39 Hudson Coupe

Unknown

Hi all, Newbie here.



I come from the wilds of Scotland and have a 1939 Hudson Coupe which is

undergoing a transformation. If you would like to hear all about it, I would be

delighted to tell.



When this car came to me I had some big decisions to make because so

many important parts were missing, and I just couldn't bring myself to invest

in a splasher engine and cork clutch drive.

[Deleted User]

Hi Jake! Welcome aboard! I also would like to see some pics and here your plans for the Coupe. There's lots of great help on this forum. And Rick is great at getting the pics on the forum.

Your avatar reminds me of my old 38 Dodge 5 window when I was building it. Bought it as a shell in 1980, then put a corvair ifs under the front and a 63 Vette 327V8 with powerglide under the hood. Wish I still had that car!

Jay
51 Pacemaker Club Coupe

Unknown

I don't think I can survive this forum.

I wrote out a very big post and struggled to get some photos below 40kb the when I posted it the whole lot dissapeared. Also every time I try to do anything I'm asked to log in again ???????

Unknown

I am going to have to give in. I have tried to post a message 5 times with photos. Each time I have completed the post with photos that I can see, when I press submit I see the message "you are not authorized to

---

" it is asking me to log in again, even though I am already logged in.



I am sorry guys, I just can't go on wasting so much time for nothing.

rambos_ride

jake wrote:

I am going to have to give in. I have tried to post a message 5 times with photos. Each time I have completed the post with photos that I can see, when I press submit I see the message "you are not authorized to

---

" it is asking me to log in again, even though I am already logged in.

I am sorry guys, I just can't go on wasting so much time for nothing.

Hi Jake,

Sometimes computers are a pain!

Maybe I can ask a couple of questions and help get you through...

When you say "photos that you can see..." are you trying to load them from your local computer? If so - and you are pasting the pictures directly into the message body or trying to type the path into the Insert Images prompt (goto the advanced section) the path to your local computer won't resolve unless it is a web server - or some other file sharing site on the internet.

The additional prompts for logins - is this a web page login that the forum navigates to? Or is it a Windows login to your local machine - most likely a popup window asking for a domain, username and password?

If you'd like just send me the pictures as an email attachment to dan@ypfs.com I'd be more than happy to post them on the forum for you.

Dan T

Unknown

I logged in, made sure I had wysiwyg, clicked advanced, uploaded my photos to

http://www.classiccar.com/upload.php, they are there now.

I wrote my message 5 times, pasted the photos into it and when I submit the message I am told I must log in, which I have already done. The message just dissapears.



It is not my computer which is a pain, it is the setup of this web site, if they make it work properly I may rejoin.

Unknown

OK. Now you have the photos, you can have the story.

I have had the old Hud for about 12 years (distracted by a 57 Cadillac for a while) Last year I decided it was time to get started. There were many engine parts missing and I just did not want to spend a big sum of money on a splasher engine.



So I looked around for a Donor car and found a 1981 Chrysler New Yorker 5th Ave, which has the same Track & Wheelbase as the Hudson (It is a 91) This car gave up a good 318/autobox, Prop, Rear Axle, Power Steering and Disc Brakes, Front Subframe with Torsion Bar Suspension, Tilt Column, beautiful button down leather seats and much more, all for the sum of $800.



As the photos show, the Hud body was removed and the chassis boxed, front subframe fitted and a 5 link with Coil-Overs fitted at the back. Front and rear ride height can be adjusted with the turn of a screw.



As you can see, the body is back on, the paint there was slapped on 12 years ago to keep the tin worm away. Over the winter the engine and box have been fitted, Rad re-cored and fitted, new brake Cyls fitted and piped in. A local company made two new Parking Brake cables which fit the Hudson linkage at one end and the Chrysler drums at the rear. Now that Spring is here, I can get on with it again, lots still to do but I enjoy the work.



My security is as high as it will go, you are probably right about the cookies.

Unknown

Rick,
I wish I could claim all the credit, but I got the help of a local Rod Shop to do the chassis work. This is a low buck job so it was broken down into separate tasks, each of which was priced. That way they knew what they had to do, and I knew what it would cost.

They stripped the Chrysler donor car of all usable parts and disposed of the scrap. That cost $500.

They removed the Hudson body, boxed the chassis, cut off the front legs and welded in straight box section to suit the Chrysler Subframe, manufactured a 5 link suspension for the rear axle and fitted. Fitted the Engine and Gearbox, Propshaft and rear axle, replaced the body and gave me back a rolling car. Cost for that was $1,200.

Most people go down the route of Mustang front suspension, Chevy engine, Ford axle, none of which are compatable with each other, then it's Billet this, Chrome that, all of which adds to the overall cost. I wanted all the major components to come from the same car, which I knew ran well before I started.

Here is a diagram of the Chrysler subframe found on all full-size Chrysler cars. When I fitted this, I knew my steering column was not going to come down through one of the V8 banks. It has everything you need in one compact unit and is held with 4 bolts to the chassis.



Here is a photo of the leather seats from the Chrysler.



Jake.

Unknown

Remember I live in Scotland.

The Rod man I used was Ross Morrison from Glasgow, he took both cars away and delivered my Hudson back. Now all I have to do is install the braking system, the Wiring, the Glass with new rubbers, the interior, the paint work, etc, etc, etc.

Unknown

Rick,

I have one or two more photos you can have, I have also sent an email to

the Rod Man asking for more if he has them. I also asked him if it would be ok to give you his email in case you have specific questions. He is a friendly guy and will answer.

Unknown

I sent you an Email.



JK.

rambos_ride

I love these old stories about off-shore Hudson's!



Jake you say you've had the car for 12 years - do you know much about the earlier history of the car and how it got to Scotland? Was it a right or left hand drive? Were the gauges in mph or kph?



I saw the pictures of the interior - what color are you planning on painting the car?

Unknown

Dan,
You are inviting a long story here. Hudson cars were built in London England and many other countries, they came in CKD form from the USA and were tailored to the local market. There were also private companies like Railton Cars who bought Chassis from Hudson and built their own Sports Saloons here in the UK. Guages were in MPH.
If you check old Hudsons over there, you will probably find that fixing holes for steering column and parking brake are replicated on the other side of the car. also the speedo and clock were the same diameter, just swap them over for right or left hand drive.

I have the full history of my car from the first owner who was the Managing Director of the "Bestfolda Pram Company" in London who took delivery in 16th December 1938. The first owner had little time to enjoy his new Hudson before WW2 broke out in 1939 and Gas became impossible to obtain. The car was put into storage and never saw the light of day until 1949, when limited supplies of Gas became available again.

Old cars here have what is known as a V5 Logbook, a registration book which follows the vehicle all its life. This logbook details the names and addresses of all previous owners and shows the car had 7 changes of ownership up to 1979.

I saw the car advertised 400 miles away from where I live, there was no way I was going to drive that distance just to look at what was now a partly dismantled car. So I accepted the sellers description and hired a trailer and went and bought it.

The seller was a restoration shop specialising in Karman Ghia and had bought the Hudson at an estate Auction. There were many parts missing such as the front fender and the engine Cyl head. He had tried to trace the previous owner, but the Auction House would not give the details for reasons of confidentiality, so after 2 years he gave up.

I started out by writing to the Government Vehicle Registration Dept giving them the chassis number, they told me they couldn't search their records just with a chassis number, (which was a lie), I then went to my local Police Station and gave them the same number, the Officer went to the computer and came back in 5 minutes telling me that the car was registered, not stolen and A1 ok. I asked for the previous owners details, but although he knew that info, refused to give me that. We looked one another in the eye for a long minute, but no go.

I then joined the Hudson Club, and from the handbook, began phoning and writing to Hudson owners in England asking if anyone knew the car, it was after all, the one and only 91 Club Coupe in the UK. After 6 months of this, I hit pay dirt. A man said he knew the car and thought he could contact the last owner.

Two weeks later I got a very guarded phone call, not from the previous owner, a friend of his was anxious to learn if I was one of "Tony's" creditors. It became clear that Tony's business had gone down the tubes, he had lost everything including the car.

But worse was to come, Tony's marriage had also gone down with the business and the vital parts I needed were being guarded by the Rotweiler wife. To save space I will miss out the dreadfull things I had to do and just say I put a little money in each of their pockets and came home with the vital parts, plus a van load of spares which had been collected by owners over the decades.

The original colour of the car was Silver, I have not made my mind up on what it will be. But there are too many Reds, Blues, Yellows and Greens out there

rambos_ride

Jake -

Awesome posting - no one here (sic forum) cares about how long it is ~ we just love to hear the story of history of the car - and it makes for a great read!

I really wish we had those V5 Logbook requirements here in the states - the history follows the car...what a novel idea

I have a 49 Commodore from Sturgis, South Dakota. If you haven't heard of Sturgis South Dakota before it is the host every year to a Motorcyle Rally that started in 1938 and continues today with people and bikes from all over the world.

I'm sure my 49 must have some storied History with coming from that area - but I have few if any leads to go on...

So again - thanks for sharing and its cool to hear you have been abel to dig up so much information on your ride!

rambos_ride

Jake - here's your latest pictures! Great Work!

Unknown

Thank you to Dan for getting my photos up there.

Just an update to let you all see how I'm getting on with the 39 Coupe. I bought a small compressor and spraygun to do the painting myself, I chose a light colour, Ivory, which is more forgiving for a beginner like me.

All the wiring is finished, I changed it from right-hand-drive to Left because the power steering unit was on that side of the Chrysler "K" member I fitted on the front. The car drives in and out of the garage and I am very pleased with the way things are going.

I don't set any completion dates, that just leads to frustration. Each day I go out and finish a small task which lasts an hour or two, and set in my mind what tomorrow's task will be. One day soon there will be no more small tasks to do and the car will be finished.

I think if you look at the whole job you could easily lose heart with the thought of the size of the undertaking, so I just break it down into small tasks and go into the house each night satisfied it has been done.

There are times when nothing can be done due to weather or family matters, so I use that time to read a diagram or think over a problem, so that when I get back in the garage I am prepared for the next thing to do.

[Deleted User]

Your car looks terrific, Jake. Don't know how I missed this thread, but sure am glad to see another '39 coupe being brought back to life. Sounds like you have the perfect attitude for accomplishing what seems to be a monumental task. I hope you have a good set of side grilles for your car because those are THE hardest parts to find for those cars.



We have a '39 112 coupe and it currently looks like the 4th picture of your's back on page 1. Am currently trying to remove 68 years worth oil, grease, gravel, etc. from the frame. We are going to shoehorn a 202 (Jet) motor and OD trans into it. Could sure use those 7 extra inches that the full size 39's have in front of the firewall.



Keep up the good work and keep us posted.



Kevin

[Deleted User]

Beautiful Jake! An inspiration to the rest of us!

essexcoupe3131

Took me a power of reading to get trough this thread, welcome aboard Jake

nice to hear from people at the top end of the world, you seem to be powering through it all, I wish I could advance as fast, 12 years isnt so bad I have been running at a snails pace for 25, but very soon , with patience itall comes to thse who persavere,



Mike