 - 1953 Allstate was for the most part the same as Kaiser - Frazer ’s Henry J , and , as such , not a gamey - carrying into action motorcar . Find specification for the 1952 - 1953 Allstate below :
Specifications
Engines : flathead I-4 , 134.2 cid ( 3.11 × 4.38 ) , 68 bhp ; flathead I-6 , 161.0 cid ( 3.13 × 3.50 ) , 80 bhp
Transmission:3 - focal ratio manual of arms ; overdrive optional
Suspension , front : self-governing , coil springs , tube shocks
Suspension , rearward : live axle , leafage springs , tube shock absorber
Brakes : front / rear drums
Wheelbase ( in.):100.0
Weight ( lbs):2,300 - 2,455
Top focal ratio ( mph):4 : 75 ; 6 : 80
0 - 60 mph ( sec):4 : 25.0 ; 6 : 20.0
