1954 Hudson Super Wasp

Unknown

Hi, just joined the forum. I had rented a chicken coop/garage in NJ which will be condemned so that a bypass road can be built. Stored for nearly 20 years is my fathers 54 Hudson Super Wasp that is owned by my 2 brothers & myself. I am unable to find another garage or barn to store this car at a reasonable price & need to vacate by end of September. My brothers do not want to pay to rent another garage/barn since we do not have a short term plan for restoration. I was a combo body/paint guy for 11 years prior to what I do now but never got around to this restoration. At this point I am forced to sell this vehicle. My questions are: Can anyone tell me what a reasonable price for this car is? I priced blue book on NADA & get 4,725 for low retail & 7,450 for average, not sure this is the true market value. I searched through car ads & see a 52 wasp in collector car ads which looks pretty clean for 4k, but i also see a rusted out 53 super wasp for 1,450 & a rusted hornet for 3k...My father's Hudson sat 10years prior(to renting garage/coop) on the side of our house, I threw a new battery in it & much to my surprise it started & pulled out of the 4 sunken tire ruts without stalling (like a tank). I can get any information needed if someone want to help me figure out what it worth. I appreciate any help you can supply! Thanks, Deryl

Jon B

Deryl, welcome to the group.

I'm sorry about your situation of having to move so suddenly. On the assumption that your car is worth some money, you should NOT be under pressure to sell it for whatever you can get. May I suggest that, first off, you phone a few of the local u-store-it places and see about renting a 10 x 20 unit for at least a couple of months, until you've had a chance to properly advertise the car? I kept my Hudson in such a place for ten years and (aside of the cost) it worked out very well.

Then, with the pressure off, you can look into getting a fair price for the car, maybe even hose it off and make it look presentable. But if you feel forced to sell it by the end of September you may lose WAY more than the two or three hundred you'd have paid for the couple months of storage at the storage place.

There is an active chapter of the Hudson club in New Jersey, called the Garden State Chapter. I'd advise you to contact them; possibly one of the members could come over and give you some idea of the condition and give you a rough value. Possibly they'd advertise it in their newsletter. Go to the Hudson club's national webpage here: http://www.hetclub.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=86 and find the Garden State Chapter, and get in touch with the contact person.

That's a start, anyway.

MikeWA

Seems like the first order of business would be to thoroughly clean it up, then take a bunch of pictures and post them here, so we can have a look. You'll want to look especially at the frame kick-up in the rear, and the rear perimeter frame, for rust problems.

Its a 4 door, isn't it? Is it running now, or just when put in the chicken coop?

Unknown

hmm, not sure if replied correctly to you, I did a quick reply....Anyhow; Thanks so much for the sound advice & thank you for the link!

Unknown

Ran bout 30 yrs ago, have never tried after I stored it, it is a 4 dr