Words: Chadly Johnson
It would be interesting to put a number to how many people have seen a car in a magazine, then became obsessed with finding that same type of car. It happened to me personally. When I spotted Chris Elmer’s “Green Grenade” while casually flipping through a rag, I could hardly sleep until I found a Model A coupe, gave it a radial hair cut and stuffed a hemi into it. Well, the same holds true of Tom Duttrey of Olympia, Washington the day he locked eyes with a Kellison J5 coupe. Sleep became a distant memory as he scoured the planet for a J5 of his own. Then, one day, one appeared on Craigslist in Florida with no phone number in the ad… Don’t you hate that? Tom frantically sent an email, then another, followed by another for several days. Now this may or may not sound like a good idea, but it paid off for Tom. The owner contacted Tom and stated that he had received a great number of emails, but the highest number of them had been from Tom, so he figured he was the guy to call first. Sometimes persistence really pays off.
If you are like me, you may be not at all or at least not very familiar with the Kellison name. Jim Kellison founded the company in 1950, and released his first offering of the J4 in 1957. His second version was the J5, of which 320 to 330 examples were built… and apparently only 3 with tilt front ends. Exact numbers are lost to time due to an office fire that destroyed production numbers. The J5 stands at a height of only 40”, the same as a Ford GT40. The J5 had 5” longer doors than its predecessor the J4, and a stretched wheel base of 102”. One of the most unusual aspects of the J5 is its “under slung” frame, which is the main reason for its very low profile.
Tom had the Kellison delivered from Florida by a shipping company, and it arrived with two Corvettes on the same transport. The driver explained that he had picked the pair of Corvettes up at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky and that shortly afterwards the floor of the museum collapsed into a sink hole. What a crazy event that car enthusiasts will never forget.
When the J5 arrived, it was wearing Cragar tires with wide white walls, a style that Tom describes as a “daily driver” appearance. Tom mounted on a set of NOS Kelsey Hayes wires and dropped the white walls. Tom was happier with this look, but would soon take the Kellison’s appearance in a more aggressive direction. A set of 15×5.5” and 15×8.5” Torque Thrust, along with some pie crust drag slicks in the corner of Tom’s shop, seemed to be calling the Kellison’s name. After some minor trimming of the J5’s rear wheel wells, the drag race combo slide into place. Tom was very pleased with this rendition.
From the Kellison plant the J5 ran a 1949-52 Studebaker front windshield and a 1949 Cadillac fastback rear window. The rear window was replaced by a custom vented version that Tom had made, along with unique vent side windows made of lexon. While digging through the extensive paper trail history of his car, Tom found a note that the previous owner had a lexon front windshield built and installed into the J5 in 1992, but it was followed up by the comment that the window fell into the car while driving, so the Studebaker version was reinstalled.
Future plans for the Kellison include a bigger engine with the thought of actually drag racing the car competitively, but for the now the 335hp 348 engine will handle driving duties. The W engine is backed by a T10 trans that feeds a tri-five Chevy rear end with 3:55 gears. Other features of the J5 as it sits today include: an early corvette suspension, 56-62 corvette gas tank, Stewart Warner gauges, and an early corvette radiator which, due to the small front grille opening, cools poorly. A revamp of the car’s front end would be in order to run a stouter power plant for drag racing. The thought of taking the knife to the ultra-rare tilt front end makes Tom’s stomach churn, so we’ll see what becomes of his desire to race the car. Until that decision is made, the J5 will continue to be enjoyed “as is,” and Tom will have one car fewer to cross off his bucket list.
