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Two Henney-Packards just appeared on Facebook and one is a mystery as it appears to be 1951 or 1952 Henney Junior which supposedly didn't come out until 1953. Long ago, I recall seeing a photo of an earlier one but I thought it was an error.

On this one, it clearly has a 1953 front clip but note the rounded windshield corners which were squared off for 1953 and 1954. At first I thought that maybe it was a Service Car but if it were, it would have seams for the rear side doors, yet there are none in these rather poor photos which were posted to Facebook as screen captures (not sure why people do that!).

Having owned Henneys since the '60s, I should know what this is but I'm afraid I don't so any ideas?

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Hi Don

Check page 242 of Mr. Neal's 1951-1954 shows this combination of 1951-'52 windshield and 1953 Junior features. Just conjecture, the first few '53 Henney Juniors utilized stamping available in stock. As you know, so much handwork went into the body construction, this wouldn't be unusual.

Steve

That is also what I suspected but nice that others have come to the same conclusion! I have a Professional Car book somewhere that shows a 1952 Henney Junior according to the caption but the book is filled with errors so at the time I didn't take it too seriously.

There really shouldn't be a mystery about these early Henney Juniors. Tom McPherson, recognized authority on Henney, notes in his history of the Henney Junior ("The Professional Car, #145, 2012) that the first 35 kits supplied by Packard to Henney for the Junior were 25th (1952) Series models. There are several images of them in the article, including one in a Henney advertisement for the Junior.

Another of these 1952-style Juniors was at Hershey this year, I'll post a photo and info about its vehicle number tomorrow.

Here's the early, 1952-style Henney Jr. seen at Hershey this year. Thanks to Stuart Blond for the photo. That appears to be another Henney owner/historian viewing it, George Hamlin. The Henney serial number of this vehicle is 2533-3, motor number K222396, and theft-proof number B25689. The theft-proof is very early in the 1952 range as known.

PS- sorry for the inverted picture, first time that's happened to me. Maybe someone more skilled than I am can flip it for me?

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Flipped!
Wes

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By the 2533 VIN the one in your photos is clearly a 1952 but I've not been able to locate the seller of the one that started this post. It does have a 1953 front clip with '52 styling but whether it was sold as a 1952 or as a 1953 (or whether a '52 with the clip replaced) is the main question that probably cannot be answered without knowing the model number.

According to Bob Neal's book, only two 1952 2533 (Junior) Henney models were built, and those were prototypes. Added to the decoder in the event they surface. They had 52 front ends and 288 motors, but were based on a 127 wb.

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follow-up. According to Bob's book, the 2533 Junior Chassis prototypes were later sold in 1953, but with front sheet metal replaced with '53 Junior sheet metal.

Looks like another Packard for Don to add to his collection??