HENNEY

John W. Henney & Co. (1916-1927)

Henney Motor Co. 
Freeport, Illinois (1927-1954)

Canastota, New York (1959-1960)

This is a Henney Packard hood side trim emblem (1939-1942)  mjs
Size: 57mm diameter   MM: None

The Henney family had been in the wagon and buggy building business for many years, starting in 1868 and then with the Henney Carriage Company in 1879 and followed by the Henney Buggy Company in 1912. The John W. Henney Company was established in 1915 and began to build truck bodies. A motorized Henney funeral coach was introduced in late 1916 built on an assembled chassis and powered by a six-cylinder Continental engine. By the early 1920's, Henney was one of the best known names in the funeral car trade in America.

Between 1921 and about 1932, in addition to funeral cars and ambulances, Henney built about 30 limousine and sedan passenger cars to custom order, as well as a production run of 50 sports phaetons. In 1929, Henney also produced 100 taxicabs on a stretched Model A Ford chassis and in 1930 to 1931 came the magnificent Henney convertible sedan car, only four of which were built and these were the last of the Henney passenger cars. 

The company was renamed the Henney Motor Company in 1927, the same year as the introduction of the highly successful NU-3-Way coach, a funeral car with a three-way casket table, which could be loaded from either side or the rear. The same NU-3-WAY table was also used on Henney ambulances.

By 1934, Henney abandoned the assembly of their own chassis and concentrated on bodywork built on chassis from other manufacturers, including Cadillac, Lincoln, Oldsmobile, Packard and Pierce-Arrow. From 1937, Henney used Packard chassis exclusively until the Henney professional car business finally closed in 1954.

The Henney Motor Company had a factory in Canastota, New York, where Henney joined the National Union Electric Corporation to build the first transistor-regulated electric car, the Henney Kilowatt. 47 of which were made in 1959-1960.

Emblems

In 1916, the Henney Buggy Company was a branch of the Moline Plow Company and was building commercial vehicle bodies on Ford chassis, see advertisement shown below:

Henney commercial body ad (1916)   ebay

These commercial vehicles carried a Henney tag at the rear, similar to the  example shown below. These Henny Buggy Company tags are rare.

This is a Henney Buggy/Moline Plow tag (1912-1916)     mjs
Size: 65mm wide 18mm high

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The following metal John W. Henney radiator emblem was used on Henney funeral cars and other vehicles in the 1920's up to 1927 and may have been used from 1916 but I cannot confirm this. This Henney radiator emblem is scarce.

This is a Henney radiator emblem (poss 1916-1927)   mjs
Size: 58mm wide 44mm high   MM: Unknown

The following Henney hubcap emblem was displayed in the early 1920's:

This is a Henney hubcap (early 1920's)    dkc

Close-up showing the hub emblem 

The following painted, cast aluminum Henney Motor Company emblem was used as a hub emblem from the change to the Henney Motor Company in 1927 but I cannot confirm the date range. This Henney hub emblem is scarce.

This is a Henney hub emblem (1927-c1930 date uncertain) mjs
Size: 72mm wide 57mm high    MM: None

It is possible that the Henney Motor Company emblem shown above was also used as the radiator emblem but I cannot confirm this. 

The following is a Henney Nu-3-Way funeral coach emblem used from 1927 and was possibly mounted inside the vehicle. This Henney emblem is scarce.

This is a Henney NU-3-WAY emblem (1927-date uncertain) mjs
Size: 58mm wide 33mm high   MM: Grammes

The Henney radiator emblem was changed in about 1931 to the following painted, cast metal design. This Henney radiator emblem is scarce.

This is a Henney radiator emblem (c1931)    mjs
Size: 115mm wide 39mm high   MM: Unknown

The following appears to be the equivalent Henney trunk emblem. This painted, cast metal Henney trunk emblem is scarce.

This appears to be a Henney trunk emblem (c1931)   mjs
Size: 180mm wide 42mm high   MM: Unknown

In the 1930's, the Henney hubcap used the same hub emblem as for the early 1920.s, see example shown below:

This is a Henney hubcap (1930's)   forums.aaca

A surviving 1932 Henney Model 10 funeral car displays a round painted radiator emblem, which is also seen on this same vehicle's hubcaps, see photo below:

Henney Model 10 hearse with radiator emblem (1932)  conceptcarz

This Henney radiator emblem is questionable and is believed to be a Henney hub emblem incorrectly used during restoration.  

From 1934, Henney ceased using its own chassis and built funeral cars and ambulances on other chassis, see the 1936 Henney Pierce-Arrow "Arrowline" ambulance example shown below, which has a Henney Pierce-Arrow emblem at the base of the radiator, although the emblem detail is difficult to see from the photo.

Henney Pierce-Arrow ambulance (1936)    wmcc 

Close up with emblem at base of radiator (1936)

This is the painted metal Henney Pierce-Arrow emblem shown below. This Henney Pierce-Arrow emblem is rare.

This is a Henney Pierce-Arrow emblem (c1936)   mjs
Size: 96mm wide 60mm high   MM: Unknown

From 1937, Henney used Packard chassis exclusively for its funeral cars and hearses. In 1939, Henney professional vehicles using an extended Packard Super Eight chassis carried a red Henney emblem in place of the usual Packard hood side trim emblem, see example shown below: 

This is a Henney Packard Super Eight funeral car showing hood side trim emblem (1939)  bonhams

Henney Packard Super Eight hood side trim emblem (1939) bonhams

This same Henney emblem was used on the hood sides of Henney Packard Landaulet models through 1942, see example shown below:

Henney Packard Landaulet Funeral Coach with hood side emblem (1942)   ms

This is the red enamel Henney emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Henney emblem is scarce.

This is a Henney Packard hood side trim emblem (1939-1942)  mjs
Size: 57mm diameter   MM: None

This emblem has been seen painted in unusual colors, see below. This emblem is part of an emblem collection made in the 1930's and very early 1940's. I cannot confirm that this emblem was used on a Henney vehicle.

This is a painted Henney emblem (date uncertain)   sam
Size: 57mm diameter   

Henney Packard professional vehicles also displayed the "Henney" name on a metal emblem mounted behind the rear access step, see below:

Henney ambulance showing rear step & emblem (1940) nhaa

Henney rear step emblem (1939)  bonhams

This is the Henney rear step emblem:

This is a Henney rear step emblem (c1937-1954)   mjs
Size: 152mm wide 52mm high   MM: None

Some later Henney Packard funeral car and ambulance models displayed the "Henney" name in script form mounted low down on the front body side, see example shown below:

Henney Packard landaulet funeral coach with body side script (1954)     wmcc 

Henney ceased building professional cars in 1954 but in 1959, Henney built the Kilowatt electric car based on the Renault Dauphine, see example shown below. Only 47 Henney Kilowatt cars were built, mostly sold to electric utilities companies.

Henney Kilowatt showing hood emblem (1959)    wi

This is a painted cast Henney Kilowatt hood emblem. This Henney Kilowatt hood emblem is very rare. 

This is a Henney Kilowatt hood emblem (1959-1960)  flickr
Size: 90mm wide 80mm high    MM: Unknown