As cars in the USA became bigger and bigger after the war, one man believed in the compact car for the people: Henry J. Kaiser. Many innovative ideas were tried out, but in the end a relatively traditionally designed compact saloon was built. It was to be the successor to the Ford Model T. But the Henry J came at the wrong time. This article tells the story of the Kaiser Henry J and shows the car in historical pictures and in the sales literature of the time as well as in the clearly laid out manual.