New here

[Deleted User]

I fell in love with a '49 Merc when I was about 7 years old, but once I saw a Hudson Hornet the Merc was forgotten.

I've been on the hunt for a '48-'53 Hudson for a couple years now and just found this forum.

I don't own one just yet but its only a matter of time.

In the meantime I've joined this board to both motivate my search and to educate myself as much as possible so when I find the one I'll know it.

onerare39

Schnitz,

Welcome!  This is a great place to do your homework while looking for a step-down Hudson.  Send me an email with your snail mail address and I will send you a courtesy copy of the White Triangle News, the award winning publication of the Hudson Essex Terraplane Club.  You will find many interesting articles along with a classified section listing cars for sale.

Email XXXForkner@aol.com (drop the XXX) and please put Hudson in the subject line.

John Forkner 

PaulButler

Welcome aboard! You are now a full blown member of this forum.

Good to have you on here Schnitz ; I'm sure you'll find a wealth of information here.

I have moved your post into the General Forum area as well

You will see that this forum sits under the Hudson Essex Terraplane Club website so maybe consider joining that Club - Members come for the cars, and stick around because of the great folks there!

We hope you enjoy your time here at the Hudson Essex Terraplane 'Open Forum'

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the great welcome!

I'm going to look at a '53 Sedan tonight. Wish me luck.

Jon B

Schnitz, please report your findings back to us (either on this car, or on future ones) before making any offers.  If the car seems to be what you want, please be sure to inspect the perimeter frame very carefully (from below), especially in the vicinity of the rear wheel wells.  Step-Down Hudsons are not fated to rust here, but if this one has led a hard life, the frame may be rusted and it will cost you dearly to have it repaired.  (Once you find a good, solid Hudson and take care of it properrly, you won't have to worry about frame rust.)

[Deleted User]

Took a look at the car last night. Spent about a half an hour underneath checking it out. Zero rust.

The story goes that the owner and his brother bought it in '93 and started a restoration on it. They had it stripped down to bare metal, fixed any places that needed it and then painted it in '96. He sent out a large portion of the trim for chroming and had the interior redone. The inside is immaculate other than one cigarette burn hole in the brand new headliner. Doh! Over the years they lost interest and its been sitting in an underground parking garage for the last 18 years.

The car has no trim on it right now but he said as long as I am serious about the car he can dig out the newly chromed pieces. I said absolutely, so he brought out the gauge cluster that looks better than brand new. He said something about touching up the numbers with mercury paint so they will glow at night.. He then started pulling out more chrome that was wrapped in newspaper from 1996. I will go back in a couple days to inventory all the trim.

The engine bay was immaculate as well. Car hasn't been started in a dozen years or more. I'm not too concerned about the mechanical stuff though.

There are a few areas that need to be addressed. The roof has some dents in it. He thinks some kid must have crawled on it on the garage. There's a spot of paint bubbling where the roof meets the body at the rear passenger trunk area. And the corners of the hood and trunk lid need to be touched up as it looks like they've been touching the body all these years. I'll adjust them so that doesn't happen any more when I bring it home.

Overall I think I'm a pretty lucky guy to have found this car.

Let me know your thoughts guys.

Kdancy

Sounds like that quarter roof area was not properly prepped and primed. I would wonder about the rest of the paint work. Those areas had lead and need to be properly prepped before painting. Look over the paint very carefully and see if any pin head type bubbling is present. If so, it will need to be stripped back to primer or bare metal and re-painted. See if you can find out what kind of products they used when doing the paint job.

RL Chilton

Think I'd like to see some pics, but it sounds like you took a good hard look at it and it's a quality car from your description.  

Jon B

It sounds like you've unearthed a treasure, especially where it comes to that rechromed stuff (you could have dumped a pile of money in having that done!).  As long as you have all the parts, it's worth the effort of putting them all back on the car, to save money!

If the body is mostly straight and un-rusted, you're 75% of the way there.  The mechanical condition is almost secondary.  Do "signet" down the length of both sides to look for uneven body work, and run a magnet over the places that seem uneven, to check for the presence plastic body putty.

You didn't mention how much they were asking, for the car. Could we ask what the seller wants for the car?

[Deleted User]

He's asking $2000.

ESSX28-1

In New Zealand terms that would be too good to be true!!  What's the catch?

Uncle Josh

Yeow!  There's more than that in the chrome parts alone.

Jon B

Grab it.  That's practically scrap value.  You can't lose!

TwinH

I'd say your pretty lucky too. Put me in line behind you if you don't bring it home. 

RL Chilton

That's like a deal of the century, right there.  

Frankvintagefullflowcom

deleted

PaulButler

A steal ; go for it!