Enter the Henry J

In its dealer showrooms across the land, Kaiser-Frazer Corp. this week finally rolled out its small "low-priced car," the four-cylinder, 100-in. wheelbase "Henry J." At $1,300 f.o.b. Willow Run (a six-cylinder model costs slightly more), it was a good bit more than the $1,175 President Edgar Kaiser had promised last February (TIME, Feb. 20). He blamed the difference on higher materials costs and the 12-17-c- wage boost granted recently to K-F's workers.

K-F, which was close to the ragged edge last year when a $44 million RFC loan saved it, had already moved into the black in July with its sleek, rakish Kaiser. Last week, K-F, which is making 400 Henry Js a day, turned out a new daily peak of 1,200 cars. Furthermore, Edgar Kaiser predicted 1,600 a day as soon as a second shift gets rolling. Edgar also had thinned out K-F's inefficient dealers by trimming the number of agencies from 4,600 to 2,400.

Despite the pickup, K-F thought it had better have an anchor to windward. Last week Chairman Henry J. Kaiser asked the stockholders to authorize the company to go into the shipbuilding business. Kaiser, who made his reputation as a World War II shipbuilder operating seven Government-owned shipyards, now operates none. But with talk of a big new Government program (see Shipping), World War II's top shipbuilder thought that he could put his know-how to use developing a profitable sideline for K-F.

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