1947 Hudson truck questions

rockin tom

Hello Hudson Experts,

i have some questions about a pretty shaped 1947 Hudson Pickup Truck, i have looked on last weekend. Maybe i'll buy it and bring it back on the road. It wasn't ready for a little test drive, because the breaks where out of order, but the engine runs quite good...

I think, that it has the same engine as the normal super sixes, right? What about the transmission and rear axle (differential), has it the same transformation of speed as the passenger cars?

Where the Hudsons of that period (before stepdown) much slower to drive compared to my 1952 Pacemaker or are the differences not soooo big?

Greets from Germany

Hudsonly

Tom

Lee ODell

Hi Tom
Welcome to the Hudson Forum. The only gear ratio for the 47 Hudson PU was 4.56 gears. Not a high speed highway gear. The engine is the 212 engine used in the cars. I believe it will be slower than your Pacemaker. I have removed the engine from my 47 Hudson PU and installing a 308 engne with overdrive transmission. They are fun to drive even with the 212 just not as fast. Let us know if you get the pu and more about it. You could put the 46-47 car gears (4.11) in the pu for driving at higher speeds. Thanks for sharing.

In 1962 my best friend Peter Freund and I (19 yr olds) flew to Germany and traveled to Haun, a village near Darmstat, to visit his father, step mother two brother and sister. His father was the village butcher. I was treated like one of the family. I enjoyed my six weeks there very much. An interesting thing happened as we traveled through Darmstat. A elderly woman there recognized Peter whom she had not seen since Peter was 8 when he left Germany with his mother, step father and grandmother to move to the USA. It has been a long time, please excuse misspelling name of locations. I was very impressed with being welcomed by everyone I met there and the beauty of Germany.
Lee O'Dell

rockin tom

Hey Lee,

thanks for your quick answer. I also still have an 308 engine with Hydramatic lying in my garage for reserve. That could be maybe a good option...

How fast do you think can i go with that normal equipped PU on distance? 60 mph? Or even slower ?

Nice story about your trip in germany in the sixties. It's always nice to hear, that people who travel to germany like the country an the sights here and have good memorys in our country. I live here in bavaria near munich and we always enjoy our landscapes, many green, the woods, the nature and the bavarian menthality.

We also did a nice trip in the US, some years ago, went to the south in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a friend of mine lives there. Had a very nice journey, went to Huntsville, Montgomery, Memphis, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Tupelo, and so on. Had a very good time with nice people, nice talks, good music, many interesting sights and things, a lot of classic cars at museums and junkyards. My girlfriend, her son and me, we had a very good time this three weeks and it won't be the last one i think...

Sorry if there are some wrong written words or sentences, my english is not perfect, but i get along with it... ;-)

Tom

StillOutThere

The '47 and earlier pickups were somewhat under-powered with the six cylinder and there were a number of swaps done by dealerships when they were new installing the 8 cylinder Hudson motor with is a bolt-in. Stepdown sixes were also installed by dealerships and shops when they became available.

Your question regards drivability. The Hornet engine you have is an excellent choice and will bolt in. Highway speeds are going to be determined by axle ratio. The 4.56 in the truck was for truck hauling jobs on low speed roads. The cars of the same era with non-overdrive transmissions had a 4.11 ratio which would be an improvement but still not ideal for the 21st century highways. You would do well to find a suitable later model rear end assembly with
a 3.50: 1 or numerically lower ratio.

Congratulations on the find and hope you are able to purchase and enjoy this truck.

Jon B

You may also obtain a Hudson overdrive transmission, which has 4 forward gears, the best of which is about 0.7. This should interchange fairly well, and they can be found in the U.S., but shipping will be expensive!

One potential problem with the Hudson truck: how tall are you?

MikeWA

Just for comparison, my 308 with 4.11 gears cruises comfortably at 60 MPH (without overdrive). Have had it to 65, but its getting pretty "busy" and I'm getting pretty "nervous" at that speed.

Courtesy Man

My 1947 pu has a 1956 308 with 3 speed and overdrive. The rear axle is a Ford 9 inch with 3:50 gears . Also have the larger Hornet front drums. It will travel at 80mph but is not a good idea. On the other hand I have travelled in a 1946 original restored pick-up (no overdrive originally) and 40-45 on the freeway is dangerous as other drivers are are nearly blowing you off the road. Also at that speed it sounds like the drive components are ready to explode!
At 5ft 8 inch tall I am OK with the small cab but taller folks are cramped.

rockin tom

Thanks for the real good informations. Onby some Pictures.

On price we talk actually about 10t€ now, not too expensive for an good and older restauration, but in germany nearly not able to sale. There is no market for older hudsons, a little bit for the stepdowns, ok, but most of the classic car people even don't know anything about hudson. If you think about that too, it is not cheap. But if you think, how much money you will spend if you restore one of these, omg, than it sounds really cheap...

That is why i didn't come to a buy-decision by now, and adding to this comes the speed-problem. It's much too slow for the german roads. On longer distances i have to be able to go up to about 70 mph, otherwise it's really dangerous, especially on the highways...

I think it would be only a "collectors buy" and it would be nice to have the big boy here, but it would be not very much driving fun the way it is... Sure, i could put an other differencial in, do an overhaul on the 308 and the hydramatic and build it in, but when i add that all, it comes too expensive for me...

@jon b: I am 187 cm tall and not thin, you can say a "bavarian big boy", why?

I think i have to sleep it over another time...

[Deleted User]

That's a very nice truck ! ! Someone put a lot of work into it. Some of the painting and chrome is not 100% correct for a factory truck however that is just a matter of taste.
Its very original looking and done tastefully.
But if sold here on Ebay or at a sale it would easily for twice what they are asking.

Lee ODell

Hi Tom
Wow! That is a good looking truck. Sorry you decided against it. You could put in a Mercedes engine and trans and change the rear end. You would surprise alot of people on your roads. My Dad switched engines and put a Oldsmobile V8 engine, automatic and changed rear end in his 1946 Hudson pickup. Then every one had to keep up with him. He liked driving fast. The picture shows someone did a nice job rounding the back corners of the PU bed. I wish my truck looked as good as that one. The majority of us will never get back what we put into them. We have them because we want them. We want them because we like them. We too have alot of people in the U.S.A. that don't appreciate older cars and know very little or nothing about Hudsons. I hope you find something more to your liking. Thank you for sharing the pictures and your thoughts with us. If you are ever in our area look us up. Personally, after seeing the pictures, I hoped you would get it. But I am partial to Hudson PU's, Probably because my Dad owned one. Actually, Dad had two. One had a straight 8 Hudson engine. I own three 1947 Hudson PU's. You think it is habbit forming? ha ha.
Have a good day.
Lee O'Dell

Jon B

Rockin Tom, I asked how tall you were because there is not much legroom in a Hudson pickup truck!

rockin tom

Cool, yeah, that's the truck. The owner has it since the ninetys and din't drive it about 4 years ago now.

I know it's an antique vehicle and it is that way they built it in 1947 and the best thing would be to keep it original and be proud of having it. This way i'm doing with all our classic cars (we have 8 pieces of... the truck would be the 9th and the second PU to our 46 chevy 1/2ton...).

Maybe this truck is an opportunity, which comes not every day and maybe won't come again another time. I have to make my decision if i want it or not and if i want to take care of another "baby" in my collection, no matter if it's slow or too long or something else. It is that way, take it or don't...

Sometimes it's great to have all these cars, and i want more, sometimes it's simply too much. I think that's the "collectors-illness"... ;-)

Thanks for your help and your advice, i'll think it over...

[Deleted User]

Over here where they are fairly common at Hudson meets , It would draw attention. So there in Germany or elsewhere in Europe I would think it would draw looks anywhere it went.
Roger

hudsontech

That's one thing in this country - if you don't feel comfortable driving your truck or pre-1940 Hudson down the interstates at 50 mph you can always find an old 2-lane highway to make your trip on. Many of the 2-lanes have been upgraded, straightened and widened so they are comfortable to drive on. They just don't carry the traffic an interstate does. I've used U S 20 between Albany and Buffalo many times. Coming back from Gettysburg last summer I used U S 11 between Briston and Knoxville, TN and U S 70 from there to Nashville. I wasn't driving a Hudson, just took the old road to kick back and relax. Took me a couple hours longer, but I wasn't fighting 90 mph traffic (and that was the 18 wheel tractor trailer trucks- the cars were probably going 80 or better).

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

faustmb

Good point Alex. I've been thinking the same thing lately as I hope to be driving the 33 eventually but will avoid interstates.

hudsontech

faustmb - it works pretty good out side the New England states - up there towns are so big anc close together it's pretty much stop and go - traffic lights galore and heavy traffic. But outside New England, especially wast of Ole Missy it's pretty much wide open. You do have to be careful about your speed - a lot of towns on the old roads are using cameras. I got nailed up on U S 79 here in Tennessee - never saw a warning sign. Looked the place up and sure enough it was on a speed trap listing. One other word of caution - try to keep track of where you are at all times in case you break down and call AAA, if you have it. "Uh, 4 miles west of a big church" ain't gonna hack it with AAA. LOL But overall the experience is very good, you have more time to see things and the pace is acceptable. It might take you a couple more hours to get there but less stress for sure.

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN