Hudson truck tail gate question

Val

I was just wondering how difficult are tail gates for the trucks are to come by.

charles4d

I would  say kinda hard to find a good one Glen Johnson  use to make them but he has pass on now so good luck I wanted to buy a spare one for my self

Lance

Try MAR-K  in Oklahoma City. Seems to me a long time ago they were making them or proposed making them. They do a lot of repops for the big 3 trucks.

PaulButler

And of course our own @bentmetal as well. If it's makeable then he can make it

trdrew

Is there any way of finding out who used to make them for Glen?

Val

Thanks to all who have responded! A repop maybe what I would need to do. I don't have a truck and don't have any intention on buying one but I saw someone had taken a Chevrolet tail gate and made it the back of a park bench. I thought it would be nice to have Hudson as one for my yard. 

triman62

Val, Any obtainable tailgate could be modified with a Hudson logo on it for a fraction of the cost of a repop or a useable original.

Ol racer

There is someone in Canada that reproduces them occasionally. Perhaps someone can Post that Person....

RL Chilton

PaulButler said:

And of course our own @bentmetal as well. If it's makeable then he can make it

Ditto that.  And it wouldn't surprise me at all if bentmetal was the one making them for Glen.  

Tomlewis

Hi. 
I’ve just now started to follow this forum, so I’ve been reading some old posts.  This one caught my eye.  Here’s some history

In 1994 I bought my first couple of Hudson pickups.  Both tailgates were trashed and I very quickly learned that they were hard to come by.  I was working in Missouri at the time and was but 25 miles from MackPro (now Mack Products, and very much still in business) a manufacturer of reproduction parts for antique trucks located in Moberly, MO.  They still advertise in every issue of Hemmings.

I went to Moberly and spoke to Mack Hils, the owner.  I took one of my tailgates with me and asked Mack if it would be possible to reproduce it.  Mack said making the actual tailgate was possible, but the major stumbling block would be creating the die to stamp the “Hudson” into it.  He quoted me a price and a minimum number of tailgates that would justify doing the project. I told him I’d see if there was enough interest.  I advertised in the WTN and Hemmings and asked if anyone was interested in a reproduction tailgate to contact me.  As this was pre-internet the responses were by snail mail, and it took a while.  Based on the number of replies and the knowledge that only a small number of prospective buyers would respond to my fishing ad, I decided to go ahead.

Mack and I made a deal—-I’d pay for the making of the die and commit to 30 tailgates sold.  I would do all the advertising and shipping. That meant that as orders came in to me, I would go to Moberly, buy the tailgates from MackPro, take them home, package for shipping, and send them out. I had $10,000 invested in tailgates before anything happened.  I don’t recall signing any papers. I think Mack and I did it all with a handshake.

We wound up making 60 tailgates.  I advertised in WTN and Hemmings. All of them sold but two.  One went on my truck and one hung on my garage wall as a spare until last year when I took it to Hershey and sold it. I do have the first stamping made by the die hanging on my wall as a souvenir

Because I paid for the die, I actually owned it.  I am the one that sold it to Glen Johnson. For years I watched the ads in WTN to see if Glen was advertising tailgates, but never noticed it if he did.

For those looking for a tailgate, you might check with Mack Products. 660-263-7444. While I owned the die, I never took physical possession of it. When I sold it to Glen, I don’t know if he had Mack ship it to him or if Mack retained it so more tailgates could be made for Glen.

I now have a keen appreciation for the people in this old car hobby who go out on a limb and reproduce something that is no longer available.  I was successful, but it is not always a money-making or break even proposition. I try to buy from the hobbyist/entrepreneur whenever I can

Tom

Courtesy Man

Glen Johnson, who passed away recently sold the tail gates on his Ebay account - but I don't know if he had them done locally or if his son Cary will make them available. I bought a couple but have none left.  Gert Kristiansen Deseret Chapter.