Rebuilt 262 Engine Value

Hudsy Wudsy

I guess that I'm going to be offering a professionally rebuilt Hudson 262 for sale soon. The engine came out of a '52 Wasp coupe that was clobbered by a tree while the engine was out for rebuilding. The engine was rebuilt by a reputable machine shop in Iowa, but never run. The total cost was around $5,000. I may be advertising it soon. Also, I could bring it to the Wisconsin Dells Nationals, if that would help. As far as how much to ask for it, I'd sure be appreciative of any thoughts you gents might have. I don't have any unrealistic expectations of recovering anywhere near the $5,000.

Hudsy Wudsy

Well, it was probably a dumb question. Do any of you think the engine would bring $1,800 if I offered some guarantee? I'll probably be taking it to the Nationals.

hudsonguy

Definitely bring it to the Nationals. From my limited experience, I rebuilt a 262 around 12 years ago for a lot more than $1800, and I did everything but the machining, so I'd be surprised if someone didn't grab that. Unfortunately, I don't really need one of those at the moment! Good Luck.

Hudsy Wudsy

Thanks for sharing your opinion, hudsonguy.

Hudsy Wudsy

In the mean time, if any of you have an interest please let me know.

Kdancy

Do you have the machine shop invoice of what they actually did ?

Hudsy Wudsy

It's not in my possession at the moment, but I know that I'll have to get it from the machine shop in IA before anyone will take the matter seriously.

Hudsy Wudsy

It's not that I wish to be coy about this engine in any way, but it has a long, sad story attached to it. I sold the Wasp coupe to a man who I had come to know through this forum. He lived in IA and I in MN. In lieu of cash for the car, he was going to do metal work on a '50 C8 that I owned. Along with the '52 Wasp coupe, he took my '50 C8 sedan and a '53 Hornet parts car that he wanted badly. He apparently became overwhelmed by the work needed on my C8 and quickly turned to working on the Wasp instead. He seemed to seek out distractions in order to tell me that he was always to busy to do what he said he would on my behalf. For a time he even took on all of the responsibilities of managing the HET club store. My bad health caused me to give up trying to get a hold of him for many months. When I finally realized that there was no solution for me but to attempt to recover my cars and many  parts, I found, after endless time searching, he committed a class A felony and is now serving a life sentence in prison. Much of what I sent down there with him was stored poorly and deteriorated while crappy health kept me from recovering my cars. In time I fortunately discovered that all of my stuff, including the Wasp, Hornet and my Commodore, as well as NOS fenders and rocker panels and $1,300 worth of custom mixed paint and supplies, were being auctioned of by his wife. I was able to recover $400 for my Commodore that I bought many years ago, but the Wasp and Hudson were deemed to be technically his even though I was never paid for them. I am pleased, at least,  that I will be recovering the engine which he foolishly stuck a butt-load of money in. My huge loss will be someone else's gain soon and, while I no longer own any Hudsons at all, I look forward to moving beyond the matter.

iceblade10

Wow James, what a story.  I'm so sorry that happened to you.  It's very sad that your trusting nature was taken advantage of, and the end result is that you went from 3 Hudson to 0.

Also... we have felons running the club store?  I hope someone's checked the account balances!