Should I
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This is a decision only you can make.
Everyone needs a hobby of some sort; if some other interest has supplanted your love of cars, then maybe it's time to switch interests.
However, simply because you need to care for your wife, and your kids don't have any interest in old cars, you don't have to walk away from the things that interest you. Life would be pretty dull otherwise.
Unless you absolutely need to get rid of your stuff immediately, why not simply let it lay for a year or two, let your membership lapse and see how you feel in a year? If you really don't miss it, then it's time to cut the cord. On the other hand, if you find yourself wanting to get out and work on your car, or wonder what's going on in the Hudson world, then it's a sign that your love of cars is still flickering.
In the end, maybe you'll decide to sell most of your "stuff", keep your Club membership, and hang around the forum for a few minutes each day, and that will sustain you. Lots of "stuff" can be a millstone.
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Please stay and keep your car. Just because life changes it would be a shame to strip away the parts that make you what you are and were back then. It would be a shame to have nothing in your garage but an empty floor never to remind you of the good times past. You can not make the next generation want your stuff so don't worry about it - they can do what they want or not. You'll be long gone Personally I just love my 36 terraplane . It doesn't need to do anything. Most weekends I just start it up reverse it out of the garage and have a tinker or clean a section of the engine bay. Like a painting on the wall it just has to make you feel good - no one else When you stop noticing it maybe you just need to visit a car museum and say to yourself how lucky you are having something you can touch and play with. It took me till I was 51 before I could afford the luxury of buying my 36 terraplane as a play thing just to have sitting ready to use when I wanted too Have you considered lending the car to a young interested person who cannot afford a car yet. It would be great to share and renew your passion with someone local. Seeing the car through their eyes might do wonders all round. When I was a teenager I loved going to a local vintage car club with my dad- we didn't own a car then but I enjoyed being a passenger in many different cars and would have given my right arm to just to borrow one or drive an owner around to a club run Surely there is clubs of all / any types of cars out your way? People who are passionate about old cars respect all makes You could even lend your car to a car museum on loan and get some pleasure having it shown. I know that my terraplane will stay with me till well past my driving days and when I'm gone by that stage id have made sure it had found a home ( even if I gave it away for free) to someone I knew who in my mind loved it as much as me- you just need to put out the feelers - you'll know who that person is when you met them - you need to start looking If you need the money then my all means sell, but the car is yours to do without regards to family. If they aren't interested in the car - fine - they don't deserve it - do what your heart is set on - family sometimes don't deserve a family heirloom if they cannot see the car is a reflection of you and your wife - give it to someone who will always forever remember in their hearts your gift cheers ken0
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Ken1962 : well said0
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Sometimes I have the same feeling. I try to make it to the Laughlin run each year. It is about the only time I get to see more than one Hudson at a car show. I am finding that changing oil is a major effort anymore (hard to get up off the shop floor when I have been under the car.) But, what the heck..... It is the selfish way I treat myself. I try to drive one of the old rides (I am down to one and a half cars now---one finished one in work) each week if only down to McDonalds to visit with some other "non car" folks each week. It still thrills me to see folks stop and ask: "What is it?" I even smiled to myself on the way home the other day when some young "upstart" flipped me off as he passed going near the speed of my age.
A few years ago, I decided to sell off some of my shop "wall art" because I fear that my next generation will simply throw it out. The best of my stuff was picked over and went away. Like cars that have went the same way, I miss it. As I tell myself the great stories of how I got it, how I restored it, and such I get a warm feeling of days gone bye, but with a smile in my heart. Never can figure out why some of the stuff sells and some of it does not. However, some of the better stuff is still there. As I tinker in the shop, and hide out from yard work, I get to enjoy it.
I have, in the past, been so excited with a project that it was less than a year from start to completion, my current build has been in work for almost three years. The work is more difficult but the massive learning curve remains as does the thrill of driving around the block as different areas are completed. There are a few folks that remain in my area, but there have never been a lot. We make an effort to see or talk to each other less often but every now and then. I visit a few runs and look at other non-Hudson builds but not as often as I once did--Yes, it is good to see new iron and young folks starting out in the process. I do less than I once did and enjoy it just as much if not more.
Hang in there, being near Reno you have a bunch of folks that love the old cars--maybe, not the number of Hudson folks that there use to be, but great people--and, it will be good to see you in Laughlin at the end of the summer season were we can sit around in the evening and tell the some old stories we have repeated for years. Life is good, and old age is a great time to share it!!!! It is a good vacation drive up to the Western Regional this year and next year the visit to California for the National will be a not-to-miss event. Simply put, there are too many great stories to miss--now is not the right time to go into hiding.
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The reality is that the market for a '37 Terraplane, and resultant value, is shrinking. Your wife and yourself will need more care /attention in coming months and years than the current situation. The car hobby gets harder every year because parts continue to disappear as does any professional with knowledge of these cars locally to help you. And the prices of the parts and labor have increased ten fold in the last 30 years and will continue. A club subscription is just a check you write but the difficulty of maintaining a very obscure '30s car 80 years after manufacture can not be rationalized.
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I hear you guys. I just celebrated my 80th. I'm thinning out my Hudsons (I'm down to 8) Scrapping a 46 Brougham, getting the 36 Terraplane back on the road, painting the 40 Victoria 8 coupe, Getting ready to fire up the 47 Pickup to take some junk to the scrapper and planning to attend the Maple Fest in Hadley with the 49 in a couple of weeks.
Today, it's to the hardware store to get some 5/8 washers to lock a tranny lever in 2-3. Low/Reverse gear and R-idler are out. Gonna try and put it in the truck backwards and use 2nd for an overdrive. Getting harder to do but it keeps me going and out of the easy chair.
Aren't a lot of Hudson guys in the Adirondacks either so I go to the multi-make shows and try to park next to a 57 Chivvy and suck all the attention away from it. Stick an old clutch disk on the windshield to make em ask questions. Leave it in N and start 'er up for 'em. As Jimmy Cook said, do what you can while you can, 'cause you're a long time dead.
What will happen when I'm gone? I don't know and I don't care. I plan to take the 36 with me as it's the same age, and somebody posted a hearse the other day with a U-Haul behind it..
Stay in the club. It's relatively cheap and the WTN is worth the price. Share your expertise on the forum. Some of these new guys with Hudsons need your wisdom and experience.
Just sayin
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That's good advice, Uncle Josh, Ken and Brownie. I could elaborate and substantiate, but couldn't put it any better.0
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Uncle Josh, well said...Hudsonrules, read my introduction maybe that could help? My husband and I are the younger generation needing guys like you to help us, with the Hudsons, there's not much info anywhere on them you guys are the gatekeepers to knowledge about these old cars! Like an old shop manual, you may have some wrinkled pages and some oil stains, but we still need ya! You guys were lucky enough to live those times, us younger ones, we just get to dream on how cool it would of been and hearing all the awesome stories you guys tell. I love listening to my grandparents tell stories about the cars they had, and racing up and down the street, running moonshine etc. That stuff is to die for! Memories that keep the younger generation interested! Just a thought, maybe (if you can) take your wife out on a date night in the Terraplane, go get a milkshake or just go for a cruise through the countryside, because that stuff right there could never get old! Hopefully you stick with it, and don't let your kids discourage you, who cares if they don't like your car, you do and that's all that matters. --Sincerely, Amber (The younger generation)0
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I’m reasonably sure I’ve never gotten to the point of throwing in the towel, but certainly there have been times where I questioned my sanity.
Last weekend was a prime example. It’s two weeks before the Regional and I’m trying to finish up some details on the car so I can drive it the 200 miles and at least pretend not to fret too much. While lowering the top down, I had a rubber hydraulic line on the top of one of the cylinders decide to give up the ghost and spew hydraulic fluid . . . literally, everywhere. Now, not only do I have the tasks that I started out to do to complete, but now I get to muck up hydraulic fluid from the inside, underside and all over the garage floor in which to deal, not to mention removing all the seats and part of the interior panels. Not exactly my plan, but hey, it comes with the territory. Dale Cooper to the rescue! I’ll get things back in order in a few days.
I can’t help it that there’s oil in my veins. It was passed down. I like pointing out to folks that the old timers used to tell me that when, at night, they saw the lighted shield of the Hudson emblem in their rear view mirror (as on the front of a Stepdown), they knew they needed to get out of the way, because it was either a moon-shiner or a cop and you didn’t want either behind you. My family came from the former category. Growing up and listening to the virtues of Hudson’s (and Fords, with a few members) was commonplace. My grandfather even made runs for Capone. What car they were driving, was always one of the most important elements. I still take pride in the fact that they possessed such marque-loyalty. I carry on that tradition. Heck, I’ve got the side mirror my grandfather bought from the Hudson dealer on my car that he never got around to installing on his own Hudson. How cool is that?
I do enjoy sharing adventures with my fellow car friends. Sharing the attributes of such a fine automobile still makes me so very proud. Not of what I have accomplished, but of what HUDSON accomplished. What this country accomplished back then. I took a forgotten mess and very nearly put it back how Hudson built it and didn’t they do such a fine job?
And you know what? If life starts overwhelming me, they can stay in the garage. It doesn’t take so much to fire them up once a week and drive around the block. And when the time is right, they and me will be ready to hit the road.
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Thanks everyone for the input. I will write a check right now and get it in the mail. There are good times atmeets. One time at a local car show, Imy'49 Hudson Super, just a driver was parked next to a "trailer Queen" '55 Chevy convertable and it was very nice with a very stuck up owner. Guess what car people looked at. You are right, get the Terraplane out and wash it if nothing else. I guess sometimes I just have a bad day.So everyone have a great day and thanks again.
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Hudsonrules that's an awesome story, that happened to us at Woodward next to the practically trailer queen cars, people were taking pics of our 61' Mercury Comet, which by all means is a driver, and boy did we get the dirty looks haha, it's nice to have cars no one else has! By the way do you have a picture of your Terraplane? Post it, I'm sure me as well as others would like to see it0
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I have three Hudsons and enjoy them. One of them I've had 40 years. I appreciate the quality of the cars. I belong to the Club but also get mixed feelings about it. I've enjoyed meeting other Hudson people whether in the Club or not. I don't have any advise to give really. You don't need advise but know you aren't alone in your feelings The forums are a big plus for me Club sanctioned or not. The future is here with the forums. So I try to post when I think I can help someone out and learn from my mistakes. You learn a lot from the forums but sooner or later you will have to interact with someone to get the parts you inevitably will need! But I do have the privilege of caretaking three Hudsons that existed before me or the Club. I'm going to hang on as long as I can. Hope I'm not too far off topic.0
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At 36, I'm probably one of the younger Hudson owners out there. I have my grandfather's 54 Hornet coupe. The only reason I am able to have it is because it was passed down to me via my uncle. I always wanted to own a classic car, but it most likely would have been otherwise out of my reach, at least at this stage of my life.I look at my friends and other people my age, and many aren't interested in classic cars. Or even ANY car ownership, for that matter. Many young'uns want nothing else than to live in a trendy neighborhood where they can walk to everything.When I go to shows, my car is mostly ignored by the middle-aged generation, other than people just wondering what it is. It is greatly appreciated by the senior ladies and gentlemen, who remember when they were new, and also KIDS, because they remember the Doc Hudson character from the CARS movie.I view my role as the custodian of this car/artifact/piece of history. I agreed to never sell it, but rather pass it down to the next generation of family when the time comes. My biggest fear is that I won't be able to find someone in the family who appreciates it or even WANTS it at all (since it requires space, time/effort, and resources). However, I am a new father, and plan to take my daughter to lots of shows and show her how to do basic maintenance, in the hopes that she can carry the torch one day...I'm also trying to learn everything I can, while I can, because I know that the older Hudson guys won't be around forever...0
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Nice terraplane!
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Sounds like me, Had my 33 Terraplane eight coupe for 50 years, second owner from my uncle, At 77 years can,t get around as well anymore, had a pretty bad sickness last year, missed dying by about 15 minutes, had good IOWA doctors tho., but I AIN,T giving up yet. Still dreaming about future projects. May even buy another Hudson, I had about 2 dozen over the years, everything from a 22 Essex to several coupes.0
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!!1954 Hornet coupes!!0
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G'Day All,Talking about "handing down your car" This short 3 minute video is about a 1929 Duesenberg which owes its existence to its owners (all Female) handing down the car without regard to its value.They simply handed over the car as they all were friends who all loved the car and their friendship.The last owner i believed paid a small amount to cover expenses - certainly not the millions it could get. Its rather cool that the car is a sort of "memorial to past owners"The last owner said the car will remain with her till death - even though she is unable to drive it anymorecheers KenAttached link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2tK9Mn4FQ0 -
What a great story Ken ; it just goes to show that there are still people around who appreciate a car for what it gives them as opposed to what it could give them.As a thread this is possibly the most active one I have seen on the forum for a while and it just goes to show that owning a Hudson means a lot more to folks than other marques (biased I know).I have the same dilemma with my 112; should I sell it because I see no immediate (or long term) chances of putting it back on the road. I have no garage so it sits on my drive.There are days when I am moments away from pressing the "sell" button because I feel that I'm not giving it the best chance in life to be used and it can only get worse by sitting there.I price up the "essentials" I feel I need to bring it back to life (ignoring a paint job) and know that there are other things that come ahead of it (college for my younger son for one) so I don't go ahead with purchases.Then there are days , like today, as I sit here typing this looking out of my window at the car (covered) when I think that , even with the wrong headlights on (proper ones in the boot/trunk - thanks Rick!) that I think it is a striking looking car , there aren't that many about and it's mine!Going back on my previous comment re headlights. This is a club that cares about others ; I know there are times when differences of opinion occur but to me that's all part of life. When I rejoined the club (I was a member back in the early 80's when I had my 1939 '92 and 1948 Commodore) I needed help with certain things on the car which I got from here.One of my requests was how to replace the English style lights I have and how could I source some proper ones. A man who didn't know me from Adam talked with me and before I knew it a set of restorable headlights had turned up here in the UK with all the bits I needed to build them up. Yes I needed to do a little repair work on them but that's nothing compared to the cost it would have been to buy a pair.So for me Rick Clark embodies what this club is about and that is the love of these cars and the feeling that we need to do whatever we can to keep them on the road (it will happen!).So if your kids aren't into what you have then that's fine because we are different in our own ways of course but , as others have said, if you get pleasure from just wandering into the garage and sitting in your car then keep it because once it's gone you'll never get it back.Make sure that you keep its future existence safe by ensuring that it gets passed onto someone who cares about it and will keep it around (even if not on the road) because as we all get older these cars get older and there will one day be little around to show us what used to be.0
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Hudson Rules:Where do you live in Nevada? I'm in Gardnerville/Minden.regardsJ LombardP.S. glad to see you write that check0
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Hudsonrules - Don't let your Hudson stuff get thrown out! It's bad enough the number of Hudson being turned into hotrods. Write a will that stipulates where your stuff should go and be sold. If your kids can't be counted on to follow the terms of your will, find a friend or someone in the HET club or an executor of your will. These parts and cars are too scarce to let them disappear!0
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Lots of great comments, one more from the newbie side. I bought my 50 Commodore 8 from a gentleman in a similar situation three years ago. I was 43 and my kids are helping me with the little items, going to a show or two and becoming involved. If you sell you can "interview" the buyer to make sure that you are starting another legacy for your "stuff" and not just selling it.I greatly appreciate all of the insight members have given me and I have already seen the helpers disappear in the last 3 years.0
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I just read this and believe it I'm looking at letting go one of my 33s. Just from possibly seeing into the future of not having enough time to work on. I might in the next few weeks post on this forum before going different route. It's absolutely the most solid 83 year old car that's not 100% original. I will let this forum have a chance at before any others. The pic was from California and was owned by mr Meehan. Now resides in St. Louis Missouri.0
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