Johnson Brothers’ 1951 Henry J “Quick Charge”

The Johnson Brother’s Dodge 426 Max Wedge powered Henry J.

Walking through the Grand National Roadster Show in January, we got lost amongst the cars in the “Gassers” exhibit. When you think of gassers, the typical stripped down 50’s GM coupe or Ford Anglia comes to mind first. That visual mental image will probably include a chassis that is jacked up with a straight beam front axle and headers extending through the wheel wells.

You can imagine our surprise when we crossed paths with Rod and Jay Johnson’s “Quick Charge” 1951 Henry J in the gasser exhibit. Originally built by Rod Johnson in 1965, the purpose-built race car looked tame enough to be street legal. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

The stripped down Kaiser-Frazer product was jacked up barely enough to get the weight distribution transferred to the rear for traction under hard acceleration. Like most gassers during the time, the engine was replaced with a more powerful, and heavily modified mill, that could win at the track. The Johnson brothers powered their car with a 1963 Dodge 426 Max Wedge, and ran against the best at San Fernando, Long Beach’s Lions dragstrip, Irwindale, Fontana, Pomona, and Orange County tracks as a frequent bracket winner.

Racing until 1972 when the car was parked in “Mom’s garage,” the race car sat covered up for the next 40 years. On March 1, 2012, the crew started the car for the first time in four decades, with every part and the paint, original from the 1960s.

The car was displayed with a lot of documentation like this magazine article.

The drivetrain (engine, transmission and rearend), came from a 1963 Dodge Polara 500. The donor car was found at Valley Dodge in Van Nuys, as a fully loaded used car on the lot in 1964. As the story goes, “no one wanted a luxury Dodge with a loud racing engine.” No one except the Johnson brothers, and they only wanted the “loud.”

Making a deal with the car dealer, the brothers pulled out the drivetrain and replaced it with a 318ci Dodge that the dealership was able to sell rather quickly. The brothers had an almost new super stock engine and drivetrain, that they took home and quickly installed in their drag car.

Throughout the racing years the car remained mostly stock with the exception of their very reliable, consistent, and powerful engine. The car typically ran in the 10.70 to 10.90 range (at 125 to 130 MPH).