Picking up this 48 in a week or so.

jrenda

Hi All,

Not sure if this is the right spot to post this so I hope I have chosen well.

Picking this 48 Commodore up in a week or so.  I have been looking at chopped Fords and Chevies - and while I like them all, I wasn't sure about getting a car that was sub-framed, etc as most seem to be.  I found 2 locally that were done (seemingly) well and had nice chopped tops but each had it's set of pros and cons.  The biggest of which were how well the chop was done.  After all I want a car not a boat when it rains!

I happened to be on CraigsList and spotted the Hudson and I was smitten.  I know nothing about them other than my kids loved "Cars" and "Doc" and I loved the Nascar history and the factory-chop roofline.  Drove up an hour or so and spent a couple hours with the owner.  Such a nice guy and I could tell he absolutely loved this car but things necessitated selling it.  I went back home to do some research and ended up having to replace a window in the house which set the budget back.  Fast forward a few weeks and the car was back up on CL.  I couldn't believe he still had it.  So we made a gentleman's deal over the phone and I am headed up tonight to get him the cash and the title.

I want to keep the car very simple.  Contacted a couple local places for a new interior as this one is shot.  Need to unstick the trans, and do a full rewire.  Planning on new brakes all around and new tires.  Next spring i'll redo the suspension (unless it absolutely must be done now).

Anyway I am looking forward to learning about these beautiful cars.   I'm just north of Boston Mass so if anyone is local I will supply the beverage and food of your choice for any help!

This is not my site but it has pics of the car.  Hope this is allowed: http://vintagehudson.com/

- jason

PaulButler

Wow; that's a definite barn find there Jason

You'll find there's a lot of advice to be gleaned from here and also , if you're so inclined, head over to the Het Club Site and consider a membership.

I'm sure you & your kids will have an awful lot of enjoyment out of this car

Jon B

Wow, a coupe!  They always seem to attract the most interest.  And it looks like surface rust, which you ought to be able to deal with.  However....

One word of caution:  Hudson's "Achilles heel" was the perimeter frame, which (when the car was mistreated) tended to rot out in the area behind the rear wheels.  Before you do anything else, get under the car and carefully inspect the frame in this area.  This problem is not inevitable; when cars were NOT driven on salty winter roads, and were NOT left out in the rain all their lives, it never occurred.  And it's not terribly hard to fix, if you are good at welding.  But if you already own the car, you should immediately inspect the frame for rot, before you start pouring money in on the rest of the car!

If you're near Boston, you're in the territory of the New England Chapter of the Hudson club.   You should definitely make contact with these people (and do consider joining the National club as well as their local club).  A good bunch of Hudsonites, and they'll be able to offer you good advice (as well as having parts you can buy).  Carl Weber's fall meet in Attleboro, is the social event of the season!  You can get contact info for the N.E.C. by going to the Hudson club's home page and clicking CLUB / CHAPTERS / EASTERN REGION.

50C8DAN

Wow it is even a C8 coupe, cool.  Hope you leave the H8 in there.  Nice and quiet and plenty of power to make it go.  It draws a lot of attention at car shows when you pop the hood and someone starts counting spark plugs!

BillUSN1

Nice. All it needs is the front sunvisor!

 

 

ski4life65

Wow! Great car. Welcome

Per

Jason, I live in Brighton, MA. Where do you live? Five years ago I bought a '49 Commodore 8 which had been stored around fifty years. It took a couple of years to fix it up. Since then it has made two trips to California! It is great fun to drive. I would love to come and look at your car! Send me an email at perauto@gmail.com Per

Quadster

Jason,

I pulled that car out of a barn in Ct in 2014 and sold it to B. White.

Those photos on the Vintagehudson.com web site are shots I took and posted.

I also bought a 53 Hornet coupe from the same family which I have been restoring since then.

A few photos attached.

I was going to restore the 48 using the 53 drivetrain--but decided against that as I didn't want to bring on any bad hudson karma.

Good luck with the project---it's a great car looking car and very rare to boot.

You can contact me here---

hetharleyfree@gmail.com  drop the het

jrenda

Hello Mr. Freedman!

Just got the 48 home and snugged into the garage.  Looking forward to working on it and I hope I can do it justice.  I also sent you a friend request via facebook.

Thanks for reaching out.