Oblong Hudson Bumper Bolts Study

Browniepetersen

My new bumper bolts showed up this weekend. The attached photo's show them--naturally, the shiney ones are the new ones. On my car there were eleven bolts and one was larger than the rest (1 1/2") The old bolts were steel with a chrome cap. The new bolts are the same size as the rest of my bolts (1 1/4" at the longest point) and they are all stainless. I have not polished them and they look and fit great. I purchased them for $8.00 each from Dennis Carpenter at http://www.dennis-carpenter.com they are on page 90 of his catalogue. I am very happy with them...;););)



The center bolt is the larger one. The two on the end with nuts attached are the two new ones. The other three are the old ones (I needed to add this key because they all look good in the photo?

Park_W

It's good to know D.C. has these, Brownie. Especially for me, since he's only an hour's drive from here!

RL Chilton

Brownie-



Which car of yours are these for?

Browniepetersen

These are for the English Hudson. For the 39 Custom I took a set of mixed year bumpers, ground them smooth and then welded in the bumper bolts. They are smooth across the full bumper with no bolt holes. They chromed up real nice. We will custom fit the front and rear bumper into the fenders. Should look nice...:):) I'll pop on a photo (I learned how this weekend) later today...

RL Chilton

Browniepetersen wrote:

These are for the English Hudson. For the 39 Custom I took a set of mixed year bumpers, ground them smooth and then welded in the bumper bolts. They are smooth across the full bumper with no bolt holes. They chromed up real nice. We will custom fit the front and rear bumper into the fenders. Should look nice...:):) I'll pop on a photo (I learned how this weekend) later today...

Like to see that. Interesting, it looks as though Hudson used these same bumper bolts for more than 20 years. Prime example of "If it ain't broke . . ."

Browniepetersen

OK guys, all bets are off. On the 4th of July I attended a local car show and Mr. Glen Johnson brought along "The Golden Hudson". What a fantastic car with a great history. Anyway, this 46 has bumper bolts that do not look anything like the original ones I have or the new ones that I bought. They are about the same size but they do not have the taper that my bolts do. They are oblong but more square than tapered? Hudson might have done something different, but then again who knows?

RL Chilton

It would not surprise me at all that they are different on Glen's 'vert. Hudson parts changed a lot sometime from year to year. I'm sure it had to do with which supplier was used, who could get the parts to Hudson most efficiently, etc. War shortages (Korean conflict, WWII, WWI) all led to shortages on parts and I'm sure Hudson used leftovers from previous times, or temporarily used a supplier on interim times until their "regular" supplier was back on-line, to use a modern term. I've seen this very phenomenon with one Hudson compared to another, even of the same year. The Independents, I'm sure suffered the pain of strapped vendors more than the big 3 did.



I haven't had a chance to call Glen lately, as I've got a couple of boxes of parts to give him at the Nat'l. I was hoping he was bringing the Golden Jubilee car to the Nat'l. Last time I was at his place, he was in a hurry and I didn't get to lay eyes on it, except to see the car cover. I've still only technically seen it in pictures.

Browniepetersen

Glen has some great cars. It is always fun to go on a tour with him because you never know which car he will bring. I was supprised when he showed up in the Golden Hudson. It is some car. I get to see it quite often so perhaps I am a bit jaded? He has a new stepdown chopped top hot rod that his son Cary brought. It was a fun time.:):)