Calling All Hudson Historians, Alvis/ Hudson connection
A friend of mine (also a Hudson owner) had a guy contact him yesterday inquiring about any information connecting the Hudson Motor Car Company and the FWD Alvis car.
Here is his info (long read!)
The following is all the data I’ve accumulated on the Front Wheel Drive Alvis car.
1928 FD Front Wheel Drive s/c, chassis 7308, engine 7688, car 12017.
Known & suspected owners:
? Hudson Motor Car Co., Detroit, MI ?
? John V. Oliveau, 397 Wellngton Road, Mineola, NY (dealer) ?
? Studebaker Corporation, South Bend, IN ?
? Bendix, Corporation, South Bend, IN ?
Richard Lamport & Le Roy Kramer, Jr. of Illinois circa 1935 - 1938
George C. Rand, Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY & George C. Rand, Inc., Queens, New York, NY
D. Cameron Peck, 140 West Ontario Street, Chicago, IL
Paul H. Cadwel, Conshohocken, PA & City Line Avenue, Philadelphia, PA & Later 5339 Langston Avenue, New Port Richey, FL 34653, 813 847-0634
Thomas McKean, Jr., Parkes Run, Ithan, PA
Ned Huddler, Whalen & Castner Ford, Great Barrington, MA
F. M. “Mal†Decker, Decker's Body Works, 37 Church Street, Great Barrington, MA
Dr. Peter J. Livesey, White Cottage, Moorend Common, Frieth, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 6PU, 01494 881453, 01628 890 428, e-mail: 101320.706@compuserve.com <mailto:101320.706@compuserve.com>
Additional Data:
Alvis, Ltd. Car Record:Â* FD 12/50 Front Wheel Drive s/c, chassis 7308, engine 7688, car 12017.Â* Rudge Wire Wheels.Â* Supercharged.Â* Chassis Only.Â* Complete equipment.Â* Despatched on 20 December 1928 to Henleys, Ltd., Euston Road, London
Alvis, Ltd. Guarantee Card:Â* 20/12/29.Â* Henlys.Â* SC.Â* FD.Â* 12017.Â* Chassis.Â* E 7688.Â* C 7308.
Reportedly sold to the Hudson Motor Co., Detroit, Michigan.
Was it sold to Hudson or Bendix, or Studebaker, or did it go to Hudson and later Studebaker and/or Bendix, or none of the above? Â*
In the late 1930’s the FWD was registered in Illinois.Â* Studebaker and Bendix are in South Bend, Indiana, closer to Illinois than Detroit.
Dr. Edward J. “Jerry†Bradley, of Park Ridge, IL, owner of 3∠Litre Saloon, UJ 8587, in the early 1970’s, told me he received the following information from Gene Staples, who reportedly had worked on the FWD.Â* Staples heard the Alvis was involved in an accident in which a pedestrian was killed (another account is that a Hudson test driver was killed), while it was owned by ? Studebaker ?. The car was apparently then relegated to storage, until it was discovered by Richard Lamport, and/or Le Roy Kramer, Jr.Â* Lamport, who may have worked for Studebaker, and Kramer, who worked for GATX, a railcar leasing Co., purchased the car and had it reactivated, perhaps by Gene Staples.Â* They did not care for the body on the car, Kramer wrote on the back of a photo that from the rear it looked like an inverted bathtub.Â* So, they had a new body built by a Serbian panel beater yclept ‘Honeycomb Massi’.Â* After a couple years, the story goes, Lamport and Kramer sold the FWD on.
A period photo, taken in Lafayette, Indiana, signed “To A. C. Olney with best wishes Le Roy Kramer, Jr.â€, shows a man, perhaps Kramer, in the FWD, now with its new body, sans wings.Â* A 1938 Chevy is in the background.Â* So, it must be 1938, or later.Â* Another photo, apparently taken at the same location shows a partially obscured Illinois registration, 740 5??. Â*
Photos of the Thomas McKean FWD taken at a 1949 meet in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia and at Canton, Connecticut, on 30 July 1949, show what appears to be the same body.Â* Now with wings, probably from a Model A Ford, and a 1949 Pennsylvania registration, 2PE 89.Â* The back of the above mentioned photo had the following note.Â* "Tom McKean, 1928/29 Alvis, 7/30/49, Brass Lantern Inn, Canton, Conn, 1:00 PM - about one hour before accident."
The D. Cameron Peck archives reside in The National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library.Â* Photocopies I received from the librarian reveal that Mr. Peck purchased the FWD from George C. Rand, Inc. of New York City on 16 October 1944 for $400.Â* This is the same George C. Rand who raced various sports cars with, and was President of, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) in the late 1930’s.Â* Mr. Peck took a Pierce Motorette in part exchange when he sold the Front Wheel Drive to Thomas McKean.
Paul Cadwell, who lived in Conshohocken, PA, operated a service station on City Line Avenue, in Philadelphia, was an acquaintance of D. Cameron Peck and Thomas McKean, Jr.Â* Paul told me he purchased FWD 7308 from Cameron Peck and sold it to Thomas McKean.Â* I suspect he brokered the car, or perhaps just transported it.Â* Paul told me McKean removed the Lucas headlamps and replaced them with Domestic lamps to meet Pennsylvania State Inspection requirements (Sealed beams were required).Â* Paul later sold the Lucas lamps.
Thomas McKean enlisted a repair shop, operated by John Sweat, to perform some maintenance on the car.Â* Roy Wilson, who was at John Sweat's repair shop in Philadelphia when McKean departed on the ill-fated trip, recalled that John Sweat begged McKean not to take the Alvis, because it wasn't ready.Â* A young mechanic in Sweat's shop had just repositioned the accelerator from the original position, between the brake and clutch pedals, to the right side of the brake pedal, and there was more work to be completed.
Thomas McKean Jr., who was 40 at the time, was killed Saturday 30 July 1949, on a Sports Car Club of America run over the back roads of Litchfield County, Connecticut, when his FWD, failed to negotiate a curve, left Route 20, crashed into a culvert, and overturned, about 2 miles from Hartland Center.Â* McKean died soon after being admitted to Litchfield County Hospital.Â* Russell G. “Russ†Sceli (see'-lie) (R. G. Sceli & Co., Inc., 1249 Main Street (Rear) Hartford, CT, Tel. 2-1144 - Largest assortment of imported cars in central Connecticut), the organizer of the run, told me he visited McKean in the hospital just after the accident.Â* Russ said McKean, who was conscious and taking the thing as somewhat of a joke, said "I just went into the turn too fast and lost it.Â* I wasn't too familiar with the car as I'd only driven it up here".Â* Russ said McKean seemed more concerned about John Speese, his passenger, and was relieved to know John was ok.Â* At McKean's request Russ had the car towed to a garage in Winsted, CT.Â* When Russ called the hospital later he was shocked to learn McKean had died.Â* The doctor told him the car had landed on his chest, crushed his lungs and there was nothing they could do to save him.
Thomas McKean was President of the Antique Automobile Club of America in 1946 & 1947.Â* The son of Thomas McKean the author and playwright, grandson of Judge McKean, and a descendent, and namesake of Thomas McKean, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Chief Justice of the United States during the Revolutionary War, and later Governor of Pennsylvania.Â* Thomas McKean donated the McKean collection of Automotive Literature to the Automotive Reference Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
At my request Henry Wessells asked John Speese if he would speak with me about the accident.Â* I spoke with him in March 1991.Â* John told me they were about half an hour into the SCCA run at the time of the crash.Â* The cause of the accident was a combination of overheating and the lack of a gasket between the bottom of the windscreen and the cowl.Â* This allowed boiling water to hit them in the face as well as obscuring vision through the windscreen.Â* McKean failed to see the curve in time, the Alvis left the road, hit a culvert and overturned.Â* John Speese, Jr., 25 at the time, was thrown from the car, hit his head and was rendered unconscious.Â* He learned of McKean's death in the hospital.Â* John was released the following day after treatment for cuts and bruises.Â* Â*
Thomas McKean’s widow, Virginia Marshall McKean, asked Russ Sceli to dispose of the Alvis for whatever he could get.Â* Russ told me the car was towed to a garage in Winsted, CT.Â* However, he sent the Pennsylvania title to Ned Huddler of Whalen & Castner Ford, Great Barrington, MA to be filled out by the new owner.
The new owner was Mal Decker of Decker's Body Works, Great Barrington, MA.Â* He owned the car until 1969, but did nothing with it.Â* Fortunately he stored it inside.
In a letter of 27 November 1949, Tobe Tobin told Mal Decker of a conversation with John V. Oliveau, a dealer in imported cars of 397 Wellington Road, Mineola, NY.Â* Mr. Oliveau told him he took the car in trade on an Alfa Romeo from a man in Chicago and sold it to a man in Detroit??Â* No date of the transaction was mentioned.Â* Perhaps that was prior to the reported Bendix ownership??? Â*
FWD 7308 has been owned by Peter Livesey, since 1969, when he purchased it from Mal Decker, after a chance conversation while attending a VSCCA race at Lime Rock Track, with Donald Paton, in Donald’s TK 12/60 tourer, the previous year.
Hell's Confetti GazetteÂ* No. 2, April 1980, article, Travels of a FWD Fanatic, by Pete Livesey, an account of his adventures finding, purchasing and retrieving the FWD.Â* (See below)
Jerry Sherman, Henry Wessells, Alan Ballard, Bill Borden, and John Troxel all remembered the FWD.
A..............
Wayne
Wayne Brooks
North American Representative
Alvis Owner Club
P. O. Box 46
140 Race Street
Bainbridge, PA 17502-0046
717 426-3842
Fax 717 426-0104
Mob 717 575-5860
E-mail waynealvis@aol.com
Here is his info (long read!)
The following is all the data I’ve accumulated on the Front Wheel Drive Alvis car.
1928 FD Front Wheel Drive s/c, chassis 7308, engine 7688, car 12017.
Known & suspected owners:
? Hudson Motor Car Co., Detroit, MI ?
? John V. Oliveau, 397 Wellngton Road, Mineola, NY (dealer) ?
? Studebaker Corporation, South Bend, IN ?
? Bendix, Corporation, South Bend, IN ?
Richard Lamport & Le Roy Kramer, Jr. of Illinois circa 1935 - 1938
George C. Rand, Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY & George C. Rand, Inc., Queens, New York, NY
D. Cameron Peck, 140 West Ontario Street, Chicago, IL
Paul H. Cadwel, Conshohocken, PA & City Line Avenue, Philadelphia, PA & Later 5339 Langston Avenue, New Port Richey, FL 34653, 813 847-0634
Thomas McKean, Jr., Parkes Run, Ithan, PA
Ned Huddler, Whalen & Castner Ford, Great Barrington, MA
F. M. “Mal†Decker, Decker's Body Works, 37 Church Street, Great Barrington, MA
Dr. Peter J. Livesey, White Cottage, Moorend Common, Frieth, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 6PU, 01494 881453, 01628 890 428, e-mail: 101320.706@compuserve.com <mailto:101320.706@compuserve.com>
Additional Data:
Alvis, Ltd. Car Record:Â* FD 12/50 Front Wheel Drive s/c, chassis 7308, engine 7688, car 12017.Â* Rudge Wire Wheels.Â* Supercharged.Â* Chassis Only.Â* Complete equipment.Â* Despatched on 20 December 1928 to Henleys, Ltd., Euston Road, London
Alvis, Ltd. Guarantee Card:Â* 20/12/29.Â* Henlys.Â* SC.Â* FD.Â* 12017.Â* Chassis.Â* E 7688.Â* C 7308.
Reportedly sold to the Hudson Motor Co., Detroit, Michigan.
Was it sold to Hudson or Bendix, or Studebaker, or did it go to Hudson and later Studebaker and/or Bendix, or none of the above? Â*
In the late 1930’s the FWD was registered in Illinois.Â* Studebaker and Bendix are in South Bend, Indiana, closer to Illinois than Detroit.
Dr. Edward J. “Jerry†Bradley, of Park Ridge, IL, owner of 3∠Litre Saloon, UJ 8587, in the early 1970’s, told me he received the following information from Gene Staples, who reportedly had worked on the FWD.Â* Staples heard the Alvis was involved in an accident in which a pedestrian was killed (another account is that a Hudson test driver was killed), while it was owned by ? Studebaker ?. The car was apparently then relegated to storage, until it was discovered by Richard Lamport, and/or Le Roy Kramer, Jr.Â* Lamport, who may have worked for Studebaker, and Kramer, who worked for GATX, a railcar leasing Co., purchased the car and had it reactivated, perhaps by Gene Staples.Â* They did not care for the body on the car, Kramer wrote on the back of a photo that from the rear it looked like an inverted bathtub.Â* So, they had a new body built by a Serbian panel beater yclept ‘Honeycomb Massi’.Â* After a couple years, the story goes, Lamport and Kramer sold the FWD on.
A period photo, taken in Lafayette, Indiana, signed “To A. C. Olney with best wishes Le Roy Kramer, Jr.â€, shows a man, perhaps Kramer, in the FWD, now with its new body, sans wings.Â* A 1938 Chevy is in the background.Â* So, it must be 1938, or later.Â* Another photo, apparently taken at the same location shows a partially obscured Illinois registration, 740 5??. Â*
Photos of the Thomas McKean FWD taken at a 1949 meet in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia and at Canton, Connecticut, on 30 July 1949, show what appears to be the same body.Â* Now with wings, probably from a Model A Ford, and a 1949 Pennsylvania registration, 2PE 89.Â* The back of the above mentioned photo had the following note.Â* "Tom McKean, 1928/29 Alvis, 7/30/49, Brass Lantern Inn, Canton, Conn, 1:00 PM - about one hour before accident."
The D. Cameron Peck archives reside in The National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library.Â* Photocopies I received from the librarian reveal that Mr. Peck purchased the FWD from George C. Rand, Inc. of New York City on 16 October 1944 for $400.Â* This is the same George C. Rand who raced various sports cars with, and was President of, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) in the late 1930’s.Â* Mr. Peck took a Pierce Motorette in part exchange when he sold the Front Wheel Drive to Thomas McKean.
Paul Cadwell, who lived in Conshohocken, PA, operated a service station on City Line Avenue, in Philadelphia, was an acquaintance of D. Cameron Peck and Thomas McKean, Jr.Â* Paul told me he purchased FWD 7308 from Cameron Peck and sold it to Thomas McKean.Â* I suspect he brokered the car, or perhaps just transported it.Â* Paul told me McKean removed the Lucas headlamps and replaced them with Domestic lamps to meet Pennsylvania State Inspection requirements (Sealed beams were required).Â* Paul later sold the Lucas lamps.
Thomas McKean enlisted a repair shop, operated by John Sweat, to perform some maintenance on the car.Â* Roy Wilson, who was at John Sweat's repair shop in Philadelphia when McKean departed on the ill-fated trip, recalled that John Sweat begged McKean not to take the Alvis, because it wasn't ready.Â* A young mechanic in Sweat's shop had just repositioned the accelerator from the original position, between the brake and clutch pedals, to the right side of the brake pedal, and there was more work to be completed.
Thomas McKean Jr., who was 40 at the time, was killed Saturday 30 July 1949, on a Sports Car Club of America run over the back roads of Litchfield County, Connecticut, when his FWD, failed to negotiate a curve, left Route 20, crashed into a culvert, and overturned, about 2 miles from Hartland Center.Â* McKean died soon after being admitted to Litchfield County Hospital.Â* Russell G. “Russ†Sceli (see'-lie) (R. G. Sceli & Co., Inc., 1249 Main Street (Rear) Hartford, CT, Tel. 2-1144 - Largest assortment of imported cars in central Connecticut), the organizer of the run, told me he visited McKean in the hospital just after the accident.Â* Russ said McKean, who was conscious and taking the thing as somewhat of a joke, said "I just went into the turn too fast and lost it.Â* I wasn't too familiar with the car as I'd only driven it up here".Â* Russ said McKean seemed more concerned about John Speese, his passenger, and was relieved to know John was ok.Â* At McKean's request Russ had the car towed to a garage in Winsted, CT.Â* When Russ called the hospital later he was shocked to learn McKean had died.Â* The doctor told him the car had landed on his chest, crushed his lungs and there was nothing they could do to save him.
Thomas McKean was President of the Antique Automobile Club of America in 1946 & 1947.Â* The son of Thomas McKean the author and playwright, grandson of Judge McKean, and a descendent, and namesake of Thomas McKean, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Chief Justice of the United States during the Revolutionary War, and later Governor of Pennsylvania.Â* Thomas McKean donated the McKean collection of Automotive Literature to the Automotive Reference Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
At my request Henry Wessells asked John Speese if he would speak with me about the accident.Â* I spoke with him in March 1991.Â* John told me they were about half an hour into the SCCA run at the time of the crash.Â* The cause of the accident was a combination of overheating and the lack of a gasket between the bottom of the windscreen and the cowl.Â* This allowed boiling water to hit them in the face as well as obscuring vision through the windscreen.Â* McKean failed to see the curve in time, the Alvis left the road, hit a culvert and overturned.Â* John Speese, Jr., 25 at the time, was thrown from the car, hit his head and was rendered unconscious.Â* He learned of McKean's death in the hospital.Â* John was released the following day after treatment for cuts and bruises.Â* Â*
Thomas McKean’s widow, Virginia Marshall McKean, asked Russ Sceli to dispose of the Alvis for whatever he could get.Â* Russ told me the car was towed to a garage in Winsted, CT.Â* However, he sent the Pennsylvania title to Ned Huddler of Whalen & Castner Ford, Great Barrington, MA to be filled out by the new owner.
The new owner was Mal Decker of Decker's Body Works, Great Barrington, MA.Â* He owned the car until 1969, but did nothing with it.Â* Fortunately he stored it inside.
In a letter of 27 November 1949, Tobe Tobin told Mal Decker of a conversation with John V. Oliveau, a dealer in imported cars of 397 Wellington Road, Mineola, NY.Â* Mr. Oliveau told him he took the car in trade on an Alfa Romeo from a man in Chicago and sold it to a man in Detroit??Â* No date of the transaction was mentioned.Â* Perhaps that was prior to the reported Bendix ownership??? Â*
FWD 7308 has been owned by Peter Livesey, since 1969, when he purchased it from Mal Decker, after a chance conversation while attending a VSCCA race at Lime Rock Track, with Donald Paton, in Donald’s TK 12/60 tourer, the previous year.
Hell's Confetti GazetteÂ* No. 2, April 1980, article, Travels of a FWD Fanatic, by Pete Livesey, an account of his adventures finding, purchasing and retrieving the FWD.Â* (See below)
Jerry Sherman, Henry Wessells, Alan Ballard, Bill Borden, and John Troxel all remembered the FWD.
A..............
Wayne
Wayne Brooks
North American Representative
Alvis Owner Club
P. O. Box 46
140 Race Street
Bainbridge, PA 17502-0046
717 426-3842
Fax 717 426-0104
Mob 717 575-5860
E-mail waynealvis@aol.com
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Comments
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Well, I certainly can't shed any light on this, but some conjecture. If Hudson owned this car as a new car, it would be no surprise. Many auto manufacturers buy competitor's cars to study, steal ideas, copy designs, etc. Hudson was no exception in this regard.
What IS surprising is if Hudson was interested in the FWD aspect and possibly considered a production model incorporating the concept. Noting the time frame of 1928, I believe that even pre-dates Cord (without looking it up), which would make the idea even more novel.
Any new information comes to light, please keep us posted.0 -
I can't help with info for the FWD Alvis, but FWIW, I must be one of the few (odd?) people who has one of each make. A 53 Hornet coupe and a TB 14 Alvis.
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Here are some pics of the car in question:
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This discussion has been closed.
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