Sears once sold cars. Here’s my opinion of The Allstate and some history of it.
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- čas přidán 12. 04. 2024
- While the Allstate was underpowered, it did represent a unique sales opportunity for the era. While today we can have a car delivered to our homes, having to assemble a brand new car in the driveway just sounds looney.
If you’d like to see an Allstate in person, there’s one in the car museum at Cooter’s Place in Luray, VA #cardesign #automotivehistory #automotive #allstate #sears #kaiserfrazer
They didnt just sell plans for houses, they sold the materials too if you wanted. I have relatives who own sears homes.
And the tools you would need to build it.
There's a neighborhood in Hellertown,PA which has multiple SEARS homes in it.
Very popular option after WW2
Correct, and a lot of those house kits are still standing today.
I don't see why anyone would find this strange. Sears owned (owns) Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances. At one time they sold house blueprints and would even deliver the building materials.
In their day, what does surprise me is that the vehicles were of low quality. Sears really did place a premium on the quality of their products, at least up until the 1980's.
Sears was the Amazon of the past.
Sears products were actually good , unlike the Amazon Basics and droves of dropshipped products with weird brand names.
Amazon is a really poor simile of business models IMO
The Allstate auto, aka, the Henry J.
What continues to boggle my mind to this day is how Sears threw away their catalog infrastructure and turned their back on the Internet
Sears also sold houses. I don't live too far from one. They also required some assembly. A lot of some assembly.
There's one down the road from me brother I talked to the old lady that grew up in it I bought a Ford LTD off of her the railroad tracks run right down the other side of the road 100 ft 150 ft
Among fans of the "Henry J" the Allstate version is very prized. They are both in great demand for people wanting to recreate the "Gasser" style drag cars of the early 60's and I think the Allstate would get a lot of attention in particular.
The Allstate Henry J had a trunk lid. The Kaiser dealer Henry J was made to access the trunk by folding down the back seat.
My father raced a gasser Kaiser in the mid sixties.
Love your accent, young lady! We had a pretty big Sears store in the city I grew up in, but if you couldn't find what you wanted they had a catalog department where you could order merchandise. I remember walking by it a number of times and there were always customers at the counter ordering stuff not regularly stocked in the stores.
They also sold motorcycles under the Sears Allstate name. Mine was a 250cc version that looked like a smaller version of a Harley. With the Brooke Stevens design.
I got my wife through a Sears catalogue. Even the portable air pump came from Sears.
Just like Allstate Insurance was a spin of Sears, Kaiser Permanente Insurance is the remanence of Henry J Kaiser, the steel company, ship building during WW2, and the automobiles.
Cool! I used to work for Sear Automotive in the 1980's. Sad that mismanagement allowed them to go under.
Enjoyed the history and the accent. Thanks
Have known 2 people that lived in Sears houses. They were delivered to your site already sawn and measured. Like an Ikea house. You or your contractor put them together. Also had a friend who had an Alstate motorcycle from Sears.
I see them every so often they are neat little cars and when ever they are at car shows no one knows what they are but I do and whenever people find out they were sold by sears they are fascinated so that’s cool
I recently found out abercrombie and fitch sold their branded shotguns.
Sears actually sold complete house kits. My son and daughter-in-law live in one that was delivered to the site back in the 30s complete. It just had to be assembled. As far as selling tires and batteries, etc. Walmart does the same thing so that’s not unusual either.
Most of Sears homes were sold as kits (about 70,000) and most are still around.
Years ago when I was a kid working construction with dad I was in the attic of a renovation project and I saw the Sears and Robuck stamped on some of the rafters. I found out that day that sears was like an institution. A piece of Americana
Sears used to sell everything. I used to put on roofs for Sears back in the 80’s.
Great video, My uncle had an Allstate motorcycle.
Very entertaining spokes-model!
I don't what accent that is... but I like it. Do more stuff
Dad gave me a HJ. Metal very thick . Cut up and made beach buggy.
Sears sold wood burning stoves for the kitchen, wood burning heaters, pianos and anything else a person could need in life unless you needed an airplane.
Sears also sold coal furnaces
Subscribed. :)
Im a old car lover its history!
The Henry J could be had with a six cylinder. They were very light weight and fast. The Allstate 4 cylinder was so-so. I had a supercharged 1954 Kaiser Manhattan, it only weighed 3200 lbs and was huge inside, very comfortable.
Sears was the Amazon back in "the day"
Toward the end, you mention another video with more details about this car, but I wasn't able to find the link.
Some might check, but i believe Montgomery Ward sold a little car called the Simca. Who ever sold them , my dad and a neighbor rebuilt 2of them.
I believe they sold more than just plans for houses at Sears, I think they were the whole house kit. Keizer used to be involved in everything (we think of them as just healthcare now), they had huge shipyards in WW2 and were involved in a top secret car project with the US govt to build a water powered car with good performance (it worked, a family member was a engineer on it) but it was dropped and buried after the war.
I would love to hear more about this "water powered car". Sounds quite interesting!
You are correct. Every bit of the wood was pre cut.
How is buying cars from a catalog any different than buying cars sight unseen from a website? Mail ordering cars would be no different than online ordered cars today. It seems to me that Carvana is doing exactly what Sears did 75 years ago. The only real difference is new versus used.
Sears, back in those days, advertised they sold everything. Look hard enough and you may stumble over an airplane.
I give her a thumbs up she knows exactly what she's talking about. Great video.
Sears would advertise mail order brides.
I think they even had gas stations. I've seen pictures of them in Upstate New York.
Downers Grove, IL has the largest group of Sears homes.
It’s funny. My grandfather used to sell new holmes from Montgomery Wards in the 1930’s. I still have his sales catalogs.
They also sold motorcycles
This isn't a short so why is it vertical
I own a sears house.
They sold scooters to
I got my moped from there lol
First time I’ve seen your videos. With slightly better production quality you could really take off :-)
It’s a work in progress! CZcams is a whole different world
Also motorcycles.
You are absolutely gorgeous
What’s Sears?
It was a big chain department store. Think Walmart, but with better quality products at its peak.
Sears and Roebucks
Sears also sold a heroin kit.
Yes. It was marketed by it's inventor, Bayer Pharmaceutical, as a cure for Morphine addiction.
At one time sears sold heroin and cocaine...I mean it was medicine and legal 🤷♂️
who are you?
Ms. Millennial, it's pronounced "Kyser."
It's just her accent.
I remember they had a 2stroke Allstate motorcyle also. Terrible bike.
4 strokes as well and they were were not bad bikes.
NGL, i can listen to you talk about cars in that beautiful accent for hours. Irritating listening to LA women talk in that end inflection speech. SMH.
Not plans. For houses. They shipped all you needed to build the house!
I love this accent lol
Sears sold houses
My memory is that the Allstate name was tied to Montgomery Ward and not Sears Roebuck. I remember, when we used to visit the Montgomery Ward store in a nearby city, seeing various Allstate items such as mopeds and furnaces.
I think you may be mistaken.
Incorrect