New member looking for information on a Danish Terraplane

Tslothrop

I have long had a picture of my grandfather in Copenhagen proudly displaying his WWII-era KTAS (Copenhagen Telephone Company) work vehicle, a wood-gas converted 1935 Terraplane (I believe).  I would like some help with the exact year, make and model/trim of this vehicle and any other info available concerning the car and/or the conversion.

Thank you;

Carl Dean
Dayton OH

KustomKreeps

thats a bad ass photo.
Colour as well whats cool.

Im no help with your identification etc but I really dig the photo.
All the stuff on the back looks so steampunk.

ESSX28-1

Here is a Swedish car of the same vintage with it's WW2 gas converter

Geoff

It  is a 1935 Terraplane

Jon B

Greetings, Carl, welcome to the Hudson Open Forum.

It is a 1935 Terraplane.  They came in two series that year: the base model, 112" wheelbase "Special" and the higher priced, 116" wheelbase "Deluxe".  Both were powered by a 212 cubic inch six cylinder engine.  I'm not good enough to determine which model your father is standing next to.

Interestingly, my 1937 Terraplane was shipped new to Denmark, and remained there until just before I bought it in 1971.  There were differences between Hudsons (and probably other American cars) built in America, and those which were exported to Denmark.  One difference was the absence of "lethal" hood ornaments.  If you look at the standard 1935 Terraplane below, you will see a chrome plated "bird" perched at the front of the hood.
 


Note that the car your father drove, has no such ornament.  Instead, his car (probably) and mine (for sure) had their standard ornaments replaced by the much-simpler ornaments used on Terraplane commercial vehicles such as this delivery truck:



Other features on my car which weren't on U.S.-registered cars, included "Trafficators" (turn signal flippers), a factory speedometer calibrated in kilometers, and different front and rear bumpers.  These were probably due to Danish safety legislation, I imagine.  I can't tell if the KTAS Terraplane has these features.  Of course the BIG unusual thing about your father's car was the wood / gas conversion.

However, it wasn't the only Hudson ever converted to run on wood.  Here's a photo of a 1938 Hudson hearse "woodburner", presumably taken somewhere in Europe around the time of World War II:

Tslothrop

Thanks to all for your information and nice comments.  I will keep pursuing the history of this car and post if I find anything interesting.  I was surprised to find that there were 10,000 gasified vehicles in Denmark alone, close to 100,000 in Germany during the war.  Should be some history somewhere...