Hudson appearance in an older book

Aaron D. IL

I was looking into the background of the guy who wrote the book behind "A Christmas Story" (you'll shoot your eye out) Jean Shepherd. He grew up in NW Indiana about the time of the depression and the book "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" had the following passage we can all relate to:

"My father, in company with other used-car fanatics, loved to spend long Sunday afternoons roaming the Used-Car lots on the South Side of Chicago, beating the bushes for hypothetical great buys and spectacular deals in Willys-Knights, Essexes, and Hudson Terraplanes. And when the Used Car type actually tracked down and made the buy, it was total commitment. All the way. And if the car turned out to be actually functional, his love for it far transcended the love and involvement of the lesser men who simply went to a dealer and bought a new car.

Anybody can buy a new car and expect to get a fairly operative machine, but it takes guts, knowledge, and reckless sense of deadly abandon to come home with say, a Lafayette Six previously owned by other shadowy drivers that had gone through God knows what hells, and to feel confident of victory. A used car, therefore, is a far more powerful love object than a new one. And my father played this deadly game to the hilt. Each succeeding used car wax loved and babied, petted and honored in its turn.

Some of the great emotional scenes of his life occurred on used-car lots when he was deserting a Pontiac Eight for the "new" Desoto. He would even go back the day after to see if they were treating the Pontiac well, and then would get moody and morose when it finally disappeared forever off the lot.

The new Desoto- he always referred to each used car as "new" - at first would seem strange and formal to us, vaguely unfriendly, like living in someone else's apartment. On Saturdays, when we cleaned the car, we'd find hairpins and other people's lost papers under the seats. But gradually the Desoto or the Pontiac or the Hupmobile would become Ours.

Of course, at that time cars had distinctive personalities and characteristics in themselves and did not come all stamped out of the same mold, painted with the same paint, and advertised by the same agency. A Terraplane man was a completely different breed than, say, a Buick type. John Dillinger drove a Terraplane, which said a lot for the Terraplane type- an angry, rakish, wild machine. It was not a matter of status then, but of attitude and personality, and the Used-Car man had the fiercest loyalties of all. He was not only dedicated to certain makes of cars but to specific years within the breeds. I remember lone afternoons with my father, hunting for a particular Graham-Paige that reputedly was of the finest of vintage years."

RL Chilton

Thanks for sharing! The soliloquy describes both of my grandfather's (and me). One was of the type to change cars every month or two, always looking for the next love affair. He had a couple of Hudsons in the early 50's; he even had a Rickenbacker for the better part of a year, after lusting for it for some time. The other Grandfather was a dyed-in-the-wool Buick man till the day he died.

Maybe it was a fitting tribute to have the Terraplane body shell placed in the vacant lot in the movie. Or maybe it was coincidence. But it was a good one!

terraplane8

A nice vignette of life in those long ago days.

[Deleted User]

Jean Shepherd is brilliant. Some of you may know he had a radio show on WOR NYC from the 50's through 70's many and I mean many of those radio shows feature cars and everyone of us here would recognize the stories and the fanaticism. He collected Automobile literature and would do shows where he read from the brochures. He did a complete show on Hudsons which was brilliant. He had some copies of the Hudson dealer news and he read from them and filled in with his recollections of Hudsons it was fantastic. Being a big fan I have all of his radio shows. And many a car tale is featured. Each car he features is described in loving detail. I will look up the episode and post info here for anyone who is interested in listening to the Hudson show he did. He was friends with Bob Andrews so got lots of his anecdotes first hand.

All of this stuff rings true to my heart. Growing up with a mechanic who had his own shop we had more cars come through the family than I can even remember. Dad was always buying and selling cars. Fixing them up and moving them on. He was always "saving: cars as he put it. I got to drive a heck of lot of cars and I loved every moment of it. Working summers in the shop. Was a good way to spend my youth.

Aaron D. IL

@ 51hornetA I would love to hear that radio broadcast. I also love hearing about how the cars connect people to their families and through generations. Sometimes for guys in particular the cars created some of the strongest bonds they shared with their fathers.

Glowplug

The Andrews connection is especially interesting. Bob was a keen judge of what was right in automotive styling.

hudsontech

I drove back in the 70's and 80's a lot cheap back lot used cars (mostly Ramblers mid- to -late 60's station wagon models) for years - it was all I could afford. I'd buy one of these Rambler, 10, 15 years old with 70k, 80k on the clock for $50, $60 bucks. 4, 5 years later off to the junk yard with 200k, 250k on the clock. Still running strong but living in Maine winters were hell on the body work - salt on the roads. When you get to the point you're trying to convince the guy at the auto inspection garage that the hole in the floorboards under the drivers feet is there so I can drag my feet to stop or telling him "hey the lights work - turn off your shop lights and you can see!!" it's time to go find another old Rambler. Them 440 American models were pretty much bullet proof.

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

[Deleted User]

Ok folks here is the archive of Shepherd shows from 1975 scroll down and look for episode 27 Hudson_Auto when you listen to it come on back here and let us all know how you liked it because this type of discussion and talent Jean had when he talked about cars is long gone.

http://archive.org/details/JeanShepherd1975

Also look through the archive they have 56-76 and you can find other episodes dedicated to cars.