Hudson Rarity

[Deleted User]

I believe it was in Hemmings where I read that Chevy made 1.5 million '57 Chevys alone. Numbers like these put into perspective how few Hudsons of all years were made and what a big impact they had on the automobile industry. Kinda makes you proud. Niels

Aaron D. IL

Sure does Niels....... last year the indust as a whole dumped 17 million cars on the market and there were approximately 205 million cars on the road for America's 250 million people. That's basically a car for everyone who can and does drive.

Hudson over the course of about 48 years made under 4 million cars with advanced engineering relative to their contemporaries I might ad.

Kinda makes it look like current automakers are working themselves out of business at the rate they're producing by saturating the market. Would it kill them to NOT use robots instead of mostly human labor, produce less cars, and make slightly less profit? Could they be ok making only $10 million profit instead of $250 million ? Just something I've pondered

coverton

Does anyone out there know how many Hudsons are accounted for now ? You never see one like all the old Chevies and flat head Fords.

Big O

[Deleted User]

coverton wrote:

Does anyone out there know how many Hudsons are accounted for now ? You never see one like all the old Chevies and flat head Fords.

Big O

I think it would be a subjective guess and I'm sure there are earlier posts regarding approximations on how many Hudsons are left. I think HET has about 5000 members? Maybe add twice that for those Hudsons not spoken for? 10,000 ish?

I can proudly say that I recently saved two Hornet coupes from oblivion.

When you put it into perpective, we all are contributing to keeping these cars alive and well.

Jon B

the only way we will ever know for sure, is if each and every Hudson owner contacts the appropriate registrar for his year of Hudson, and gives the registrar the information on his car. Additionally, it's helpful if -- on encountering a fellow Hudson owner of a car the same year as yours -- you ask if he has registered his car. If not, you can give him the name of the registry keeper, or get the information and report it yourself. Some of the registries are enormous: Charlie Woodruff's 1951 registry now lists over 700 cars and Robbie Williams' 1937 registry has over 400. These lists didn't just happen. They came together because of activist volunteer registrars and willing owners. You'll find the list of registries in the back pages of each WTN.

rambos_ride

From an post I made on a different thread

Rambos_Ride...From what I can gleen from Don Butlers "The History of Hudson" between 1948-1953 there were 647,867 cars produced on the Hudson line and since, as far as I know, they were only building differing versions of stepdowns - there should be a but-load of stepdowns out there still to be discovered!



1948 117,200

1949 159,100

1950 121,408

1951 92,859

1952 79,117

1953 78,183



tot. 647,867



I don't know production numbers of the other top 10 car makers at the time - but If you took their most comparable models to the stepdown (is there really any?) would they have had the same kind of production #'s?

IF there are only 10,000 or so left that's a 97.5% attrition rate - personally I hope that there are a lot more left out there than that!

rambos_ride

Aaron D. IL wrote:

Sure does Niels....... last year the indust as a whole dumped 17 million cars on the market and there were approximately 205 million cars on the road for America's 250 million people. That's basically a car for everyone who can and does drive.

Hudson over the course of about 48 years made under 4 million cars with advanced engineering relative to their contemporaries I might ad.

Kinda makes it look like current automakers are working themselves out of business at the rate they're producing by saturating the market. Would it kill them to NOT use robots instead of mostly human labor, produce less cars, and make slightly less profit? Could they be ok making only $10 million profit instead of $250 million ? Just something I've pondered

I think the automakers are smarter than we think - 50-60 years ago did the Hudson engineers think their cars would still be desireable and on the road in 2005? I doubt it, but you know what - they built them to last anyway!



If I had the money and the lifespan - I'd bet you a meeellion bucks that if you took a 2005 model car - of any make or model - and beat the crap out of it for 50 years - then left it to sit out in the elements - that about the only thing that would be left on the car is some rusted sheet metal.



With all the wiring, relays and computers these days - does anyone really think in 50 years you would even be able to get parts to repair todays electronics - I doubt it?



But - 50 years from now people will probably still be dragging some old Hudson out of the grass and putting them back on the road! Of course I won't be around and maybe one of those being pulled from the sticker bushes will be mine - that is unless I bury myself in it!

Unknown

rambos_ride wrote:

I think the automakers are smarter than we think - 50-60 years ago did the Hudson engineers think their cars would still be desireable and on the road in 2005? I doubt it, but you know what - they built them to last anyway!



If I had the money and the lifespan - I'd bet you a meeellion bucks that if you took a 2005 model car - of any make or model - and beat the crap out of it for 50 years - then left it to sit out in the elements - that about the only thing that would be left on the car is some rusted sheet metal.



With all the wiring, relays and computers these days - does anyone really think in 50 years you would even be able to get parts to repair todays electronics - I doubt it?



But - 50 years from now people will probably still be dragging some old Hudson out of the grass and putting them back on the road! Of course I won't be around and maybe one of those being pulled from the sticker bushes will be mine - that is unless I bury myself in it!

Please do not bury yourself in your Hudson. That would be a wast of another fine Hudson.:)

coverton

Hay, don't do that they are scarce enough around here now ? I asked my mom the other day what she did with her old Essex when she sold it [she's 97 and used it teaching school during the depression] Said she did not remember but wanted me to let her know if I found it - Ha,Big O